South African Radio League Commits to Helping Continent’s Less-Developed Nations

As it prepares to mark its centenary in May, the South African Radio League has decided that it would be an especially wise move to nurture amateur radio's growth throughout sub-Saharan Africa. SARL president Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, told the website TechCentral that amateur radio is almost nonexistent outside of Egypt and Nigeria in the northern part of the continent and Namibia and South Africa in the south.

“You have this middle part of Africa where there is nothing, absolutely nothing”

— Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL

Finding a foothold for amateur radio in less-developed parts of the continent will be an ambitious agenda and SARL acknowledges that this kind of expansion will need political and financial support. SARL's Chris Turner ZS6GM, who has been active in amateur radio instruction and mentoring, has already had success with efforts in Mozambique. In that nation, ham radio operators are seen as an asset, especially when floods or other natural disasters require emergency communications.

SARL has already kicked off its next 100 years with a Centenary Marathon QSO Party that began on the 1st of January and will continue through to the 31st of December. Special event callsigns will include ZS100SARL.

This Safe Nuclear Battery Could Last Decades on A Single Charge

A new miniature nuclear battery could supply electricity for decades, centuries, even millennia.

Researchers are always developing better battery technologies, hoping to find ones that last a long time and never need to be recharged—and this month, we have yet another exciting breakthrough.

South Korean scientists from the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology recently presented a prototype battery that works according to the betavoltaic principle. As the researchers explain.

“Nuclear batteries generate power by harnessing high-energy particles emitted by radioactive materials. Not all radioactive elements emit radiation that’s damaging to living organisms, and some radiation can be blocked by certain materials. For example, beta particles (also known as beta rays) can be shielded with a thin sheet of aluminum, making betavoltaics a potentially safe choice for nuclear batteries.”

— Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology

This betavoltaic battery prototype is based on carbon-14, an unstable and radioactive form of carbon called radiocarbon. Although this carbon isotope is radioactive, it only produces beta radiation, which can be easily shielded to prevent harm.

Radiocarbon is already a byproduct of nuclear power plants and is therefore cheap, readily available, and easy to recycle, according to the researchers. And since radiocarbon degrades very slowly, a battery powered by radiocarbon could theoretically provide energy for decades, centuries, or even thousands of years.

According to the researchers, the latest prototype of this radiocarbon battery has a significantly higher energy conversion efficiency, which has increased from 0.48 to 2.86 percent.

This kind of nuclear battery would only be the size of a finger, and such long-lasting nuclear batteries could enable numerous applications, says Professor Su-Il In. For example, a pacemaker powered by such a battery would last a lifetime and make surgical replacement unnecessary.

Ham Radio, Students and Scientists at the 2025 HamSCI Workshop

Some 175 scientists, students, professors, and amateur radio operators from around the world gathered in person and virtually on March 14 and 15 to share research, educate each other, and network at the annual HamSCI Workshop. HamSCI, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation program, aims to promote collaboration between science, amateur radio, and education. The 2025 workshop was hosted this year by the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark.

The program featured 30 talks and two dozen poster presentations, many focused on the HamSCI community’s research activities during the 2023 annular and 2024 total solar eclipses and its ongoing programs to involve amateur radio operators in collecting data for research on space weather and its impact on the ionosphere.

“I believe the workshop went very well. There were many stimulating presentations and discussions, and the workshop did an excellent job bringing together amateurs, students, and scientists from near and far.”

— HamSCI Lead Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, a professor at the University of Scranton.

Among the presenters was Space Science Institute researcher Dr. Kristina Collins, KD8OXT, the 2025 recipient of the Dayton Hamvention® Technical Achievement Award. Collins demonstrated how interactive data visualization software can be used as a platform for HamSCI work, including visualization of data amassed from the Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) project. Owen Ruzanski, KD3ALD, an undergraduate at The University of Scranton, co-authored, “Development of a Contesting and DXing Dashboard for the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station.” Citizen scientist Mindy Hull, MD, KM1NDY, researched the “Effect of near total solar eclipse on radio propagation of HF, Weak-Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR) transmissions.”

ARRL was well-represented at the conference, with a team led by Director of Marketing and Innovation Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R — who was also the keynote speaker at the Friday night banquet — and Hudson Division Director Ed Wilson, N2XDD. Inderbitzen focused his remarks on amateur radio’s unique status as a technological “sandbox” for exploring and developing new communication technologies. He also highlighted ARRL’s commitment to growing the Amateur Radio Service through programs like the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology which prepares schoolteachers and college professors to develop student interest and skills in radio communications and technology.

“Last year, the ARRL Board of Directors established a road map for a bold, new strategic direction,” said Inderbitzen in his address. “For 110 years, you might sum up the organization’s purpose as promoting and protecting amateur radio. But last year, ARRL’s mission was expanded … to develop the next generation of radio amateurs. And to be even more deliberate, a new advocacy was established: to inspire youth.” Inderbitzen also led a meeting of the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program at the end of the workshop.