SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY 24 JUNE 2007
You are listening to Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL of the South African Radio League, the National Body for Amateur Radio in South Africa, with a news bulletin that is broadcast every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and at 08:30 CAT in English. This broadcast can also be heard on Echolink by connecting to ZS6FCS. To listen to a web stream go to www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links. This, and previous bulletins, can be downloaded from the web site of the SARL i.e. www.sarl.org.za. You can also read or download previous bulletins from there and subscribe to receive future bulletins by email.
This transmission is by Hans, ZS6KR, on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria with relays on 3,695, 10,135, 14,235 and 51,400 MHz as well as 438,825 MHz in the Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to suit).
In the news today:
A YAESU VX-2R HANDHELD TRANSCEIVER TO BE WON THIS AFTERNOON
BLOEMFONTEIN RTA PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB
SA AMSAT SPACE CONFERENCE MOVED
ANNUAL ACCOUNTS NOW DUE
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
A YAESU VX-2R HANDHELD TRANSCEIVER TO BE WON THIS AFTERNOON
A YAESU VX-2R 2 m / 70 cm micro handheld transceiver is up for grabs this afternoon when the SARL Digital Contest takes to the air from 15:00 to 18:00 CAT on 40, 6 and 2 metres. The Centre of Activity on the three bands are 7,037 MHz, 50,225 MHz and 144,138 MHz. The exchange is a signal report plus QSO number, starting at 001. The rules have been sent out with HF Happenings and appear on page 8 of the SARL Contest Manual. Get your log to the Lichtenburg ARC as soon as possible after the end of the contest.
BLOEMFONTEIN RTA PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB
Bloemfontein is the next stop for the SARL Radio Technology in action road show. The technology day will be held on Saturday 21 July at the Advanced Training Wing at the School of Armour. The programme includes the entire main programme as presented at the other venues plus two additional presentations.
Bernie van der Walt, ZS4TX, will talk about his experiences at the World Radio Sport Team Championships and share some of his secrets on how to be a successful DXer and Contester. Phillip Venter, ZS4PV, will take the lid off the WSJT software and discuss VHF antennas. The full programme is available on www.sarl.org.za/rta.htm.
Diarise 21 July now, if you live in the Free State, Northern Cape or Lesotho you do not want to miss this event.
PLT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SYSTEM WHILE INTERFERENCE TO HF IS POTENTIALLY HIGH
Power Line Telecommunication is not an acceptable system to provide broadband connections while the interference potential to HF frequencies remains high. This was the message that the SARL delivered to the Broadband Conference held at the Sandton Convention Centre during the past week.
Proponents of ‘PLT as the solution to bridging the digital divide' must think again, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, told delegates. Bridging the digital divide is about access to Personal Computers and computer literacy and not about cheap broadband delivery. He said that the SARL is not against new technologies as long as these technologies are not at the cost of the HF spectrum, which is a scarce national resource. He said that in fact Radio Amateurs are embracing new technologies all the time. It is part of being an experimenter.
With so many successful and more mature technologies, such as WiMAX and HSPDA available, it is difficult to understand why PLT is still pursued with such vigour. Currently there is no PLT equipment type approved by ICASA and no licenses have been issued.
SA AMSAT SPACE CONFERENCE MOVED TO 15 SEPTEMBER
Due to the delay in the launch of SumbandilaSat, SA AMSAT has decided to move the date of this year's Space Conference to 15 September at the National Amateur Radio Centre in Gauteng. This means that prospective speakers have until 20 July to submit papers for consideration. More details will be announced in the next few weeks.
SARL PRESIDENT TO REPORT BACK ON STRATEGY CONFERENCE NEXT SUNDAY
SARL President Graham Hartlett will report back on Sunday 1 July during the President’s Net on the SARL Council strategic session held yesterday. Annually the SARL Council meets face to face to consider strategies for the new financial year, which starts on 1 July.
The net is on the air at 19:00 and is followed at 20:00 by the Intecnet which features an open discussion on home construction.
ANNUAL ACCOUNTS DUE NOW
The SARL Annual subscription accounts were mailed and emailed during the past few weeks. Please give the account your urgent attention and send in your payment as soon as possible. The fees have remained the same as last year with an once off special 20% reduction for pensioner members. If you pay by internet or electronic banking, please indicate your call sign and name on the transaction or fax a copy to the SARL Head Office. Please note the new fax number is 088 011 675 2793. Please use all 13 digits when faxing the SARL.
CONTESTING NEWS
The provisional results of the SARL 80 Metre QSO Party held in April have been released. The Contest Committee only received 2 logs out of a possible 51. First place goes to Jan, ZS4JAN, with 530 points and second place to the East Rand ARC, ZS6ERB, with 480 points.
The provisional results of the SARL Hamnet 40 Metre Contest held in March have been released. Eleven logs and one check log was received. The full results are, in the Single Operator Stationary Mobile category: 1st Andy, ZS6ADY, with 1 260 points followed by Barry, ZS2EC, with 984 points and Roger, ZR3EC, with 588 points. In the Single Operator Portable category Al, ZS2U, took first place with 1 980 points with Alan, ZR1AAH, on 1 386 points and Dennis, ZS4BS, on 1 188 points. In the Single Operator Base Station category, Jan, ZS4JAN, leads the field with 2 988 points, followed by Francois, ZS6BUU, with 1 836 points, Carel, ZS3OBE, with 1 638 points, David, ZS1LL, with 1 350 points and Jan, ZS1VDV, with 912 points.
The annual IARU HF World Championship will be held during the 24-hour period from 12:00 UTC Saturday 14 July to 12:00 UTC Sunday, 15 July. It is a phone and CW contest on 160 to 10 metres. The complete rules will be sent out with HF Happenings.
CLUB NEWS
The Sasolburg Radio club had a successful day providing radio communications support to the 1st Sasolburg Scouts on Youth Day.
An Echolink VHF link was set up from Vanderbijlpark to the Scout Hall in Sasolburg, and a connection was made to a Dutch Scouting station, operated by Scout leader and new ham Leo, PD1LEO. A large number of the youngsters had QSO’s with Leo, and many interesting questions and answers were exchanged. The youngsters were enthralled and amateur radio received good publicity. Approach your local Scout group to find out how you could assist during their centenary celebrations in August and the 50th JOTA in October.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low to very low levels. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet in general while reaching active levels on 30 June until 1 July. The expected Effective Sun Spot number for the coming week will be less than five.
20 and 40 metres will provide best opportunities for DX. There is a possibility of 20 metre openings towards India from about 15:30 CAT. 20 metres may open towards Australia from 08:00. From about 08:00 and again at 16:00, there may be 20 metre openings towards Europe. At about 16:00 short 20 metre openings towards the West Coast of the USA is possible. Otherwise, contacts to the USA are going to be very challenging. For the CW and digital enthusiasts, it will also be worth monitoring 10 MHz.
Locally, 40 metre is going to be the band to be on for the PSK31 contest with good propagation throughout South Africa until at least 16:00. Remember that HF always has the capability to surprise you. You will never know what you are missing unless you switch your rig on, listen and call CQ.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
24 June - SARL Digital Contest;
30 June - Closing date for updating of SA DX Survey; ZS6PTA Flea Market;
1 July - President's Net and Intechnet;
20 July – Last day to submit papers for SA AMSAT Space Conference;
23 August - Class B RAE;
15 September – SA AMSAT Space Conference;
18 October - Class A RAE.
SARL News depends on clubs and individuals for news items of importance and interest to radio amateurs. The one and only way to ensure that your contribution will reach the SARL News team, is to place it in www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date. It will be appreciated if you will do it in both Afrikaans and English.
The SARL also invites all listeners to listen to the program Amateur Radio Mirror International this Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 695 kHz. Audio is also streamed on www.zs6mrk.org and on Echolink from ZS6FCS as for this bulletin. A repeat transmission takes place on Mondays at 21:00 on 3 215 kHz. Telkom and Sentech sponsor the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
You have been listening to a news bulletin by the South African Radio League, which was compiled by Dennis, ZS4BS.
A prosperous week to all, 73.
