SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY 29 JULY 2007
You are listening to ZS6SRL the official Radio Station of the South African Radio League, the National Body for Amateur Radio in South Africa, with a news bulletin that is transmitted every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and at 08:30 CAT in English. To listen to a web stream or Echolink by ZS6FCS visit www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links for details.
This, and previous bulletins, can be downloaded from the 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 and 1 297 MHz in the Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to suit).
SILENT KEY
It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Julian Biermann, ZS6BJO, on 9 July 2007. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Laurette, family and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
SOUTH AFRICA TO BE REPRESENTED AT GAREC 2007
REGISTER FOR THE CLASS B EXAMINATION NOW - 2 DAYS LEFT
PRESIDENT’S NET AND INTECNET TONIGHT
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION PROGRAMME FOR GAUTENG NOW ON THE WEB
100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SCOUT MOVEMENT
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
SOUTH AFRICA TO BE REPRESENTED AT GAREC 2007
The SARL will be represented at the 2007 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (GAREC) Conference, which will be held in Huntsville, Alabama, on Thursday, 16th and Friday, 17th August 2007. GAREC-07 is focussing on the application of advanced technologies in emergency communications.
GAREC started as an initiative of IARU Region 1. In 2005, Seppo Sisatto, OH1VR, now IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator, organized the first meeting in Tampere, Finland - the "Capital of Emergency Telecommunications." It was here that in 1998 the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union convened an intergovernmental conference, ICET-98, which adopted the "Tampere Convention." This international treaty facilitates the use of telecommunications in humanitarian assistance, and made "Tampere" known throughout the telecommunications community. Conferences on the same subject were held in the following years. In 2006 GAREC met in Tampere for the second time, now in connection with the International Conference on Emergency Communications, ICEC-2006 and the UN Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications.
The agenda of GAREC-07 will focus mainly on the topics discussed in Tampere. Most of all, GAREC wants to be a forum for the exchange of information. Many IARU member-societies and specialized emergency communications groups have developed and implemented emergency concepts. Many others want to benefit from their technical, operational and, not the least, their administrative or even "political" experiences when establishing the necessary cooperation with partners in emergency and disaster response. South Africa, and more specific the SARL in its own right, has been able to share information and has added value to the conferences in the past. GAREC also developed new concepts, such as the "Centre of Activity Frequencies," meanwhile adopted by IARU Region 1 and 3 conferences.
The review of advanced, digital technologies and their applications to emergency telecommunications will be an additional element for GAREC-07. The two-day conference will be packed with practical information, and experts will arrange demonstrations of the capabilities of 21st century ham radio!
With the support of the Department of Transport, the SARL will be represented by HAMNET's National Director Francois Botha, ZS6BUU. Charles Norval of SASAR, in his letter supporting the SARL's participation, said that the SARL's attendance will be of benefit to both the South African Search and Rescue (SASAR) and the Air Traffic and Navigation System.
REGISTER FOR THE CLASS B EXAMINATION NOW - 2 DAYS LEFT
The next class B examination will be held on 23 August. The closing date for registration has been extended to 31 July, which is in just a few days time. No late entries can be accepted.
Registration for the examination is R300. The cost for students and learners under the age of 25 years is only R200. To register, download all the forms from the SARL web and after completion fax the forms to 088 011 675 2793. You can also request the forms by sending a mail to admin@sarl.org.za. Carefully follow the checklist printed on page 2 of the RAE registration form. Links to the form can be found on the home page article.
PRESIDENT’S NET AND INTECNET TONIGHT
The President’s Net will be on the air tonight. Join Graham Hartlett, ZS6GJH, at 19:00 for an update on he SARL and the various activities planned for the next few months. Graham will also talk about the SARL’s plans to promote ARDF - Amateur Radio Direction Funding, an activity that is current attracting a lot of attention from the youth in Europe and the USA.
The President’s Net will be followed at 20:00 CAT by the Intecnet with Dr Pieter Kotzé as the guest speaker. His presentation is entitled: 'Implications of Living on a Giant Magnet'. The presentation slides can be downloaded in PDF format. Visit the SARL web at www.sarl.org.za and click on ARMI.
Clubs wishing to link their repeaters should send an email to armi@sarl.org.za before 12:00 today. Both nets will be streamed on Echolink by ZS6FCS and on the web. Go to www.sarl.org.za and click on ARMI and follow the links.
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION PROGRAMME FOR GAUTENG NOW ON THE WEB
The programme for the Radio Technology in Action day in Gauteng on 18 August is now available on the web. The programme features a variety of interesting presentations and demonstrations. Learn how the Eastern Cape radio amateurs built the world's largest repeater linked network, or watch the FT5XO Kerguelen island DXpedition video, join SARL Councillor for Technology Andrew Roos, ZS6AA, as he discusses the SARL transceiver project or build a 40 m receiver with Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BPZ.
It is a day no one interested in amateur radio and technology would want to miss. Diarise the date 18 August at the National Amateur Radio Centre. Entrance is R20. Students and learners attend free.
100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SCOUT MOVEMENT.
A Sunrise Ceremony in Mafikeng by ZS100MAF on Wednesday, 1 August 2007, will mark "The Dawn of a new Century for Scouting around the World".
On 1st August 1907, Scouting's Founder Robert Baden-Powell held what is now known as the World's first Scout camp on Brownsea Island near Portsmouth, England. This date thus marks the beginning of the Scout Movement.
Baden-Powell had strong ties with Mafikeng where he formulated many of his ideas. Thus Evan Davies, ZS6EVD, Eddie Leighton and the Lichtenburg ARC will be running a special event station ZS100MAF at SCENE the scout camping grounds of the town. Please support this station as Evan, Eddie and LARC have done a tremendous amount of work for this event.
The main idea is to have scout greetings following the rising sun, from East to West.
Another aim is to link up with the scouts at GB100BI on Brownsea Island and GB100J at the 21st World Scout Jamboree at Chelmsford just outside London. These two stations will be in operation from 27-07-2007 to 08-08-2007. As Gilwell Park is an activity centre its permanent station GB2GP will be operational for the same time.
With modern technology Scouts will be able to join in the Brownsea celebrations and those of the 40 000 Scouts at the nearby World Scout Jamboree using other digital modes.
Please note that other countries will also be represented on
1st August, BP100S - Tapei, 8J100S -Tokyo, EI100J - Dublin and
SX100VAR - Athens, etc.
When you call these stations try the World Scout Frequencies:
20 m - 14,290 MHz;
17 m - 18,140 MHz;
15 m - 21,360 MHz;
12 m - 24,960 MHz;
10 m - 28,390 MHz;
6 m - 50,160 MHz.
RAE COURSE IN THE WESTERN CAPE
Prospective students for the October Class A RAE who wish to attend a course in the Western Cape can contact Karl, ZS1KC, by phone on 021 976 5237 or cellphone 083 955 7177. The course is planned to start on 7 August. The classes wil be presented once a week at the Oakdale Sport Club.
CONTEST NEWS
The SARL HF Phone Contest will be on the air next Sunday 5 August 2007 starting at 15:00 and ending at 18:30 CAT with activity on certain sections of the 20, 40 and 80 metre bands. Participation can be as a single operator, multi-operator or SWL. Further sub-divisions are low power, high power, all band, single band or my best hour. The exchange is a RS report and a serial number.
Southern Africa is divided into 8 zones for this contest and participants must try and work stations in each of these zones for bonus points, further bonus points are obtained for working the same station on all 3 bands.
The rules and log sheets are available in the 2007 SARL Contest Manual at www.sarl.org.
On Sunday 12 August, the SARL 40 Metre Mobile Sprint will be on the air.
Johan, ZS4SS, wins the SARL Digital Contest.
The contest committee received five contest logs and one check log for the SARL Digital Contest run in June. The results are as follows:
Single operator, All band - Low power:
Johan, ZS4SS - 280 points
Single Operator, Single band - High Power:
Eddie, ZS6BNE - 228 points;
Jack, V51KC - 144 points;
Jan, ZS4JAN - 90 points;
Jacques, ZS1JY - 20 points.
Jan, ZS6BMN, submitted a check log.
Johan, ZS4SS, is clearly the winner of the annual Digital modes competition and will be receiving the Yaesu VX-2R Handheld Transceiver at a suitable occasion. Well done Johan!
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, was not available to do the propagation report this week. This report is by Hans, ZS6AKV.
Spaceweather.co.za reports that the solar wind speed has reached 500 km/s. Geomagnetic conditions are at unsettled to active levels. Local HF working frequencies are unstable to depressed. The outlook is that a coronal hole has rotated into a geo-effective position on the solar disk, with another one due within the next week or so. Expect disturbed HF conditions for most of the week.
20 metres seem to be the best DX band. In the early morning contacts with Australia are possible and late afternoon to early evening there is a glimmer of hope to make a QSO or two with stations situated on the both the East and West coast of the USA. For Europe 20 metres is likely to offer best results between mid morning and late afternoon.
Propagation prediction is not an exact science, so always call on a band to check if it is open. If you and everyone else only listen, you will never know.
Hannes will be back next week
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
28 July - President’s Net and Intecnet – tonight;
1 August - Special station ZS100MAF on the air;
5 August - SARL HF Phone Contes;t
12 August - SARL 40 Metre Mobile Sprint;
18 August - Radio Technology in Action day in Gauteng;
23 August - Class B RAE;
6 October - SA AMSAT Space Conference;
18 October - Class A RAE.
SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news stories of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners. Submit news stories if possible in both English and Afrikaans to www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.
The SARL also invites you to listen to the programme Amateur Radio Mirror International, on the air every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 590 kHz. For the web stream and echolink by ZS6FCS visit www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links. A repeat transmission can be heard Mondays at 21:00 CAT on 3 215 kHz. Sentech sponsor the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
Today's South African Radio League news bulletin was compiled by Roger, ZR3RC, and transmitted by (your name and call sign)
Thank you for listening. 73
/EX
