SARL NEWS SUNDAY 2 DECEMBER 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.
You can download this and previous bulletins from www.sarl.org.za and you can also subscribe there to receive future bulletins by email.
Your newsreader this morning is Hans, ZS6KR, on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria with relays on 28,325, 14,235, 10,130, 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB as well as 51,400, 438,825 and 1 296 MHz FM in the Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to suit).
SILENT KEY
It is with deep regret that the passing of Hennie Cilliers, ZS6BSF, on Sunday 25 November 2007 at the age of 63 is announced.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
SARL LAUNCHES AN UPDATED RAE STUDY GUIDE
HAMNET TO MEET IN CAPE TOWN
PLT NOT HIGH ON THE LIST FOR MUNICIPAL BROADBAND PROJECTS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
SARL LAUNCHES AN UPDATED RAE STUDY GUIDE
The South African Radio League is this week launching an updated RAE Study Guide that is fully compliant with the Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate (HAREC) syllabus and International Standards (ISO). The new guide includes a new chapter on digital communication. Students studying for the class A radio amateur examination are advised to download the new study guide to ensure that they are fully prepared for the May examination. Lecturers should take note of the chapter on digital communication and familiarise themselves with the additional study material.
From the May RAE the examination paper will include a formulae page which will assist students in answering questions requiring calculation. This means that students do not have to memorise all the formulae but must be able to select the right formula to answer the question and be able to use more than one formula for some questions.
The SARL Study Guide for the class A RAE can be downloaded from www.sarl.org.za free of charge from early next week.
The new guide is based on the original guide produced by Andrew Roos with input from many radio amateurs. The Council of the SARL would like to thank all contributors for their input, George Honiball, ZS6NE, for ensuring that the guide is ISO compliant and Colin de Villiers, ZS6COL, for putting it all together. Your dedication to Amateur Radio is very much appreciated.
HAMNET TO MEET IN CAPE TOWN
Are you part of HAMNET, the SARL's disaster communication organisation, or would you like to find out more how you can use your hobby to provide an essential service to the community? HAMNET will hold a meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday 5 December at 19:30 at the Metro Control Centre at the Tygerberg Hospital and you are invited.
Francois Botha, Hamnet National Director, will be attending the meeting and give feedback on emergency activities in other countries. Rob Byrne of JAMLINE will be the special guest, subject to any emergency issue requiring his immediate attention. JAMLINE, or Traffic Connect, is an organisation who supplies various radio stations and emergency services with up to the minute road information around South Africa.
For more information on the Cape Town Hamnet meeting contact Peter Grobler on 082-882-6626 or Dave Reece on 083 270-6843. (repeat numbers).
The next day Francois Botha will attend, by invitation, the year-end meeting of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre. Hamnet works very closely with the MRCC whose main task is to ensure the safety of life and property at sea, the prevention and combating of maritime pollution from ships and to promote the Republic's maritime interests.
PLT NOT HIGH ON THE LIST FOR MUNICIPAL BROADBAND PROJECTS
Roelf Diedericks of Neology, a company that specialises in the construction of broadband networks, placed Power Line Telecommunications low on the list of technologies to be deployed by cities in South Africa. Speaking at the MyADSL Broadband conference last week he said that PLT was an immature technology with no standardised protocols. He also said that it's claimed broadband capability of 200 Mbps is highly overstated. It is more like 20 Mbps and that is shared by all the users fed from one insertion point. He believes that its main use will be for automatic meter reading.
That does not mean that we should not be vigilant and keep monitoring developments. The expected publication of the interim PLT standards by ICASA is still awaiting approval for publication for public comment by the ICASA Board. The SARL is monitoring developments
500 kHz EXPERIMENT CHARTING NEW TERRITORY (From the ARRL Newsletter)
The evening of November 13 saw the first transatlantic contact on 500 kHz between amateur experimental stations. US experimental station WE2XGR/2 (Jay Rusgrove, W1VD, in Connecticut) and GI4DPE (Finbar O'Connor, EI0CF, in Northern Ireland) communicated by standard-speed CW for about 15 minutes. On that same night, US experimental stations WD2XSH/12 (Mike Mussler, AI8Z, in Colorado) and WD2XSH/20 (Rudy Severns, N6LF, in Oregon) made the first contact in the western half of the USA. Two days later, WE2XGR/2 and GI4DPE repeated their feat and WD2XSH/12 had contacts with WD2XSH/6 (Pat Hamel, W5THT, in Mississippi) and WD2XSH/13 (John Oehlenschlager, K0JO, in Minnesota).
The ARRL 500 kHz experimental license, WD2XSH, was issued in September 2006 and has 19 active stations. Fritz Raab, W1FR, of Vermont, serves as experimental project manager for The 500 KC Experimental Group for Amateur Radio. Information is available at .
PROPAGATION CONDITIONS
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at very low levels. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet in general. The expected Effective Sun Spot number for the coming week will be less than 5. Fortunately the DX conditions are still warm, especially towards India and the USA.
15 m and 20 m will provide best opportunities for DX. There is a possibility of 10, 15 and 20 m openings towards India from about 12:00 CAT. There may be good 15 m openings to Australia at about 08:00. From 14:00 there may be weak 15 and 20 m openings towards Europe. From 18:00 there may be 15, 20 and 80 m openings towards the USA.
For the CW and digital enthusiasts it will also be worth monitoring 10 MHz.
Locally conditions on 40 m is going to be good during the day. 30 m may perform well over the longer distances. 80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings, thunderstorms and static permitting!
Remember that this is only a prediction and 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 also call CQ.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
Wednesday 5 December; HAMNET meeting in CAPE TOWN;
09 December - PEARS HF QSO Party;
14 December - NARC closes for holiday period.
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 sponsors the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
Today's South African Radio League news bulletin was compiled by Gustav, ZS6BWN and transmitted by (your name and call sign).
Thank you for listening. 73.
/EX
