SARL NEWS SUNDAY 16 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. As ZS6FCS is currently in the process of upgrading his station there will unfortunately be no Echolink or Internet streaming available till 23 December. The full service will again be available as from 24 December.
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, 10,135, 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 KEYS
It is with regret that we have to report that the keys of three radio amateurs went silent recently, they are:
OM Herman Dormehl, ZS6SN, on 8 December at the age of 80 years;
OM Gys du Plessis, ZS6GDP, member of the SARL and the West Rand Amateur Radio Club, peacefully on the 10th December at the age of 67 years;
OM Lodé Pieterse, ZS4LP, also on the 10th December.
Our deepest sympathies go to their relatives and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
AMATEUR RADIO GETS AN APOLOGY FROM A GARTNER ANALYST
SARL - HMO BEACON COMPETITION - DID YOUR COPY THE @ SIGN?
BACAR PROJECT T0 BE REINTRODUCED
APRS TAKES OFF ON HF IN SOUTH AFRICA
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
AMATEUR RADIO GETS AN APOLOGY FROM A GARTNER ANALYST
The SARL lodged a complaint to Gartner after one of their analysts made a derogatory remark at a symposium held in Cape Town earlier this year. Will Hahn wrote the following letter to the SARL:
"I am writing to apologize to you for the inappropriate remark I made during my participation in the Desktop Collaboration session at this year's Cape Town Symposium. I am very sorry both for the words themselves, which do not represent my actual position, and for the delay in responding to Mr. Willemstijn's complaint, which was occasioned by me. His complaint was originally brought to my attention promptly; I do not recall making the remark, and thus my colleagues were forced to seek the recording of the event, which I am now informed makes clear I did, in fact, say that ham radio was a "little hobby".
“I am very aware that this is not the case, it is merely the way some proponents of BPL (at least, here in the States) have characterized ham radio in an effort to further their goals in the face of interference complaints. I am on record in a previous publication regarding the spread of BPL in which I do not denigrate the objections of ham radio operators in any way. But I fancy myself a great wit, and during all my prepared presentations as well as this more informal analyst panel, I often throw myself into the role of the industry players, caricaturing their views in an effort to raise the issues in a light-hearted way. I can only suppose this was my intent when I made the remark, in response to a question from the floor in an ad lib situation. It was obviously unsuccessful and inappropriate, and I am very sorry to have made it”.
SARL - HMO BEACON COMPETITION - DID YOUR COPY THE @ SIGN?
First reports in the SARL-HMO beacon competition have been received. The competition is about decoding the message that has been imbedded in the signals of three of the beacons ZS6SRL, ZS2LAW and ZS1HMO. Full details of the competition which runs till 21 January 2008 can be found on the SARL web at www.sarl.org.za, click on services, and select beacon Project.
The beacons have their own QSL address bcn@sarl.org.za. Have you wondered how the @ sign in the email address is sent in Morse code? A few years ago Paul Rinaldo of the IARU asked the ITU to recognize a new Morse character for the @ sign. It consists of the letters A and C sent as one character with no space between them, ie ditdahdahditdahdit.
BACAR PROJECT T0 BE RE-INTRODUCED
SA AMSAT will be re-introducing the BACAR Project during 2008. During several informal discussions at Gauteng flea markets the idea of re-introducing BACAR was discussed. BACAR is the acronym for Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio. The activity involved sending up a balloon with an Amateur Radio payload involving a large number of enthusiasts from a launch team, a recovery team to individual radio amateurs tracking the signals from their QTH and reporting in to a mapping team.
Today there are many new challenges to overcome; perhaps the most difficult one is to get the Civil Aviation Authority to grant permission for the launch of a large balloon, or several tethered balloons, to a high altitude.
To discuss the project and to establish a BACAR team, interested radio amateurs, shortwave listeners and electronic hobbyists are invited to a discussion at the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre on Saturday 26 January 2008 at 11:00. If you are interested in participating in the project, visit www.amsatsa.org.za for more details and to subscribe to a BACAR mailing list.
APRS TAKES OFF ON HF IN SOUTH AFRICA
HF APRS is taking off in South Africa. Henry Chamberlain, ZS1AAZ, reports that a number of stations are active and are tracking other amateurs travelling around the country.
The advantage of HF is the longer range. Shaun Rudling, ZR5S, runs a station on behalf of Highway using the callsign ZS5PMB-4. ZS1AAZ and ZS1TX, operate a station in the Cape.
HF APRS is the ideal mode to track yachts at sea which would compliment the maritime mobile net by being able plot their positions on a 24 hour basis.
"We are in the initial stages of HF operations in the RSA, but I hope more stations will join us so that we can cover the whole coastline of the RSA and Namibia and Mozambique", ZS1AAZ said. Listen to Amateur Radio Mirror International today for more on APRS and visit www.sarl.org.za, members only pages.
IS A NEW SOLAR CYCLE BEGINNING?
The solar physics community is abuzz this week. No, there haven't been any great eruptions or solar storms. The source of the excitement is a modest knot of magnetism that popped over the sun's eastern limb on Dec. 11th. Solar physicist David Hathaway, of the Marshall Space Flight Centre, said that it may not look like much, but this patch of magnetism could be a sign of the next solar cycle.. For more than a year, the sun has been experiencing a lull in activity, marking the end of Solar Cycle 23, which peaked with many furious storms in 2000--2003. "Solar minimum is upon us," he says.
The big question now is, when will the next solar cycle begin? Listen to the full story on Amateur Radio Mirror this morning or visit www.sarl.org.za.
CONTEST NEWS
RESULTS OF THE SARL 80 METRE QSO PARTY
The results of the October leg of the SARL 80 Metre QSO Party were released by the contest committee and published in HF Happenings 274, but were not included in SARL News.
Jan, ZS4JAN, took top honours in the October contest with 810 points, followed by the Adventure ARC with 790 points, the East Rand ARC with 625 points, Christo, ZU4CM, with 515 points, Jo, ZR5PO, with 290 points, Marius, ZS4MP, with 230 points, George, ZS6NE, with 100 points, Allan, ZR1AAH, with 80 points and Ian, ZS5IAN, with 60 points. A check log was received from Charl, ZS1CF.
The overall results for the two legs of the contest have Jan, ZS4JAN, in first place with 1 340 points, the Adventure ARC second with 1 270 points and the East Rand ARC in third place with 805 points. The fourth to ninth places are as in the October results.
CLUB NEWS
THE SOUTH CAPE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB AGM
The South Cape Amateur Radio Club held their AGM on 1 December 2007, and the following members were elected for there 2008 committee:
Chairman ZS1PC Dawid Petzer;
Vice Chairman ZS1M Chris Meyer;
Secretary + Treasurer Bets Meyer;
Committee Members ZS1ZR John Fletsher;
ZS1DRM John Mostert;
ZS2CC Willie Hewitt;
ZS1FA Chris Nortier;
ZS1WC Jacques Vermeulen.
Thanks to the outgoing committee members and strength to the new committee for the work that lies ahead.
PROPAGATION CONDITIONS
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be a little bit higher this coming week. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet in general increasing to active levels during 17 till 19 December. The expected Effective Sun Spot number for the coming week will be less than 30. DX conditions are generally good on the East-West paths and poor in the general Northerly directions.
15 m and 20 m will provide best opportunities for DX. There is a possibility of 15 and 20 m openings towards India from about 14:00 CAT. There may be 20 m openings to Australia from 14:00. From 18:00 there may be short, weak 20 m openings towards Europe. From 18:00 there may be 10, 15 and 20 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
7 January 2008 - NARC reopens;
21 January SARL-HMO competition closes;
26 January BACAR meeting at NARC ay 11:00;
31 March - Closing date for first stage of 2008 construction competition.
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. 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.
Thank you for listening. 73.
/EX
