SARL NEWS SUNDAY 11 MAY 2008
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, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links for details. PLEASE NOTE! For audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.
You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za and you can subscribe there to receive future bulletins by e-mail.
Your newsreader this morning is (name), (call sign), 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).
In today's SARL News:
JOIN THE SARL NOW AND GET MAY AND JUNE FREE
SA AMATEUR RADIO DEVELOPMENT TRUST AWARDEES ANNOUNCED
SEND YOUR NAME TO THE MOON
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
JOIN THE SARL NOW AND GET MAY AND JUNE FREE
Join the SARL right now and get May and June membership free of charge. You will also benefit from the R15 cash rebate. The membership rate for ordinary members for 2008/2009 is R320, but if paid before 31 August there is a R15 rebate. This means that if you join now or renew your membership before 31 August, you only pay last year's rate of R305
Senior members are offered a similar option. The new senior membership rate is R200, but if paid by 31 August there is a R16 rebate, bringing the fee down to R184. New senior members joining now also get May and June free of charge at R184.
Visit www.sarl.org.za for membership application forms or call Vee Mondays to Fridays between 9 am and 1 pm at 011 675-2393
SA AMATEUR RADIO DEVELOPMENT TRUST AWARDEES ANNOUNCED
The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust has announced the 2008 awards winners. The Garth Milne Technology award will be presented at a function in Midrand next Friday to John Willescroft, ZS6EF. The Nokia Siemens Radio Amateur of the Year Award will go to Graham Hartlett, ZS6GJH, and the Nokia Siemens Networks Community Service Award to Craig Symington, ZS6RH. Tune in next week for more details about their achievements.
RADIO AMATEUR EXAM 15 MAY
The Radio Amateur Exam will be written on Thursday evening 15 May in various centres around South Africa. SARL News wishes all candidates the best of luck with the exam.
SEND YOUR NAME TO THE MOON
NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.
The Send Your Name to the Moon website enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at http://www.nasa.gov/lro, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is 27 June 2008.
The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first.
The Orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans.
LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features and resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds the planned lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is scheduled for launch in late 2008.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The mission will also be managed at the centre for NASA's Explorations Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.
To send your name to the moon, visit http://www.nasa.gov/lro and do not forget to include your call sign!
NEW ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL ADVERTISERS
The SARL will be making space available on the home page for commercial advertisers who wish place ham ads. The service is available on a contract basis, allowing for the advertisements to be changed monthly. The advertisement will be in text only with the company's name, contact details and a clickthrough to its website. The advertisements will look much like those in the smalls columns of daily newspapers.
To get the full details send a blank e-mail to armi@sarl.org.za with “ham ads” in the subject line.
SKA TO BE FEATURED AT THE PORT ELIZABETH RTA
Adrian Tiplady of the Square Kilometre Array team will make a presentation at the Port Elizabeth SARL Radio Technology in Action symposium to be held on the North campus of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University on Saturday 31 May 2008. He will be one of the many speakers taking radio amateurs and electronic hobbyists into the century of science and technology.
Full details about the programme and the fabulous attendance prizes will be posted on www.sarl.org.za by mid week.
EXERCISE DOUBLE BARREL 3
71 Signal Unit, a reserve force unit, will be running their annual military/amateur HF communications exercise, Exercise Double Barrel 3, over the weekend of 24 to 25 May 2008, using the call sign ZS71SIG and active from Rawsonville in the Western Cape. A QSL card will be issued to commemorate Exercise Double Barrel 3.
The objective of this exercise is to provide the unit and its members with valuable HF experience, while providing an exciting platform for the amateur radio community to communicate in a training and preparation exercise with other roleplayers, for example the military and other emergency operators.
The following amateur frequencies will be in use: 1.845 LSB, 3.760 LSB, 7.060 LSB and 14.300 USB, as well as 10.135 USB +- QRM. The military training frequencies will be issued to participating members in the form of a signal instruction. Participating radio amateurs are encouraged to operate either in a field day, mobile or base station role, while experimenting with different types of antennas and different RF power settings. The radio amateur community is reminded that the abovementioned frequencies will be in use during the weekend of 23 to 25 May 2008 and are requested to accommodate the exercise.
Liaison with other role players is expected to be finalised soon. Participants can contact ZS1HF Pierre at zs1hf@telkomsa.net or 083 321 1449 for more information.
CONTEST NEWS
The Antique Wireless Association Valve QSO Party is a phone-only contest on 40 and 80 metres. Preferably, valve radios or radios with valves in them may be used. The AM QSO Party was on the air yesterday and the SSB QSO Party is on the air this afternoon from 16:00 to 18:00 CAT.
Full details of the contest is available in the 2008 SARL Contest Manual.
RADIO ZS
The editor is looking for material to publish in the May/June 2008 issue of Radio ZS. Material can be submitted in MS Word or PDF format and pictures in jpg or PDF format. Send your contribution by Sunday 18 May to radiozs@sarl.org.za.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be very low. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly at quiet to unsettled levels except on 13 May when active levels are expected. The expected Effective Sun Spot number for the coming week will be less than 5. DX conditions will generally be good to the North and poor in the general Northwesterly directions.
15 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. Conditions to Australia will be very challenging. From 14:00, there may be good 15 and 20 m openings towards Europe. Contacts with the USA are going to be very challenging. 10 MHz is looking promising after dark for the CW and digital enthusiasts.
Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the daytime. 30 m may perform well during the middle of the day over the longer distances. 80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings, thunderstorms and static permitting! Not too long from now 160 m will start to be quite useful again.
Remember that this is only a prediction and that HF always has the capability to surprise you, but you will never know unless you switch your rig on, listen and also call CQ.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
11 May - 40 and 80 m SSB QSO Party;
15 May – Radio Amateur Examination;
23 to 25 May – Exercise Double Barrel 3;
31 May - RTA in Port Elizabeth;
8 June - Closing date for entries for the Kempton Park Amateur Radio Technical Society logo 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. For the webstream and Echolink by ZS0JPL-R, 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.
Dennis, ZS4BS, compiled today's South African Radio League news bulletin.
Thank you for listening. 73.
/EX
