SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 26 OCTOBER 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 transmitted every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and at 08:30 CAT in English. To listen to a webstream, 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 and previous bulletins from www.sarl.org.za and subscribe 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 the news today:
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR COUNCILLORS
CALL FOR MOTIONS AND AGENDA ITEMS
SPECIAL PRESIDENTS NET TO BE HELD NEXT SUNDAY
SARL MEMBERSHIP BREAKS THE 1300 MARK
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR COUNCILLORS
At the Annual General Meeting of the South African Radio League all councillors retire and a new council has to be elected. Currently serving Councillors may be re-elected if nominated. Nominations are now called for and close on 30 November 2008.
Nominations must be submitted in writing to the secretary and signed by a Proposer and Seconder who must be members of the SARL in good standing. The document must state the full names, callsign and address of the candidate nominated and a statement from the nominee that he or she is willing to serve on Council if elected. A statement containing details of the specific qualifications, abilities and membership of any related Amateur Radio organisations of the candidate. must also be included. Only members in good standing may be nominated.
Nominations must reach the secretary by not later than 30 November and may be faxed to 088 011 675 2793, or signed documents may be scanned and sent by e-mail to secretary@sarl.org.za.
CALL FOR MOTIONS AND AGENDA ITEMS
This is an early notice of a call for motions and agenda items for discussion at the Annual General Meeting to be held on 25 April 2009. The closing date is 31 January 2009.
RTA DATE FOR THE WESTERN CAPE CHANGED
The date for the Radio Technology in Action Symposium in the Western Cape has been changed from 15 August to 23 August to avoid clashing with the lighthouse weekend. The final dates are:
Gauteng 9 May 2009;
KwaZulu-Natal 30 May 2009;
Eastern Cape 20 June 2009;
Western Cape 23 August 2009.
SPECIAL PRESIDENTS NET TO BE HELD NEXT SUNDAY
A special President's Net will be held on Sunday 2 November to brief the two delegates representing South Africa at the IARU Region 1 conference later in November. The delegates will discuss the various agenda items to be voted on and invite your input. Clubs wishing to link their repeaters should send a request to be linked to the conference server by not later than Wednesday this week to armi@sarl.org.za.
RAE RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
The RAE results will take approximately three weeks to be released. The SARL would like to request that extreme patience be exercised by all parties concerned.
We do realise that everyone is extremely anxious to get their results as soon as possible and to get on the air.
Individual results will not be issued. All results will be issued simultaneously.
We would like to thank everyone for their patience.
SARL MEMBERSHIP BREAKS THE 1 300 MARK
On Friday the SARL membership stood at 1 312. With some two months before the end of the year we should aim to exceed 1 400. If you have not renewed yet, please do so now and if you are not yet a member join the National Body for Amateur Radio. Visit www.sarl.org.za for details and the application form. We would like to announce your name in a future SARL News.
This week we welcome the following new members,
ZSL569, Peter Hasert;
ZSL570, Cornelius Arlow;
ZSL572, Steven Lawrence;
ZSL575, Paul von Spronsen;
ZSL576, James Durand.
Thank you for joining us. Please participate in our activities.
NOTE OUR STANDARD BANK ACCOUNT IS CLOSED
Please note that our Standard Bank account is now closed. Please only use the ABSA account. The bank account number at ABSA is 4071 588 849. The branch code is 632 005. In all transactions, please include your callsign or full names.
SPACE WEEK SLOGAN DECIPHERED
Letter groups for the "Space week" slogan were given to Hal, ZS6WB, Roy, ZS6MI and Eddie, ZS6BNE. Contact was made with these stations via the AO-51 satellite and the letter groups or clues were given using phonetics. According to Eddie, ZS6BNE, three amateurs deciphered the slogan. They were Roy, ZS6MI, Henry, ZS5HR, and Paul, ZS6HQ. The slogan was "Moving silently forever listening" which is what satellites do. Well done, guys! The exercise brought many newcomers to the AO-51 satellite together with others who had worked satellites many years ago.
DRAFT 2009 SARL CONTEST MANUAL AVAILABLE
The draft 2009 SARL Contest Manual and 2009 Diary of Events is available for download from www.sarl.org.za. Radio amateurs and clubs are requested to work through the Contest Manual and to send any comments and suggestions to the relevant contest committees. Changes to the Diary of Events must be sent to zs4bs[at]netactive.co.za. This must be done by 15 November 2008.
CONTEST RESULTS
The provisional results of the Spring QRP Contest have been released. Fifteen contest logs and two check logs were received.
1 Watt class
1st Andre van Deventer, ZS2BK 9000 points;
2nd Jan Botha, ZS4JAN 5 800 points.
5 Watt class
1st Rhynhardt Louw, ZS6DXB 828 points;
2nd Byron Engler, ZR5KH 736 points;
3rd Gary Potgieter, ZS5NK 704 points.
The provisional results of the second leg of the SARL VHF/UHF Contest have been released. Six contest logs and one check log were received.
Multi-operator field station
Pretoria ARC, ZS6PTA 288 038 points.
Single operator fixed
1st Willem Bardenhorst, ZS6WAB 32 050 points;
2nd Marius Preston, ZS4MP 28 637 points;
3rd Andre Botes, ZS2ACP 21 516 points;
4th Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT 12 518 points;
5th Paul Smit, ZS6NK 4 724 points.
A check log was received from Al Akers, ZS2U.
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 levels till 27 October. It will then increase to unsettled levels till 31 October. 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.
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. Contacts with New Zealand are going to be very challenging. From 06:00, 20 m contacts may be possible with Australia. From 08:00 contacts with Peru on 20 m may be possible for a few minutes. Brazil may be worked on 15 m from 14:00. From 16:00 there may be good 15 and 20 m openings towards Europe. Contacts with the USA East Coast are possible on 15 m from 18:00.
10 MHz is looking promising late afternoon and after dark for the CW and digital enthusiasts.
Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the day time. 80 m may perform well during the early mornings and late afternoons over the shorter distances, e.g. between ZS5 and ZS6. 30 m may perform well during the middle of the day between ZS6 and ZS1.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings. With summer here the thunderstorms and static may be a bit challenging.
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 on your rig, listen and also call CQ.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
1 November Pretoria Amateur Radio Club Flea Market;
2 November President's Net;
15 November Closing date for submission of comments on draft competition manual;
15 November Closing date for learner's essay "Man's habitation of the moon: can Amateur Radio play a role?";
29 November Working with PICs course;
30 November Closing date for submission of nominations for councillors;
31 January 2009 Last day for submission of motions and agenda items for 2009 SARL AGM.
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.
Roger, ZR3RC, compiled today's South African Radio League news bulletin.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
