SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 22 MARCH 2009
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 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 bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za and subscribe to receive future bulletins by e-mail.
Your news reader 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 52,750, 438,825 and 1 296 MHz FM in the Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to suit).
In the news today:
REGISTER NOW FOR NATCON 2009
CLASS B (ZU) EXAMINATIONS ON 20 MAY - START CLASSES NOW
SARL LETTER FOR CLUB COMMITTEES
CHANGES TO 40 METRES
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
REGISTER NOW FOR NATCON 2009
Registration for the SARL National Convention is now open. Full details are available on the web at www.sarl.org.za.
NATCON 2009 kicks off with a spit braai on Friday 24 April hosted by the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre at the showrooms of Toyota in Belville.
On Saturday 25 April registration for the AGM starts at 08:00 at the Oakdale club. The meeting starts at 09:00. Afternoon activities include a boat trip on Africa's largest catamaran, departing from the Cape Town Waterfront. Alternatively you can opt for a visit to Cape Town Radio.
The annual Awards Dinner will be held at the Oakdale Club and starts at 19:00. The draw for some fabulous prizes will take place at the dinner. At every event you participate in you will receive a lucky number which will go into the draw on the Saturday evening when you have to be present if your lucky number is drawn to receive one of the many prizes. The guest speaker at the dinner is Sias Mostert of SunSpace.
On Sunday morning NATCON 2009 concludes with a breakfast.
The Agenda for the AGM as well as all documentation for the meeting can be downloaded from the members’ section of the web. On the www.sarl.org.za home page click on the member's only button located on the top right and enter your PIN.
While attendance at the AGM is free and all members are invited to attend, there are charges for the other events. On the registration form you can choose which events you would like to attend.
NATCON 2009 has been arranged by the Boland Amateur Radio Club, The Oakdale Amateur Radio Club and the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre. They deserve your support to make NATCON 2009 a great success. Make your booking now.
CLASS B (ZU) EXAMINATIONS ON 20 MAY - START CLASSES NOW
The next National Class B examinations will take place on Wednesday 20 May 2009 with the closing date for registrations on 23 April 2009. The Class A examinations are held on the same date.
While clubs can register to run their own examinations for class B (See members only Web page on www.sarl.org.za) having your candidates sit the national examination requires far less administration for your club.
The instruction manuals for both Class A and Class B are available for free download from www.sarl.org.za. Please take students through the HF assessment early so that they can submit the assessment at the time of writing the examination.
It is also recommended that students for class A and Class B are given some hands-on on the air experience. It enhances their knowledge of amateur radio which will assist them in their examination.
SARL LETTER FOR CLUB COMMITTEES
The SARL has reintroduced the SARL letter dedicated to supply up-to-date information to clubs. The first newsletter of the new series was sent by email a few days ago. This edition is also posted on the SARL web under ClubTalk in the news section of the web. Club secretaries are requested to update their committee details with the SARL secretary and indicate which committee members require copies of the regular email sent to their mailboxes. Please advise the SARL secretary by email to secretary@sarl.org.za.
CHANGES TO 40 METRES
While changes to be 40 metre band are planned to come into effect on a world-wide basis on 29 March 2009, the actual implementation is dependant on each country's regulatory authority. The SARL has been working with ICASA to implement expansion of the 40 metre band and several other corrections to the frequency table in the regulations for the past 15 months. Unfortunately the process is slow. The current status is that the changes have been drafted and are with the legal department of ICASA. The SARL is working at the highest level at the authority to expedite the legal scrutiny and have the changes gazetted.
Please note that the additional 40 metre spectrum may not be used until it is published in the Government Gazette. Keep an eye on www.sarl.org.za, the information will be released as soon as it becomes available.
SARL MEMBERSHIP STILL GROWING
This week the SARL membership stood at 1 431 and is well on its way to the 1 500 mark. This week we welcome the following new members:
ZS6RF Leon Dalziel
ZR1JH Willem P J Baard
ZS3D Daniel J Mans
ZS6-5003 Louis Joffe
ZS1HR Hennie Janse van Rensburg
ZR6LSD DP Vermeulen
ZU6HB HP Botha
ZS6J Jan du Buisson
ZU1RG Ray Guess
ZR3DC D Cassela
ZR2TWG T Giwa
ZR6RIL R.I Langa
ZR3DJY J Lyuma
ZR6KGM K.G. Magano
ZR4SNM S.N. Mahamutsa
ZR6BMS B.S. Mokete
ZR6TJA M.M. Tjabadi
ZR5GF G.F. Msomi
ZR6MSR M.S. Rambau
ZR6LLM L. Hongwe
ZR6KGD M Kgoedi
ZR6MTM M.M. Tshabalala
ZR6PS L Swandle
ZR6KAM K Sesoko
You have made the right decision to join the South African Radio League, the National Body for Amateur Radio in South Africa. You are most welcome.
CONTEST NEWS
SARL 80 Metre QSO Party.
The first leg of the SARL 80 metre QSO party will be run on Thursday evening 2 April starting at 19:00 and ending at 22:00 CAT. It is a phone contest with activity in the band segment 3,600 to 3,650 and 3,700 to 3,800 MHz. The exchange is your call sign, a RS signal report and a serial number commencing with 001. Ten points are earned for every contact with a South African station and 15 points for every contact with a station outside South Africa.
Log and summary sheets must be sent to the Durban Amateur Radio Club, 17 Brownlee Place, Bluff, Durban, 4052 or by e-mail to zs5lp@sharksden.co.za. The closing date for your log submission is 17 April 2009.
SARL HF Field Day.
The Contest Committee received twenty logs for the first leg of the SARL HF Field Day held in February. Nineteen logs were contest logs with the log of the Lichtenburg ARC, ZS6LRK, as a check log.
Multi operator field station.
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 64 312 points, low power;
2nd Boland ARC, ZS1TB, 60 736 points, low power;
3rd Sandton ARC, ZS6STN, 44 832 points, low power.
Single operator field station.
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, 92 400 points, QRP;
2nd Pierre van Deventer, ZS6BB, 38 052 points, QRP;
3rd Tienie Herbst, ZS6MHH, 15 348 points, high power.
General station.
1st Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT, 37 782 points, QRP;
2nd Philip Esterhuizen, ZU4PE, 33 096 points, low power;
3rd Mitchel Mynhardt, ZU6M, 26 224 points, low power.
Thank you to everybody who participated and a special word of thanks to those who submitted a log and summary sheet and well done to the winners of the different categories. The full results have been published in HF Happenings 345.
CLUB NEWS
ERB Committee Expands.
At the last East Rand Branch meeting the following members were co-opted to the committee.
Honorary Treasurer - Andre van Tonder, ZS6HE;
Youth Matters - Marius Mynhardt, ZS6MGM;
QSL Manager - Mitchel Mynhardt, ZU6M.
Mitchel is the youngest member ever to serve on committee. At 11 years old, he has shown his skill as an operator earning the WAZS 200 award within 8 months of receiving his license.
This determinitation and ability to confirm QSL's has earned Mitchel the right to serve on the committee as QSL manager. His duties will include sending and receiving QSL cards on behalf of the Branch and keeping the logbook updated.
At the monthly Disaster Management Communication Volunteers (DMCV) Ekurhuleni meeting held on 5 March the regional structures were activated. Ekurhuleni Metro (for those who don’t know, it is the previous East Rand) has been divided into four regions. Each region has a manager who takes control of that specific region. The first task of each regional manager is to establish a committee who will take control of the daily matters of the region. Monthly regional meetings will be held by each region. Periodically a meeting will be held for bi-directional feedback by the DMCV Ekurhuleni Committee.
The committee for DMCV Ekurhuleni is as follows:
Manager - Chris Gryffenberg,ZS6COG;
Secretary - Lydia Upfold,ZS6MTB;
Eastern Region Manager - Sias Pretorius, ZR6ABT;
Northern Region Manager - Howard Ware, ZS6ZS;
Southern Region Manager - Kobus van der Merwe, ZS6JPY;
Central Region Manager - Leon Lessing, ZS6LMG;
PR and Webmaster - Marcel Upfold, ZS6OTB.
Although the DMCV is an initiative of the ERB, the members of DMCV need not be a member of the ERB club. They call on all amateurs in the Ekurhuleni Metro area to contact the relevant regional manager if anyone wants to join the DMCV. Non amateurs may also join the DMCV as a runner. For further information visit www.zs6erb.co.za and read the section under DMCV.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be very low. The geomagnetic field is expected to be predominantly at quiet levels. The expected Effective Sun Spot number for the coming week will be less than 5. The sun's failure to produce sunspots is playing havoc with some frequency prediction programs that use stored sunspot values, and of course, with our HF comms as well. The frequency prediction programs tend to give optimistic and results must be treated with caution.
The imminent change of season with less energy from the sun reaching the Southern ionosphere is having an impact on propagation as well. 15 and 20 m will provide best opportunities for DX. There is a possibility of 15 m openings towards India from about 13:00 CAT followed by 20 m at 16:00. ZS6BZP have also received reports that 17 m is very useful to the east in the afternoons. Contacts with New Zealand are going to be very challenging. Weak 20 m contacts may be possible with Australia at 07:00. Contacts with Peru are unlikely. Brazil may be worked on 15 m from 14:00 till 18:00 and on 20 m afterwards. At 15:00 there may be 15 m openings followed by short 20 m openings at 18:00 towards Europe. Short, weak contacts with the USA East Coast are possible on 15 m at 20:00.
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. With winter on its way 20 m is preparing for hibernation but may still give surprising results round lunchtime.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings. The thunderstorms and static may still be a bit challenging.
Remember that this is only a prediction and that HF has the capability to pleasantly 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
21 and 22 March - SARL VHF/UHF Contests;
2 April - First leg of the SARL 80 Metre QSO Party;
18 April - World Amateur Radio Day, and
24-26 April - SARL National Convention, Cape Town.
SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners. Submit news items - 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 Amateur Radio Mirror International programme every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 860 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For the webstream 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.
You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League, compiled by Roger, ZR3RC, and edited by George, ZS6NE.. Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
