SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 05 APRIL 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).
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
WHERE HAVE THE SUNSPOTS GONE?
PRESIDENT’S NET TODAY AT 19:30
STILL NO 7 MHz BAND EXPANSION
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower. 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008. Maybe not!
Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days. It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: "We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Centre. This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century.
Listen to Amateur Radio Mirror International later this morning or visit www.sarl.org.za for more about the lack of sunspots and other changes observed in space weather patterns.
The SARL Presiden’st Net will be on the air this evening (Sunday 5 April) starting at 19:30. Rassie Erasmus will report back on the strategy Indaba of Council and the National Convention to be held in Cape Town from 24 to 26 April. The full extent of the strategy for 2009/2010 will be tabled at the Annual General meeting on Saturday 15 April and covered in the SARL annual report.
One of the main issues to be discussed during the President's net is the proposed increase and structure of the license fees. Judging from the entries on the forum radio amateurs are taking a keen interest in the proposals by ICASA contained in the Government Gazette of 16 March 2009.
Rassie Erasmus will discuss Council's position during the net and invite participation in the discussion. It should be noted that the discussion must be within the reference of the draft regulations. Following the debate the SARL will formulate the response to ICASA and request an opportunity to make a presentation at the public hearing.
The copy of the Goverment Gazette with the ICASA fee increase proposal is available for download from the SARL web. Go to publications, click on armi and follow the links. The file is in PDF and approx 3 meg in size. Please read the proposal before the net on Sunday evening to faciliate meaningful discussion.
During the past week the major role-players at ICASA attended the CRASA meeting in Zambia. CRASA is the Communications Regulators' Association of Southern Africa, a liaison body dealing with radio and other communication regulations across the SADC region. In a telephone discussion ICASA told the SARL that the matter of the extension to the 7 MHz bamd has been given priority and that the regulator's legal council is reviewing the draft regulation. On Monday we will now whether the draft changes to the regulation will be tabled at the weekly Council meeting on Tuesday. Any new information will be communicated on the SARL web pages.
AMSAT-DL achieved some early successes in its mission to send a spacecraft to Mars. From ground mission control station in Bochum radio frequency signals were sent to Venus. After nearly travelling 100 million kilometres and approximately five minutes, signals came back as echoes from the Venus surface and were received in Bochum. This was the first German success to receive echoes from other planets. Read the full story on www.amsatsa.org.za.
There will be lots of action at the SARL's National Amateur Radio Centre at Radiokop in Gauteng to celebrate World Amateur Radio Day on Saturday 18 April 2009. Activities will start at 10:00 with a demonstration of a tethered Bacar mission. Bacar will transmit a beacon on HF on 7 022 KHz and an APRS signal. The prototype hydrogen generator in preparation for Bacar's maiden flight in July will be demonstrated. Videos on Amateur Radio will be shown throughout the morning and ZS6SRL will be on the air.
Radio Amateurs and Shortwave listeners are invited to listen for the beacon signals and enter a competition with a 2008 ARRL handbook as one of the prizes to be won. More information in next week's SARL News and on the web.
What is your club doing to celebrate world amateur radio day on 18 April? SARL NEWS is eager to receive information to be included in a national PR campaign. Send details to armi@sarl.org.za.
The Hermanus Magnetic Observatory inaugurated a new state of the art ionosonde last Thursday to take propagation and ionospheric research to the next level. The project was initiated in 2006 by the Department of Communication in partnership with the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory and Rhodes University. One of the objectives of the project is the advancement of research into radio wave propagation thereby contributing to South Africa's participation in the work of the study group on propagation within the ITU. The data available from the ionosonde will be invaluable in contributing to the more efficient use of the radio spectrum by improving HF predictions.
The event was attended by SARL President, Rassie Erasmus, ZS1YT, who also used the opportunity to discuss a live link from the Space Weather Centre to the SARL website displaying information in real time. This was agreed. It will however require some IT intervention and installation of equipment at the NARC.
CONTEST NEWS
The Autumn QRP Sprint will take place on Sunday 19 April from 14:00 to 16:00 CAT. It is a CW and Phone contest in the 40 metre band. Participation is as a portable or fixed station running 5 W, 1 W or 100 mW. The exchange is a RS or RST report and the year first licenced. The rules can be found in the SARL Contest Manual at www.sarl.org.za.
Contestants in the SARL VHF/UHF analogue contest, which took place over the weekend of 21/22 March, are reminded that their logs must be submitted by Saturday 11 April, which is only one week from now. Logs may be submitted electronically to sarl.contest@peer.co.za or by post to PO Box 11198, Queenswood, 0121. Please note that registered articles cannot be accepted as the box does not belong to the SARL. Posted items must be postmarked on or before Saturday 11 April to be considered.
CLUB NEWS
The Transvaal Voortrekkers is having the Thaba Field Activity Camp from 3 to 9 April near Brits. Training in radio speech procedure is being done as part of the preparedness course. There are about 35 Grade 10 learners who will receive the training. As part of this the Voortrekkers in training will from time to time make use of 134,450 and 145,475 MHz under the supervision of Gerhard Schultz, ZS3G/6. The learners will appreciate it if any radio amateur in the vicinity of the camp will speak to them if they are heard.
At the March monthly meeting of Hamnet Western Cape it was decided to move the weekly radio bulletin transmitted on the 145,700 Mhz repeater in Cape Town, and relayed on to 3 760 kHz by ZS1DDK, to 19:30, to allow the 80 m relay to be heard before the band closes. The 80 m relay will be preceeded by a call-in on 3 760 kHz, starting at 19:00, with net control by David, ZS1DDK. All interested listeners are welcome to listen in, and signal reports will be appreciated. The change comes into effect from the 8th April 2009.
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 uses stored sunspot values, and of course, with our HF comms as well. The frequency prediction programs tend to give optimistic results and 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. 17 m may also be very usefull 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 08:00. 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 good 15 m openings followed by short 20 m openings at 18:00 towards Europe.
Contacts with the USA are going to be challenging.
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 before lunchtime.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings. Unfortunately the static noise levels are still a bit high making contacts on the longer distances 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
5 April – President’s net, that is tonight at 19:30;
3 – 9 April – Transvaal Voortrekkers on the air from a camp near Brits;
9 – 12 April – ZS3ARC active from Verneukpan;
11 April – VHF/UHF Analogue competition logs to be in;
18 April – Bacar demonstration at the NARC and ZS6SRL active for World Amateur Radio Day;
19 April - Autumn QRP Sprint;
23 APRIL – Last day to enter for the May RAE;
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 George, ZS6NE. Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
