SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 26 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).
In the news today:
PRESIDENT’S SPEECH
PUBLICATION OF REVISED RADIO REGULATIONS IMMINENT
2009 RTA PROGRAMME
SARL AWARDS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
PRESIDENT’S SPEECH
What follows is a condensed version of the speech made by the President of the SARL, Rassie, ZS1YT, at the national Convention of the SARL.
Rassie pointed out that this year the SARL celebrates its eighty fifth birthday and that during the 85 years it encountered many crossroads but fortunately our forefathers have always managed to take the right decisions and steered our hobby into the right direction. One result is that we today have a number of frequencies available for use.
Rassie said that amateur radio is a comprehensive hobby which offers many opportunities for experimenting in a large field such as from the condtruction of equipment to the testing of new modes.
He pointed out that once again we are standing at a crossroad and asked whether every radio amateur will support the SARL to choose the road that must be chosen to follow in the future. He pointed out that at present we have to deal with lots of complacency, the notion that why should I do something as others will do it for me. Complacency is a dangerous past time.
Rassie said that as we probably all know by now the ANC will lead the government in South Africa for the next 5 years and they will implement policies decisions taken at their Polokwane congress, one of is how they see the frequency spectrum and he quoted from article 124 of the Polokwane policy document:
The ANC and its Government should ensure that the allocation of spectrum - which is a scarce national public resource - must contribute to the promotion of national interests, development and diversity. This should involve increasing the amount of spectrum and licenses dedicated to public use; for example, community radio and TV and mobile technologies.
It is quite clear that the frequency spectrum allocated to amateur radio must contribute to National interest.
A senior official of the Department of Communications said some time ago that amateur radio falls within the category of community radio since our Hamnet emergency communication makes a large contribution to the community when it is most needed.
Rassie said that we do not need to do anything addional to what we are already doing, but we must just do more of it. Thus for the next year Council has planned to:
• Expand our activities, to create a greater understanding of what amateur radio is and how it contributes to the country, not just in terms of disaster communication, but also the value in the classroom to develop the interest of learners into Science, Engineering and Technology.
• To continue to experiment with new technologies and contribute to the country’s body of knowledge.
Three of our programmes address these issues directly:
the Public Information Network,
the Radio Technology in Action Programme
and Amateur Radio Seminar for Public Officials
Rassie asked that we increase our attendance of the RTA’s and that we support the Public Information Network. Whilst all the planning for the on the air activities, such as for the 2010 World Soccer Cup and the 2011 IARU Conference, are being done, he appeals to all radio amateurs to join the National Body for Amateur Radio and devote some of your time and expertise to make the programmes work. He said he is sure it is the correct road and asked whether he can rely on you?
PUBLICATION OF REVISED RADIO REGULATIONS IMMINENT
ICASA has confirmed that the final draft of the Government Gazette was submitted to the ICASA Council on Friday. According to an Email from ICASA they expect that the new regulations will be published during the week starting 5 May. The revised regulations will correct the 20 metre allocation for ZR licensees and the new 7 100 to 7 200 kHz allocation. Please note that these changes will only come into affect after publication of the Government Gazette.
LAST CHANCE TO ENTER THE 2009 CONSTRUCTION COMPETITION
The closing date for entries in the 2009 Construction competition has been extended to 28 April when the judging for the second phase will take lace. Full derails can be found on www.amateurradio.org.za. The main prize is an ICOM IC-7200 HF Transceiver with 50MHz included. The IC-7200 is the latest from ICOM offering with IF DSP and many other features to provide superb communication. The prize is sponsored by Multisource Communications, the ICOM dealer in South Africa.
2009 RTA PROGRAMME WILL BLOW YOU AWAY
Full details of the RTA programme have been published on the SARL web. It is one of the annual SARL events that no amateur should miss. The first RTA will be in Gauteng on 9 May at the NARC starting at 8:30 with registration. The symposium proper will start at 9 am.
Entrance fee is only R30 which includes entry in the attendance prize competition. The main prize is a tool bag with tools value at over R1600 sponsored by RS. Get all the details on www.sarl.org.za or send an email to armi@sarl.co.za and a copy will be mailed to you.
AWARDS PRESENTED BY THE SARL
During the dinner last night services rendered to amateur radio, or through it to the community, and for achievements in competitions were acknowledged by the presentation of awards as follows:
Honorary Life Membership – the SARL’s highest honour – to Henry Chamberlain, ZS1AAZ.
Willie Wilson Gold Badge for the amateur that gave exceptional and meritorious service to the League to Francois Botha, ZS6BUU, for his work as Hamnet Manager and his support to the SARL office.
Jack Twine Merit Award which recognises qualities such as unselfishness, clean operating and a genuine interest in Amateur Radio and its affairs and who, in the opinion of their fellow amateurs and the League's Council, exemplify the qualities desirable in a Radio Amateur to:
ZS4TX
ZS4U
ZS4S
ZS4JAN
The award is for the work that these amateurs did with the establishment of the ZS9X contest station and the international reputation that it achieved.
Icom Excellence Award, the “premier” award of the SARL. To Andre Botes, ZS2ACP and Paul Smit, ZS6NK, for their work on 4 m Meteor Scatter - they made the first 4 m MS QSO outside of Europe as well as setting the meteor scatter record and distance record in South Africa.
President’s Award to Bert Howes, ZS6HS for being a SARL member for more than 70 years. He is to be awarded a gold pen at the coming RTA at the NARC.
The Hamnet Shield, a new award, went to Glenham Duffy, ZS5GD, for his support of the 84 Signal Units, HF relays, assisting in operation of the Joint Operations Centre in Durban and the key role he played in the development of HAMNET training modules.
Arthur Hemsley 2 metre Trophy for extraordinary performance on EME or modes such as Tropospheric propagation. It is not for the longest distance worked but rather for persistence in achieving something special on 2 metres, awarded to Glenn Kraut, ZS2GK, for his contact with Philippe Mondon, FR5DN.
Joseph White Plaque for exceptional achievements in the 432 MHz band during the past year awarded to Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, for his 70 cm EME and Tropo activity.
Bert Buckley Six metre Trophy for individual achievements with transmissions in the six metre amateur band awarded to Paul Smit, ZS6NK, for the his QRP (100 W and single yagi) 6 m EME QSO with W7GJ.
Radio ZS Shield for best support of Radio ZS during the year awarded to Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV.
JJ Pienaar Trophy for the best article published in Radio ZS during the past year went to Vidi La Grange, ZS1EL for his articles on modifying the “Force 12” antennas .
Gary Immelman RA Heritage Award Floating Trophy and a gold pen, for the best article of an historic nature to Dennis Wells, ZS1AU, for his series “These Really were the Good Old Days” in Radio ZS.
Arland Ussher Gold Pen Award for the highest marks in the RAE awarded to Carol Defty, ZS1MOM, who achieved an average of 95% in the May 2008 RAE.
SARL HF Contest Awards
The following floating trophies are currently presented annually at the SARL AGM. They are awarded to the various category winners of the annual SARL HF Contests.
Silent Keys Memorial Trophy SSB for the amateur who achieves the highest score during the annual HF Phone Contest went to Gary Potgieter, ZS5NK.
Silent Keys Memorial Trophy CW for the highest score achieved during the annual HF CW Contest went to Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR.
Joseph White Trophy for the highest score achieved on any one band, during the annual HF Phone Contest awarded to Jan Botha, ZS4JAN.
Fred Mills Trophy for achieving the highest score during the annual HF Phone/CW Contest and never having won a SARL HF Contest Trophy before awarded to Pierre van Deventer, ZS6BQS.
Anon Trophy for the amateur who achieved the highest score on any one band, during the annual HF CW Contest to Vidi La Grange, ZS1EL.
HOS Trough for the amateur who achieved the highest aggregate score in both annual HF Contests to Jan Botha, ZS4JAN.
The Club Participation Award for the Club who achieves the highest participation in both annual HF CW and Phone Contests went to the Bloemfontein Radio Amateur Club, ZS4BFN.
CONTEST NEWS
The contest committee has released the results of the first leg of the SARL VHF/UHF Contest run on 21 and 22 March. The committee is disappointed that only seven logs were submitted and hope to receive more logs for the second leg in September.
Multi-operator station:
1st Magalies Radio Amateur Club, ZS6MRK, 21 077 points;
2nd John Vorster Technology School Radio Club, ZS6JVT, 4 739 points.
Single Operator station:
1st Johan van Aarde, ZS2I, 2 811 points;
2nd Marius Preston, ZS4MP, 2 008 points;
3rd Tienie Herbst, ZS6 MHH, 1 285 points;
4th Bert Howes, ZS6HS, 413 points;
5th Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC, 165 points.
The first ZS3 Sprint will be on the air on Sunday 3 May from 16:00 to 17:00 CAT with phone and CW on the 40 metre band. Here is your opportunity to work the ZS3 call area for the Worked all ZS and All Africa Awards as well as Chasing Maidens. The exchange is a RS(T) report and the provincial abbreviation.
CLUB NEWS
The Sasolburg Radio Club is hosting a fox hunt on Saturday the 2nd of May. Hunters meet at 08:00, hunt starts at 09:00. We braai from 12:00 and the club meeting follows at 15:00. Everyone is welcome - come and join in the fun! Enquiries to Riaan ZS4PR, 083 581 8569.
The Northern Cape Amateur Radio Club will on 2 and 3 May operate a field radio station at the request of the Northern Cape Voortrekkers. The Voortrekkers will in the evenings be offered the opportunity to experience amateur radio; listen for ZS3NC and speak to a voortrekker.
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. Currently there are no physical sunspots on the surface of the sun. We are indeed experiencing a very deep minimum. The sun's failure to produce sunspots is playing havoc with some frequency prediction programs that uses known 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, 17 and 20 m will provide best opportunities for DX. Conditions to the East and the West will be good from the early afternoon onwards. During the late afternoon and early evenings it will be good towards the North. The North Easterly, North Westerly, South Easterly and South Westerly paths will 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 over 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
28 April – Last day to enrol for the 2009 construction competetion;
1 and 2 May – Voortrekkercamp ZS3NC on the air;
2 May – West Rand flea market;
2 May – Sasolburg fox hunt;
3 May - ZS3 Sprint;
9 May – RTA at the NARC;
15 May – Closing date for SARDT award nominations.
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 17 570 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
