SARL NEWS SUNDAY 05 July 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
BEWARE OF GREY IMPORTS
BACAR PRE-LAUNCH WORKSHOP ON SATURDAY 11 JULY
CLUB AFFILIATION TO THE SARL
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
BEWARE OF GREY IMPORTS
Radio Amateurs are warned to think twice before buying grey imported equipment as a bargain may turn into an expensive purchase. Grey imports are goods that bypass the official agents or distributors and are often sold at much lower prices than those charged by the official agents and their distributors and do not carry manufacturers' guarantees. The South African law is quite clear on the issue of grey imports. Companies selling grey imported products must declare at the time of selling these goods that they are grey imports and are not covered by guarantees. Most amateur radio equipment such as Yaesu, ICOM and Kenwood only carry a guarantee if purchased from the appointed distributors and their agents. Distributors and agents are not obliged to service or repair grey imported goods.
There are brands that carry a world guarantee which means that if you purchase a PC Notebook in the USA and something goes wrong when you are back home in Johannesburg, they will honour the guarantee period and fix the notebook. In most instances that is not the case, therefore think twice before buying grey imported goods and if after considering the odds and you buy a grey imported transceiver, understand that it is at your own risk and that the authorised Distributor will not support the goods with service and repair.
BACAR PRE-LAUNCH WORKSHOP ON SATURDAY 11 JULY
To prepare for the BACAR launch on Saturday 25 July, a pre-launch workshop will be held on Saturday 11 July starting at 09:00 at the National Amateur Radio Centre. During the workshop the full payload will be tested and final preparations for the launch will be made. A number of teams have to be set-up to take care of the launch, weather and wind predictions, tracking, reporting from the launch site and at the NARC and mapping of the flight as it progresses.
At the workshop a detailed plan will be finalised and communicated on the web to enable radio amateurs in other parts of the country to follow the BACAR flight, monitor the various beacons and operate through the transponder.
Get involved in this exciting event on the amateur radio calendar and attend the workshop next Saturday.
CLUB AFFILIATION TO THE SARL
Recently the SARL announced a new club affiliation scheme which was developed following discussion at the AGM and during a recent president's net. The scheme offers financial benefits for clubs and ultimately greater participation in annual general meetings. The full details were shared with clubs in the SARL letter of 5 June. This week full details were also published on the home page of the SARL web. Take the opportunity to study the details and discuss it at your next club meeting.
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER NETWORK TO GET OFF THE GROUND
The first meeting, via teleconference, of the SARL Public Information Officer network (PIO network) will be held on Monday 3 August at 20:00. The agenda and documentation will be available a week before. If your club has not yet appointed, and registered a PIO, please do so without delay. Details about the PIO network and an application form can be found on www.sarl.org.za, click on news and select club talk.
RADIO ZS IN YOUR POSTBOX AND ON THE WEB
The May June edition of Radio ZS should be in your post box by now. In this edition you can read about Africa's first EME activity, how to build a 2 m/70 cm diplexer with a difference, learn more about the Maidenhead locator system, read about the first radio amateur in space and sending data by radio. In addition there are the regular columns on Amateur Radio in Space and radio, Museums and scouting.
If you are not a member and would like a trial copy of Radio ZS, send an email to armi@sarl.org.za with Trial copy Radio ZS in the subject line.
RAE CLASSES
The Sandton ARC will be starting the next set of RAE lectures on 21 June 2009 at 19:00 at the National Amateur Radio centre.
If you are interested, or know any persons who may be interested in joining the course they can contact Mark Zank, ZS6YES, on cell 083 367 8943 or alternately via email to zs6yes@gmail.com.
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. The expected Effective Sun Spot Number for the coming week will be less than 5. The region in the sun's southern hemisphere that was trying to form as a sunspot is decaying and the sun should remain blank of sunspots.
With the winter here less energy from the sun is reaching the Southern ionosphere and it is having an impact on propagation. 15, 17 and 20 m will provide best opportunities for DX. Conditions to the East and the West will be good from the afternoon onwards. During the late afternoon and early evenings it will be good towards the North. Early in the morning it may be possible to make contacts with Australia and New-Zealand. During the evening 40 m contacts may be possible with Brazil. The North Easterly, North Westerly, South Easterly and South Westerly paths will be challenging. Long path propagation towards the USA is also possible during the afternoons.
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 up to the middle of the day between ZS6 and ZS1.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings. Fortunately the static noise levels are on the decrease making contacts over the longer distances a bit more pleasant.
Some exciting news is that the Northern California DX Foundation's international beacon network is monitored at the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, ZS1HMO, and the signal strengths of the received beacons are automatically logged. The graphic results are available at http://spaceweather.hmo.ac.za and are very enlightening. Select "Ionospheric Data" and then "HF Propagation Conditions" to see which beacons were recently and not so recently received.
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
11 July – BACAR pre-launch workshop at 09:00 at the NARC;
13 July – Closing date for submission of logs for the SARL Digital Contest;
16 July - Closing date for submission of logs for the Durban ARC Mid- Winter Sprint;
25 July – BACAR flight;
03 August - First teleconference meeting of the SARL Public Information Officer network at 20:00.
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. Please do not send news items to the Office Administrator or one of the bulletin compilers – an item sent that way might be missed and not be included in a bulletin.
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
