SARL NEWS SUNDAY 19 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).
SILENT KEYS
It was reported that the following radio amateurs became silent keys:
Hubertus Paquay, ZS6EO, already on the 23rd June 2008.
Kobus Geldenhuys, ZR6ABG, on the 19th June.
Cornelis Brits, ZS6CBG, on the 2nd July in the age of 92 years. He and Ita, ZS6MJG, who is left behind, were married for 69 years.
Hans Jurgens Brits, ZS6HJB, on Sunday 05 July 2009 at the age of 69.
Our condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased.
(PAUSE)
In the news today
BACAR SET TO LAUNCH ON SATURDAY 8 AUGUST
WESTERN CAPE RTA PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB
CELEBRATE 2010 WORLD CUP SOCCER WITH A SPECIAL EVENT STATION
GET IN TOUCH WITH THE YOUTH DURING SCIENCE WEEK
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
BACAR SET TO LAUNCH ON SATURDAY 8 AUGUST
The long awaited BACAR flight will take place on 8 August 2009. BACAR is planned to be launched between 08:00 and 08:15 and with a multi-payload which should be of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners around the country.
The launch site has not been finalized but will be announced during the week. Members of the BACAR team are visiting various sites to establish the best site that will provide the launch team access to Gauteng repeaters to enable commentary of the launch activity to be broadcast on 7 082 kHz and streaming on echolink and on the web. The other problem associated with selecting a launch site is compliance with air traffic regulations. Once a suitable launch site has been selected, high level weather conditions such as the wind speed and direction will be determined in order to file a flight plan with air traffic control.
The payload includes an APRS system operating on 144,800 MHz which will be switched on 2 minutes before launch and allow APRS stations to follow the flight of BACAR. The callsign of the APR beacon is ZS6SAT. A VHF beacon on 144,825 MHz will be operating every 2 minutes for the first 30 minutes of the flight on voice, MCW and CW, for the following 119 minutes every 5 minutes and then revert to every 2 minutes.
A 40 metre beacon will be operating on 7 022 kHz with telemetry information every one minute. The information includes the inside and outside temperature and the pressure in millibar.
Visit www.amsatsa.org.za for more information on the flight.
Commentary will be carried on 7 082 kHz, on 2 metres in Gauteng and on echolink and webcasting. More information will be in SARL news on 2 August.
Radio amateurs submitting a telemetry line of the 40 metre transmission together with details of their location will be awarded a BACAR certificate of participation. Telemetry details must be sent to bacar@sarl.org.za on the day of the launch.
WESTERN CAPE RTA PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB
Have you diarized 22 August 2009? The Western Cape RTA will be held on that date at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology, City Campus. The attendance prizes are sponsored by RS Components including a soldering station and a multi-meter. The registration fee is R40 which includes light refreshments at the lunch break. The programme has enthralled audiences in Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Do not miss the event. Download the programme from www.sarl.org.za.
CELEBRATE 2010 WORLD CUP SOCCER WITH A SPECIAL EVENT STATION
Clubs affiliated to the SARL are invited to apply for use of the special event station callsign ZS10WCS, World Cup Soccer. Clubs will be selected by ballot. There are two categories: the months leading up to the event and the periods during the actual event.
The 2010 World Cup Soccer will run from 11 June till 11 July 2010. During the event 4 slots are available 1 June - 10 June, 11 June to 21 June, 22 June to 1 July and 2 July to 12 July. During these four slots the successful clubs are expected to have a station on the air on HF every day as propagation conditions prevail. The second category is a month long namely the months from September 2009 to May 2010. During this period successful clubs are expected to have stations on the air over weekends ie Friday evening till Sunday Night. Clubs must arrange their own schedule and can include any of their members who hold a valid HF callsign.
Each club allocated a period will be responsible to assemble all the logs within one week after their allocated period, fill out QSL cards which will be supplied and submit this to the SARL Headquarters. Requests for direct QSLing will be handled by the QSL bureau.
A detailed document will be mailed to as apart of the SARL letter to clubs early next week. Interested clubs must file their applications by 15 August. The draw will take place on 22 August at the RTA in Cape Town.
GREY PRODUCTS
The SARL bulletin of Sunday 5 July 2009 included incorrect information. It was reported that so called grey amateur radio equipment may not be guaranteed by the manufacturer and that the local agent will not repair or service such equipment. This generalization is not correct. A prospective buyer of equipment must acquaint himself what conditions and guarantees will be applicable to the contract before he concludes the purchase. The situation may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. It is impossible to lay down a general rule.
The SARL is proud of its independency and only serves the interests of the wider amateur community. The SARL regrets any damage that may have been caused by the previous news item.
GET IN TOUCH WITH THE YOUTH DURING SCIENCE WEEK
The SARL will be participating in Science week 2009 at the Sci Bona Science Discovery Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg from 3 - 7 August. The SARL will present two workshop session and will have an information stand outside the Sci Bona Radio Room. Volunteers are needed daily from Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 14:30. Secure parking is provided. Operators are also needed for the Sci Bona station.
If you can assist send an email to youth@sarl.org.za with your details. Besides rendering a service to amateur radio you will enjoy your time at Sci Bona.
COMPETITION NEWS
35 Stations took part in the 2009 SARL PSK contest and 8 submitted logs. Check logs were sent in by Jan, ZS6BMN, and Eddie, ZS6BNE.
Results are as follows:
QRP Stations (< 5 Watt):
Colette, ZS2CR, Single operator (40 m) - 425 Points
Jan ZS4JAN , Single operator (40 and 80 m) - 400 Points
QRO Stations (> 5 and < 100 Watt):
Pierre ZS6BB (20, 40 and 80 m) - 138 Points;
Johan ZS2I (40 and 80 m) - 112 Points;
Geoff ZS6GRL (20, 40 and 80 m) - 108 Points;
Phillip ZS6PVT (20, 40 and 80 m) - 31 Points;
Tienie ZS6MHH (40 and 80 m) - 24 Points;
Bert ZS6HS (2 and 6 m) - 3 Points.
It would appear that the late change to the limited 40 m band only was welcomed by all. It was also good to see participation on the VHF bands!
Congratulations to Colette, ZS2CR, the all round winner of the contest, working QRP! Congratulations to Jan, ZS4JAN, who came a close second! Colette, your certificate, sponsored by the Lichtenburg Amateur Radio Club (LARK), will be posted to you shortly.
CLUB NEWS
The next ZS6PTA Mega flea market will be held on Saturday 1 August at Pretoria Motor Club grounds in Silverton, Pretoria, from 08:00 to 11:00. For more information or to book a table, please contact Almero, ZS6LDP, on 082 908 3359.
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 visible solar disk is currently spotless but hopefully it will not remain that way for too long
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.
10 MHz is looking promising late afternoon and after dark for the CW and digital enthusiasts.
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.
Vincent, ZS6BTY, publishes an excellent graphical link reliability prediction for all the amateur bands on the Pretoria Amateur Radio Club's website. This prediction is available at www.parc.or.za. Click on the "Propagation" tab.
The best way to defeat the current low solar activity is to improve your antenna setup. Dipole or preferably directional antennas at at least 12 metres above ground level will make HF come alive for you again. A good antenna system is one of the best investments an amateur can make.
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. Now is the time to start making those contacts for your 80 m "Worked All ZS" award!
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
25/26 July – Islands on the Air Competition;
26 July – Boland ARC 40 m Sprint;
1 August – Pretoria ARC flea market;
2 August – SARL HF ESB Competition;
3/7 August – National Science Week and ZS6SCI active;
03 August - First teleconference meeting of the SARL Public Information Officer network at 20:00;
8 August - BACAR flight;
22 August – Western Cape RTA;
30 August – SARL HF CW Contest.
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 only 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
