SARL NEWS SUNDAY 23 AUGUST 2009
You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official radio station of the South Afri-can 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
ANOTHER BACAR LAUNCH
SUMBANDILASAT LAUNCH STILL ON TRACK FOR 15 SEPTEMBER
DISCOUNTED SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL ENDS 31 AUGUST
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
ANOTHER BACAR LAUNCH
SA AMSAT will launch another BACAR flight on Saturday 12 September 2009. The BACAR team recovered the payloads intact and is working on a new con-figuration to overcome the problems that saw the last BACAR flight de-orbit very quickly. As the team finalises the details of the next launch, www.amsatsa.org.za will be updated. The launch is scheduled for between 08:00 and 08:15.
SUMBANDILASAT LAUNCH STILL ON TRACK FOR 15 SEPTEMBER
The technical launch team from Sunspace, the company that built Sumbandila-Sat and integrated all the payloads, left for Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thurs-day and arrived yesterday. The team will unpack the satellite and go through rigorous tests to ensure that all the systems are working. The team is expected to be at Baikonur for nine days. One person will stay behind to do a final battery recharge prior to the launch.
On their return to Stellenbosch, the Sunspace team will finalise the setup of the ground station in preparation for activating the satellite. Sum-bandilaSat will be separated from the rocket about three hours after lift-off in its flight over Africa, approximately 30 minutes before coming within reach of the ground station in South Africa.
Extensive testing will be carried out for two to three months. Radio ama-teurs can expect a Christmas bonus, as the amateur payload will be tested and may be on periodically.
SA AMSAT is working closely with Sunspace and the Department of Science and Technology on an operational schedule, to be realised early in 2010.
DISCOUNTED SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL ENDS 31 AUGUST
There are only a few days left to renew your subscription of the SARL at the discounted rate of R320 for ordinary members and R200 for senior mem-bers. From 1 September, the rates are R340 for ordinary members and R212 for senior members. Make use of the discounted rates and renew your sub-scriptions before it expires.
SARL PRESENTED AT TABLE OF FREQUENCY HEARING
The SARL presented its proposals at the Table of Frequency public hearings held by ICASA this past week. The SARL's Councillor for Regulatory Affairs, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, submitted proposals for expanding the 160 metre band to its full ITU range from 1 800 to 2 000 kHz. New allocations around 500 kHz and 5 MHz, and various microwave frequencies to cater for amateur WiFi networks were also requested.
ICASA’s decision on the proposals is awaited.
NO MORE Q CODE SUFFIXES
ICASA has confirmed that the authority has blocked call sign suffixes that are part of the Q codes and SOS. A few amateurs’ and one club call sign are in the Q-code group. When these call signs are no longer used, they will also be added to the blocked list. Radio amateurs who have call signs with Q-code suffixes are urged to apply for a change in call sign.
The SARL appreciates the action taken by ICASA.
NEW MEMBERS
The SARL welcomes new members who have joined in the past few months. We are sure that you will enjoy the benefits SARL membership offers, and ap-preciate your support of amateur radio:
David Whitehouse, ZSL-1841 George Klein, ZR1GRK I.R Westwood, ZS1WY
Karel van Reenen, ZS1JZ Scott Maltby, ZR2SAM Derek Stuart, ZR2WB
Neville Bowden, ZS2N Edward Smook , ZS2ES W.G Hewitt, ZS2CC
Rudi Mostert, ZS3RM Hennie Greyling, ZS4HG Thys Janse van Rens-burg, ZR5TVR
Anrè Kehlert, ZR6ANK Martin Nortman, ZR6TMN Charlotte Miller, ZU6CEM
Peter Miller, ZR6PCM Jacques van der Merwe, ZR6JA Russel Patterson, ZR6WAX
Gert Combrink, ZR6PY Dylan De Witt, ZU6D Anton Janovsky, ZR6AIC
Deon Kruger, ZS6DKR Braam Devenier, ZS6AYE
CONTEST NEWS
The SARL HF CW Contest will be run on Sunday 30 August from 16:00 to 18:00 CAT on 20, 40 and 80 metres. The exchange is a RST report and a sequential serial number starting at 001. The rules are available in the 2009 SARL Contest Manual.
The IARU Region 1 SSB Field Day takes place over the weekend of 5 and 6 September.
The Spring QRP Sprint will be run on Sunday 13 September.
CLUB NEWS
At the AGM of the Highway Amateur Radio club on Tuesday 18 August 2009, the following committee was elected:
Brian Roodt, ZS5BBR, Craig Hardman, ZS5CD, Gary Potgieter, ZS5NK, Keith Lowes, ZS5WFD and Odette McManus, ZU5OM.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP reports that the solar activity is still at a mini-mum and that it is now more than 40 days without an official sunspot. The agony continues!
20 and 40 m will provide best opportunities for DX. Conditions to the East and the West will be good from the afternoon onwards. During the late af-ternoon and early evenings, it will be good towards the North. In the morn-ing, it may be possible to make contacts with Australia. Contacts with New Zealand may be possible on 40 m during the evenings. During the early morn-ings and evenings, 40 m contacts may be possible with Brazil.
Vincent, ZS6BTY, publishes an excellent near real-time graphical link reli-ability 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.
Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the daytime. 80 m may perform well during the early mornings and late afternoons over the shorter distances. 30 m will perform well over the longer distances during the mid-dle of the day. 80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
24 August – closing date YL Sprint and 40 m Mobile logs;
30 August – SARL HF CW Contest;
5 September – West Rand Flea Market;
5 and 6 September – IARU Region 1 SSB Field Day;
12 September – BACAR launch;
13 September – Spring QRP Sprint
15 September – Launch of SumbandilaSat.
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 Interna-tional 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 transmis-sion 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 Dennis, ZS4BS/2 in Barkly East and edited by Hester van der Walt.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
