SARL NEWS SUNDAY 06 SEPTEMBER 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).
SILENT KEY
SARL News has been informed that the funeral service for Peter Hoyle, ZS6TAO, whose key went silent on Thursday 27 August 2009, will be held on Monday 14 September 2009 at 10:00 at the Dove Chapel in Jorrison Street, Braamfontein.
In the news today
BACAR SET FOR LAUNCH ON SATURDAY
SUMBANDILASAT LAUNCH ON TRACK
ZS10WCS ON THE AIR THIS WEEKEND
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
BACAR SET FOR LAUNCH ON SATURDAY
The second BACAR flight of 2009 will be launched on Saturday 12 September from the Klerksdorp (PC Pelser) Airfield. The co-ordinates are S26°52'00" and E26°43'00". The reason for a change in launch site is to meet the re-quirements of the air traffic authorities.
The launch is planned for between 08:00 and 08:30 CAT. Launch cover-age will start at 07:30 from the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre on 7 082 kHz and 145,750 MHz.
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 fol-low the flight of BACAR. The callsign of the APR beacon is ZS6SAT-7. 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, after that every 5 minutes for the following 119 minutes and then revert back to every 2 minutes.
A 40 metre beacon will be operating on 7 022 kHz with telemetry in-formation every one minute. The information includes the inside and out temperature and the pressure in millibar. Visit www.amsatsa.org.za for more information on the flight.
Get a certificate: Radio Amateurs who submit 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.
Certificates for the August launch will be mailed within the next two weeks.
SUMBANDILASAT LAUNCH ON TRACK
The launch of SumbandilaSat is on track for 15 September 2009. In an inter-view with SA AMSAT, Johan Erasmus, SunSpace systems engineer, speaking from the launch site in Kazakhstan, said that the satellite had travelled well and that all systems performed according to specification during the test-ing phase after the satellite was unpacked in the clean room at the Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan. He said that the amateur payload performed well. The beacon, parrot repeater and transponder were tested from a distance and RF levels measured. "We were delighted with the re-sults."
The butane propulsion system tank was filled and the batteries charged. On Wednesday 2 September SumbandilaSat was integrated with the launch platform. The main payload, a Russian governmental satellite, has arrived in Baikonur for integrating. The launch platform is expected to be transported to the actual launch facility and integrated with the rocket during the coming week. "All looks good for a 15 September launch", Johan Erasmus said.
Listen to the interview on www.amsatsa.org.za and on Amateur Radio Mirror International later this morning.
ZS10WCS ON THE AIR THIS WEEKEND
The special event station to celebrate the 2010 world cup soccer event will be on the air every weekend. During September the operation will be managed by the Boland Amateur Radio Club. QSL is via the bureau. Full details on www.sarl.org.za.
A UNIVERSAL AMATEUR RADIO TEXT MESSAGING INITIATIVE
A universal amateur radio text messaging initiative has been proposed by the amateur who gave the hobby APRS. Writing in the special emergency com-munications issue of QST magazine, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, introduces a broad new initiative to find ways to seamlessly connect many of the dozens of ex-isting amateur radio text messaging capabilities together.
Bruninga's concept is that of a universal information exchange be-tween amateur radio, the Internet, cell phone and other broadband devices. Also included is the ability to do station tracking using APRS and message exchange to and from DTMF equipped amateur radio gear.
Under the WB4APR concept all a amateur radio operator would need would be his or her callsign as a text address to have emergency test mes-saging available. His article titled “a Universal Amateur Radio Text Mes-saging Initiative” begins on page 72 of the September issue of QST.
NEW MEMBERS
This week we welcome the following new members: Jacobus van der Westhuizen, ZR6KBS, and B P Meyer, ZR6MP. Thank you for supporting the SARL and Amateur Radio.
MISSED THE MEMBERSHIP SPECIAL?
If you did miss the membership special which ended at the end of August you still have till 30 September to renew your membership and maintain an un-broken membership record. The fee for an ordinary member is only R340 per annum, that is less than R1 per day, little enough to be a member of the national body that looks after the frequency bands and represent amateur radio at all levels of government, and internationally though membership of the International Amateur Radio Union at the ITU. It is your membership that adds to the strength of the SARL's voice. To join, visit www.sarl.org.za or call Mariska at 011 675 2393 Monday to Thursday from 08:30 - 16:00 and on Friday from 08:30 - 11:00.
PIO MEET ON MONDAY
The Public Information Network meets on Monday at 19:45. For more details on the PIO network visit media resources on www.sarl.org.za.
OCTOBER RAE
The Closing date for the October 2009 RAE Entries is on the 24th September 2009.
It is imperative that all application forms are submitted to the SARL office in a completed format by this date.
No Late entries will be accepted. Incomplete forms or missing docu-mentation will result in a disqualification to write the RAE.
Should you have any queries relating to the RA examination, or are unsure of what to provide, please contact Mariska at the SARL office on Tel 011 675 2393 2393 Monday to Thursday from 08:30 - 16:00 and on Friday from 08:30 - 11:00 or alternately email her to admin@sarl.org.za.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at a mini-mum. The new sun spot that appeared during the week has faded and a new spotless streak has begun. Solar activity is at some of the lowest levels ever recorded.
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 afternoon and early evenings it will be good towards the North. In the morning 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 mornings and evenings 40 m contacts may be possible with Brazil.
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. 30 m will perform well over the longer distances during the middle 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
06 September – IARU Region 1 SSB Field Day;
07 September – PIOs meet at19:45;
12 September – BACAR launch, 08:00 – 08:15;
13 September – Spring QRP Sprint;
15 September – Launch of SumbandilaSat;
18 to 20 September – SARL VHF/UHF Contest;
24 September – Entries for the October RAE to be in.
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 George, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
