SARL NEWS SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 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:

SO YOU NO LONGER HAVE ACCESS TO THE SARL MEMBER WEB PAGES!

CHECK YOUR HOME CONSTRUCTION COURSE REGISTRATION ON THE WEB

52nd JOTA/JOTI 2009 NEXT WEEKEND

You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.

SO YOU NO LONGER HAVE ACCESS TO THE SARL MEMBER WEB PAGES!

If you had not paid your subscription by 30 September you will no longer have access to the SARL members only pages and the various downloads that are available from there and Radio ZS online or in your mailbox. You can however remedy that fast by paying your subscription of R340 without any further delay. Contact Mariska Faasen at 011 675 2393 to get the details about electronic transfer facilities or the exact amount due. Ordinary member's fees for this year is R340. Senior members and junior pay less.
Once you have paid your outstanding subscription it may take two weeks for the access restoration process to be completed but at least you will know that you will soon have access to the web again. And what is more, that you are a proud supporter of Amateur Radio and the SARL.

CHECK YOUR HOME CONSTRUCTION COURSE REGISTRATION ON THE WEB

If you have registered you can check your registration for the home construction course on the web. Visit www.sarl.org.za, click on activities and select RTA where you will find a link to the Home Construction course page. For the Gauteng course there are only 6 seats still available. It is a good idea to check availability before you register. Each venue can only accommodate 20 persons.
The course will be presented by John Willescroft, ZS6EF.

OCTOBER RAE

The last RAE for this year takes place on the 22nd October. For those prospective amateurs in the Pretoria and Centurion areas, the RAE will again be written in the Higher Tegnological School, John Vorster at 1 072, Meyer Street, Rietfontein.
Candidates must report not later than 18:30 at the first classroom to the left of the main entrance gate.
Remember your ID book, pocket calculator, an extra pen or two and cool drink or water.
For any further information, contact Paul, ZS6PR, at Tel. 012-332-3157.
Magalies Radio Amateur Club, ZS6MRK, and John Vorster Radio Amateur Club, ZS6JVT, wish all candidates success with the examination.

52nd JOTA/JOTI 2009 NEXT WEEKEND

Once again it’s that time of the year when the Scouts and Guides will be on the air for the annual Jamboree-on-the-Air, 17th and 18th October. Scouts all over the World will be on the Air. In South Africa it starts at 00:01 on Saturday until Sunday 23:59 local time.
Whether or not you are helping with such a station please feel free to join in, especially if you were a scout or a guide when you were younger. As long as you keep the overs short and let the young do most of the talking you will be doing them a great service.
Demonstrate your favourite mode whether it is SSB, AM (A3E), slow scan TV, Packet or CW. Even if the signals are only heard, it will be very interesting for them. Morse code sent slowly can be a real “draw card” especially when they realize they can do the same.
Even if you have a club event next Saturday try to activate the club station and introduce your members to the Scout Movement.
Remember the scouts and guides are young and have long memories.
For more information on JOTA/JOTI, the International Scout Movement, refer to www.jota.sub.cc.

CONTEST NEWS

The provisional results of the SARL HF CW Contest have been released. Only thirteen logs were received for the contest, the majority of logs were submitted correctly.
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 100 points;
2nd Vidi la Grange, ZS1EL, 98 points;
3rd Pierre van Deventer, ZS6BB, 86 points;
4th Allan Smith, ZS1AAX, and Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR, 84 points.
The best score on a single band was by Vidi la Grange, ZS1EL, with 48 points on 40 metres.
The full results were published in HF Happenings 374.

CLUB NEWS

The Sasolburg Radio Club is proud to announce their new committee elected at their AGM held on the 4th October, the members are:
Chairman, Marius Preston, ZS4MP;
Vice-chairman, Frik Wolff, ZS6FZ;
Treasurer, Corné Cronjé, ZU6C;
Secretary, Riaan Greeff ZS4PR.
The PIO work will be done by Gerald Smith, ZS6IG, and Andries Visagie, ZS6VL.
Andries will also keep the club's website up to date.
Technical development will be in the capable hands of Frik, ZS6FZ, and Ockerd Taljaard, ZS6LZ.
The club wishes to thank the outgoing committee members for their hard work during the past year and the members know that they will keep the club's name high on all the various platforms in amateur radio in the future.
During the AGM various trophies were also handed to well deserving members.
Should anyone like to join that dynamic club, then you may contact any of the committee members or Riaan, ZS4PR, via e-mail to zs4pr@qsl.net.
The club is also proud to support the SARL by means of the following club members who are also members of the SARL: ZS6FZ, ZS4MP, ZS4PR, ZS6AXJ, ZS6LZ, ZR4CT, ZS4FD, ZS4SS, ZS6VL, ZS4SM, and ZS6XB.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at very low levels. There are no official sunspots and the visible disk is spotless.
20 and 15 m will provide best opportunities for DX. Conditions to the East and the West will be good from the afternoons onwards. During the late afternoons and early evenings it will be good towards Europe. In the mornings it may be possible to make contacts with Australia on 20 m. In the afternoons there are good possibilities of contacts with the USA on 15 m. Contacts with New-Zeeland are going to be challenging. During the early mornings, late afternoons and evenings 20 and 15 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


16 October –Logs for second leg of the SARL 80 Metre QSO Party to be in.
17-18 October - 52nd JOTA/JOTI 00:01 on Saturday until Sunday 23:59 local time;
22 October – Radioamateur’s Examination country wide at 18:30;
21 November - Home Construction course, Gauteng, at the NARC.

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. Echolink will be off. today. 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, which was compiled by George, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX