SARL NEWS SUNDAY 25 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).
SILENT KEYS
It is with regret that wę have to announce the passing away of two radio amateurs recently. They are:
Johannes (Jan) Gijzen ZR6ANB, on the 27th of September. He leaves his wife Elizabeth behind.
Chrissy Williams, ZS6JX, on 8 October 2009. She was the wife of, Dave, ZS6JW.
We extend our sincerest condolences to their relatives and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
SUMBANDILASAT NOW PROUDLY DESIGNATED SO-67
AMATEUR RADIO WOOED KIDS AT HMO SCIENCE ADVANCEMENT DAY
MEMBERSHIP CREEPING BACK SLOWLY TO LAST YEAR'S HIGH
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
SUMBANDILASAT NOW PROUDLY DESIGNATED SO-67
Following successful initial testing of SumbandilaSat's amateur radio payload, AMSAT NA has designated the amateur payload as SO-67. SO-67 is not yet released for general use as testing by the ground station and a few strategically placed radio amateurs is continuing.
SA AMSAT is proud that South Africa has achieved two OSCAR satellites (OSCAR = Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio). The first one was SUNSAT OSCAR 35 (SO-35) which served the amateur community world-wide well.
Testing of SO-67 will continue for some time. When all tests have been completed and the SunSpace team have tested all the other payloads satisfactorily will an operational schedule be published at which time the satellite will be released for general use.
Initial tests have shown that SO-67 frequencies are slightly lower than the published frequencies. The best results have been obtained on 145,875 MHz. As testing and commanding continues the best advice is tune around 145,880 MHz
Where possible the times that SO-67 will be switched on for testing will be published on www.amsatsa.org.za. Send in reports to saamsat@intekom.co.za.
HOME CONSTRUCTION COURSE UPDATE
The SARL Home Construction course to be held on 21 November in Gauteng has been fully booked and no more registrations can be accepted. The Cape Town event is filling up fast but there is still space, so also for Port Elizabeth and Durban. Visit www.sarl.org.za for more details and a list of confirmed registrations. To get to the home construction course page click on activities, select RTA then for the link.
AMATEUR RADIO WOOED KIDS AT HMO SCIENCE ADVANCEMENT DAYS
Fox hunting and other amateur related activities wooed the kids at the HMO Science Advancement days. John and Lynn Willescroft organized various activities. John reports that the 450 MHz licence free foxhunt receivers and transmitters worked very well with no reflection problems and the receivers were very good in demonstrating the principle of the Yagi antenna.
John told SARL News "We first assembled the folded dipole and showed the pattern against a transmitter, we then added each element in turn and demonstrated how the antenna pattern changed. It made clear and precise patterns for each element added and. The kids commented that they had never seen it work before. In a letter the Managing Director of the HMO, Dr Sandile Malinga, wrote "On behalf of the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory (HMO) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), I would like to express our sincerely gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to you for visiting the HMO and running the fox hunting activity. The event was enjoyed by all and went a long way in showing the young ones that science can be fun. My daughter enjoyed it greatly; she was still talking about how enjoyable the hunt was at home at night. It is things like these that make a lasting and positive impression in these young minds and advance science for our future."
Thanks to John and Lynn for flying the flag high.
MEMBERSHIP CREEPING BACK SLOWLY TO LAST YEAR'S HIGH
The current paid-up membership of the SARL stands at 1 243 which is still below the figure with which we ended at the end of June when the new subscriptions were due. If you have not paid your renewal do it now. It is never too late to support the national body for Amateur Radio in South Africa. Annual subscription for an ordinary member is only R340, which if you think about it, is less than R1 per day, little enough to protect the hobby that you have invested so much in.
If you need details on how pay electronically, call Mariska on Monday at 011 675 2393 or drop an email to admin@sarl.org.za.
This week we welcome the following new members:
ZR6SRA, Bertrand Ford;
ZS1PN, Pieter Nel;
ZU5WLD, Wesley Du Preez;
ZR6MP, B.P. Meyer;
ZR6KHN, K.H Niewenhuis;
ZU1K, Renier de Jager;
ZU1V, Victoria de Jager;
ZU1PPG, Tiffany de Jager;
ZS6CO, L Jerman Luckertz;
ZR6KBS, Johannes H van der Westhuizen.
We wish them a happy association with the SARL.
COMPETITION NEWS
JOHN VORSTER TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL 40 m PHONE COMPETITION
1. Aim. This is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs under the age of 26.
2. Date and Time:31 October 2009 from 08:00 to 10:00 UTC [10:00 to 12:00 CAT].
3. Frequency: It is a phone contest on the 40 metre band [7,130 to 7,200 MHz].
4. Categories:
a. Class B, ZU Licence Holders;
b. Class A, ZR and ZS Licence holders.
5. Power:
a. Class B = Max 20 W;
b. Class A = Max 100 W.
6. Exchange: The exchange is a RS report and the operator's age.
7. Scoring:
QSO between two stations that are under the age of 26 = 5 points;
QSO between a station under 26 and a station over 26 = 3 points;
QSO between two stations older than 26 = 1 points;
QSO with ZS6JVT = 10 points.
8. Log Sheets:
Log sheets and summaries shall be submitted within 15 days after the contest and can be sent by e-mail to telesat@cybersmart.co.za or by snail mail to the JVT Youth Competition, Technical High School John Vorster, P.O. Box 31 714, Totiusdal, 0134. The age of the operator must be shown on the summary sheet. Closing date for log submission: 15 November 2009.
9. Certificates:
The five highest scores in each class will receive Certificates.
10. Prizes: There will be a lucky draw between all the Logs received.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at very low levels. There was a sunspot trying to form in the northern hemisphere but currently the visible disk is spotless.
20 and 15 m will provide best opportunities for DX with 10 m showing signs of waking up in the afternoons. 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 Europa.
In the mornings it may be possible to make contacts with Australia on 20 m. In the afternoons there are good possibilities for contacts with the USA on 15 m. Contacts with New-Zealand are going to be challenging. During the afternoons and evenings 20 and 15 m contacts may be possible with Brazil.
This is what Hannes had to say about DX conditions. Listen now what did happen during the past week: “To his surprise Ean ,ZS1PR, heard John, ZS4S, in a SSB QSO with a Canadian station on Tuesday evening (20th) at 19:55 CAT. When the Canadian station signed off at 20:00 Ean called John and a contact with reports of 55 in both directions resulted.
Then John turned his Cubical Quad towards Cape Town and the signal strengths increased to over S9 in both directions. At times John's signal was S9+30 with Ean”.
Later they were joined by Shane, ZS4TW, Henk, ZS1ACD, and Dennis, ZS1AU. When they signed off at 21:10 signals between Cape Town and Bloemfontein were still good.
Ean also reports that 20 metres in Cape Town are open for DX virtually every evening till around 22:00 CAT.
Back to Hannes. 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
25 October – Special event station ZS3SKA, the Square Kilometer Array station still on the air today;
26 October – Lecture “Make use of Virtual Worlds” Cape Town in Lecture Theatre Complex, Cape Peninsular University of Technology 17:30;
31 October - ZS6PTA Mega flea market at the Pretoria Motor Club in Silverton from 08:00 to 11:00;
31 October – Youth competition of HTS John Vorster on 40 m, 08:00 to 10:00;
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. 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, which was compiled by George, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
