SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2010
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 web-stream, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on ‘ARMI’ and follow the links for detail. 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 newsreader 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
It is with regret that we must announce the passing of Neville Swanepoel, ZS6AQX, on the 25th January. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
PE HOME CONSTRUCTION COURSE IN THE BALANCE
BOOKINGS FOR THE PIC COURSES NOW OPEN
POOR OPERATING A CAUSE OF CONCERN
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
PE HOME CONSTRUCTION COURSE IN THE BALANCE
Bookings for the Home Construction Course planned for Saturday 20 February in Port Elizabeth are low which may cause cancellation of the event. In both Johannesburg and Cape Town delegates had to be turned away. The course in Durban yesterday was attended by 15 delegates which is the minimum to make the course viable.
Bookings for Port Elizabeth are still open till Thursday 11 February when a final decision will have to be made. For details visit www.sarl.org.za and select RTA.
BOOKINGS FOR THE PIC COURSES NOW OPEN
Within minutes of posting the announcement on the SARL web, the first booking was received. PIC courses will be held in Gauteng, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.
The course fee is R300 for SARL members and R650 for non-members. The fee includes: tuition, required software on a CD, a demonstration board with a PIC and 2 project PC boards.
Full details on www.sarl.org.za. Click on RTA.
POOR OPERATING A CAUSE OF CONCERN
Participants in the President’s Net last Sunday voiced their concern over poor operating procedures and the use of inappropriate language on the air. While these unacceptable practices are carried out by a small number of radio amateurs, it tarnishes the image of the hobby. Another issue raised by several speakers was the abuse of power by ZU license holders who do not adhere to the 20 Watt power limit as specified for their class of license. ZU licence holders can face fines or even cancellation of their license if they do not adhere to the condition laid down in the regulations.
The use of inappropriate language on the air is a serious offence and can lead to cancellation of the culprit's license.
These and several other operational issues will be discussed when the SARL Council meets in early March.
76 Radio Amateurs reported in after the President's net, no doubt there were many more listeners. The lucky winner of the memory stick is ZS1BFE. It will be in the mail soon.
SARL MEMBERSHIP CLOSER TO THE 1 400 TARGET
This week the SARL gained 18 members. The membership now stands at 1 370. We welcome the following new and re-instated members to the SARL:
ZR1PN - Paul Le Roux
ZR6JA - Jacques van der Merwe
ZS6BJ - Gabriel Joubert
ZS6FOX - MW van Alphen
ZS1CD - Barrie Evrard
ZS6BCI - Wally Moll
ZR2JG - Johannes Geldenhuys
ZS2MR - Martin Ras.
We welcome the following newcomers to the SARL and Amateur Radio. They will receive listener call signs during this coming week:
Kevin Smith
Graham Lambrechs
William Wright
Barry Els
Vincent Molly
Desmond Mullen.
ZS10WCS OPERATION MOVES TO THE FREE STATE
The Bloemfontein Amateur Radio Club will be hosting the ZS10WCS special event callsign during February. Thus far the record number of QSO's and DX locations worked is held by the Boland Amateurradioklub. Will the Bloemfontein club members beat Boland? One thing they have in their favour, conditions are currently far better than what it was in September.
CONTEST NEWS
Some 78 stations participated in the first SARL 80 m Club Contest held on Wednesday 27 January. Nineteen logs were submitted.
The results are as follows:
1st ZS Contest Group, 3 logs, 93 points;
2nd Port Elizabeth ARS, 2 logs, 63 points;
3rd West Rand ARC, 7 logs, 59 points;
4th Antique Wireless Association, 4 logs, 59 points;
5th Sasolburg ARC, 1 log, 31 points;
6th Lichtenburg ARC, 1 log, 17 points;
7th Secunda ARC, 1 log, 4 points.
The SARL’s next 80 m Club Contest will be run on Wednesday 31 March and is a digital contest with PSK and RTTY.
CLUB NEWS
On Monday evening 8 February ZS6JVT, the radio club of the Higher Technological School, John Vorster, in Rietfontein, Pretoria, will hold an information meeting at the school for young people interested in amateur radio. The proceedings will include:.
1. A Power Point presentation of about 45 minutes which will tell and show what amateur radio is.
2. A discussion about the presentation of RAE classes for the Class A and B licenses.
3. A discussion about competitions, building projects and outings.
Parents and learners are invited to attend the meeting which will commence at 19:00 in the Electronics Centre of the school. It will be appreciated if amateurs will also attend so that informal discussions can take place afterwards with interested people.
For môre information contact Johan, ZS6PSS, at 082 446 1581 during office hours.
The Sandton Amateur Radio club will be starting their first Class A RAE lecture series for the year on the 10th February 2010 at 19:00 at the NARC in Honeydew.
Any person interested in joining the lecture series, is more than welcome to join them this Wednesday or for more information they can contact Mark Zank ZS6YES ,on his cell which is 083 367 8943 or alternately email him to zs6yes@gmail.com.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels. Currently sunspot 1 043 is still the only active region on the visible surface of the sun. The effective sunspot number is expected to be between fifteen and twenty for the coming week.
20 and 15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoons onwards. During the late afternoons and early evenings it will be moderate towards Europe. In the afternoons there are good possibilities of contacts with the USA on 15 m. Contacts with Australia will be possible on 20 m for a short while during the mornings. During the afternoons and evenings 20 and 15 m contacts may also 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. With summer here 20 m is also once again very useful for contacts over the longer distances, especially up to two o'clock in the afternoons.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
7 February - AWA CW Activity still on today;
8 February – Information meeting for young people interested in amateur radio at the Higher Technological School, John Vorster at 19:00;
10 February – Start of RAE classes at the NARC at 19:00;
13 and 14 February - SARL National Field Day;
20 February - Home Construction course in Port Elizabeth;
28 February - New closing date for the SumbandilaSat essay competition;
28 February - Final date for entries in the ARRISS-SAT project to be
submitted to youth@sarl.org.za;
5 March - Closing date for the Tinus Lange Awards, and
27 March - 2010 SA AMSAT Space Symposium;
31 March - SARL 80 m Club Contest with PSK and RTTY.
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 to www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp, not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.
The SARL also invites you to listen to Amateur Radio Mirror International every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria-area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 860 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on 'ARMI' and follow the links. A repeat transmission can be heard on 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
