SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 09 MAY 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 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 also subscribe there to receive future bulletins by email.
Your newsreader this morning is (name), (call sign), on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 10,130, 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.
SILENT KEY
It is with regret that the South-Cape Amateur Radio Club must announce that the key of Joseph Rozploch, ZS2JSR, went silent on Saturday morning the 24 April due to a fatal heart attack whilst he took his dog for a walk. ZS1SKR and the SARL passes their condolences to all family and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
JOIN THE SARL NOW AND GET MAY AND JUNE FREE
SARL COUNCIL PORTFOLIOS
SARL RTA TO OFFER THREE NEW CONSTRUCTION KITS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
JOIN THE SARL NOW AND GET MAY AND JUNE FREE
Join the SARL now and get May and June on the house. The membership fee for the 2010/2011 year is R360 for full members and R225 for Senior members. The Annual General meeting held in Port Elizabeth in April approved a marginal increase in the membership fees. The new rates are now available on www.sarl.org.za . A significant change is the affiliation fee for clubs. It has been reduced to R120 per year. If your club is not yet affiliated to the SARL do it now. Contact Mariska at 011 675 2393 to join now or get the form online.
SARL COUNCIL AGREES ON PORTFOLIOS
At the first meeting of the newly elected Council of the SARL, held by teleconference, portfolios and responsibilities were agreed upon as follows:
Dennis Green, ZS4BS President, HF Manager, Radio ZS;
Mark Zank, ZS6YES - Vice President, RAE and Office Manager;
Henry Chamberlain, ZS1AAZ Secretary, Forum enquiries, Digital modes and IARU liaison;
Louw Erasmus, ZS6LME Honorary legal advisor;
Laurie Devereux, ZS5DL Minute secretary and Div 5 Band planning;
Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV - Regulatory Affairs, Marketing, WRC-12 workgroup, On-the-air activities;
Fred Scheepers, ZS1FCS Elmer, IARU Monitoring Service and IPHA (Handicapped amateurs);
Ivan Newman, ZS2ILN Membership development and Club liaison, deputy web administrator;
Gerhard Coetzee, ZS3TG Youth Events, Education and STARS;
Francois Botha, ZS6BUU SARL Hamnet and Office logistics;
John Willescroft, ZS6EF - Technology Development;
Willem Weideman, ZS6WWJ QSL Manager;
Riaan Greef, ZS4PR VHF/UHF and Microwave Manager;
Frik Wolff, ZS6FZ Repeater Database.
Appointees:
Rassie Erasmus, ZS1YT Treasurer;
Tjerk Lammers, ZS6P Awards Manager;
Richard Seddon, ZS2CLI Webmaster;
George Honiball, ZS6NE SARLNEWS and translations;
Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL Contest Manager;
Derek Gravett, ZS5Y VHF/UHF Contests.
WERE YOU INVOLVED IN THE SARL DUFF ROAD ACTIVITIES?
Ray Webber, ZS6RSW, is arranging an informal get-together of radio amateurs who were involved at the SARL Johannesburg Branch and the Duff Road clubhouse on Friday 21 May at 12:30 at Ninos at San Ridge Square in Midrand. It is an open invitation. Everyone pays his or her own way. Join in to reminisce about the good times in the 807. Please email Ray with your details. His email address is RWebber@fnb.co.za.
SARL RTA TO OFFER THREE NEW CONSTRUCTION KITS
The first SARL Radio Technology in Action symposium will be held in Durban on Saturday 29 May 2010 at the Durban Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The programme offers exciting presentations and discussions. This year three construction kits will be available at the RTA. The kits are only available to persons attending the RTA but may be pre-ordered and paid for online or purchased and paid for at the actual event.
This year it is also possible to pre-book and pay the RTA registration fee online. The fee is R50 which includes light refreshments at lunch time and entry into the attendance draw. It will still be possible to book at the door.
Registration for the Durban RTA will open on Monday. Get the full load down on www.sarl.org.za and select RTA from there follow the links.
The three kits on offer are:
DSSS kit: 100 mW on 40 m band.
Two Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum transceivers built in open pcb fashion as a learning tool for DSSS. All sections of each transmitter and receiver are able to be explored and tested with simple gear found in the shack. CD containing assembly and operating instructions is supplied but no cables, cost R350.
TDR, Time Domain Reflectometry 1 GHz Sampling Scope.
Specifically designed for TDR work but can be used for other applications. It is a USB device that plugs into a Laptop or PC and runs a Windows program in the image of a normal scope. CD containing software, assembly, and operating instructions is supplied but no cables are supplied, cost R350.
DSP kit: Digital Signal Processing Speaker kit.
For use on speaker output of any device to reduce or eliminate noise. It is ideal for HF Receivers. Built in open pcb fashion and ideal as a DSP learning tool. CD containing assembly and operating instructions is supplied but no cable, cost R325.
This project is fully presented in a technical presentation at the RTA.
SPECIAL STATION ZS85SARL
The SARL was founded on the 25th May 1925 in Cape Town. To commemorate the 85th anniversary of this event in Cape Town, a group of radio amateurs will operate a station with the birthday call sign ZS85SARL on Saturday 22 May from Cape Town. The station will be on the air on 80, 40 and 20 m from 08:00 till 20:00 CAT.
The main aim of the station will be to obtain a WAZS within 12 hours.
A special QSL card will be printed for this event. SARL members will receive the QSL card at no cost via the bureau. Non-members will have to provide a franked and addressed envelope to cover postage.
The station will be located at the Ysterplaat Air Force Base. As from 11:00 fires will be available for visitors who wish to braai and operate the special call sign station and take part in the other festive activities.
NATIONAL RAE CANDIDATE LIST AND EXAMINATION NUMBERS TO BE PUBLISHED SOON
The SARL will be publishing all of the relevant RAE examination numbers as well as allocating the examination venues by the close of this weekend 09 May 2010. Please keep your eyes on the SARL web page for updates as soon as they become available.
Letters regarding the examination details will be sent to each candidate. The SARL urges each and every candidate to carefully check their details and to notify Mariska at the SARL office should any information be incorrect.
RaDAR CONTEST - CATEGORY SCORES
Over a 100 individual stations were logged during the April 2010 RaDAR contest. Most stations took part for fun. A few Potchefstroom club members took part individually sharing the same facilities and certainly can be commended for their high club spirit. From the logs received to date , the following category points were awarded:
Home stations using normal antennas and mains power.
Theunis, ZS2EC/3 (QRP) - 43
Derek, ZS2J (QRP) - 20
Francois, ZS6BUU 5.
Home stations not relying on their normal antennas or mains power.
None.
Portable operation not relying on mains power, including all mobile stations.
Andries, ZS6VL - 174
Pierre, ZS6BB (QRP) - 117
Coenie, ZS6PCO - 33
Carl, ZS6CFW - 21
Nico, ZS6NVR - 21
Kevin, ZS6KMD (QRP) - 15
Mike ,ZS6MEG 6.
True RaDAR portable operations not relying on existing antennas or mains power.
Tienie, ZS6MHH 124.
True RaDAR portable operations as above and using QRP. Output power limited to 5 watts PEP.
Eddie, ZS6BNE (QRP) - 250
Christo, ZR6LJK (QRP) - 210
Allen, ZR1AAH (QRP) - 105
John, ZS5J (QRP) - 45
Check log.
Geoff, ZS6GRL.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels. Fortunately the days with no sunspots are broken and sunspots 1 069 and 1 070 are putting the smiles back on HF communicators. The effective sunspot number is expected to be less than 20 for the coming week.
15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 17 and 20 m. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoons onwards. During the late afternoons and early evenings it will be good towards Europa. Contacts with the USA are once again becoming challenging. Contacts with Australia and New Zealand will be challenging. During the afternoons and evenings good 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 during the middle of the day. 20 m is very useful for contacts over the longer distances during the majority of the day.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings. With the change of season the noise levels are also decreasing and some top band activity will once again become possible.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
9 May AWA Valve QSO Party;
16 May SARL 85th Anniversary Sprint, 12:00-15:00 UTC;
21 May Ray Webbers and Duff Road old timers meet at 12:30 at Ninos;
22 May - ZS85SARL, Special station on the air at Ysterplaat;
29 May - RTA symposium in Durban;
24 July - RTA symposium in Cape Town;
21 August - RTA symposium in Port Elizabeth;
31 August - Closing date for submission of proposals for the 2011 SARL Contest Manual;
18 September - RTA symposium in Gauteng;
30 September closing date for phase 1 of the Innovation project.
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 17 560 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a webstream 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
