SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 13 JUNE 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 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 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 10,130, 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.
In the news today:
IS YOUR STATION READY FOR THE YOUTH ON 16 JUNE?
SA-AMSAT ANNOUNCES ITS OFFICE BEARERS
LEARNERS TO BUILD PAYLOAD FOR HABEX
NAME THE CUBESAT PROJECT
GREAT TURNOUT FOR THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY SPRINT
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
IS YOUR STATION READY FOR THE YOUTH ON 16 JUNE?
Clubs and individual radio amateurs are encouraged to set up stations in public areas like shopping malls to celebrate Youth Day 2010. It is a great opportunity to display amateur radio as the supreme of all scientific hobbies and a great opportunity to encourage young people to take up careers in electronics and communications.
Full details for the event are available on www.sarl.org.za from the home page. Click on ‘Youth activity’.
Individual radio amateurs are invited to adopt young people for the day and invite them into the shack to operate under your supervision.
SA-AMSAT ANNOUNCES ITS OFFICE BEARERS
The SA-AMSAT Committee - during its teleconference meeting this week - finalised its office bearers. David Long, ZS5FR, will continue as president. He is joined by Eddie Leighton as vice president. Other appointments are: secretary/treasurer Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, technology manager, John Willescroft, ZS6EF, SAARDT representative, Craig Gibson, ZS6CG; and committee members: Laurie Devereux, ZS5DL and Dave Smith, ZS5LPT. The regional organizers are for ZS6, ZS4 and ZS3, Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE, for ZS5 Dave Smith, ZS5LPT, and for ZS1 and ZS2 Allan Saul, ZS1LS.
LEARNERS TO BUILD PAYLOAD HABEX
The SciBono Discovery Centre (ZS6SCI), in association with the Gauteng Department of Education initiated the High Altitude Balloon Experiment project, called HABEX.
HABEX was inspired by the BACAR project. The objective is to involve schools in Gauteng in the entire process of developing and building a payload that will be launched into high altitude using an unmanned meteorological balloon. SciBono approved a budget for the building of HABEX and approval has been obtained from CAMU to launch the balloons on 24 July. We plan to launch from Klerksdorp Airfield.
Ten school teams are involved and several radio amateurs have also opted to join in this exciting project. A team of radio amateur engineers and designers are assisting the schools in developing the payloads. You can also join in the activities planned for the HABEX 2010 Launch.
"We are so enthused by the project that a world record attempt will also be made to launch the unmanned balloon to an altitude exceeding 38 000 metres," Chris Gryffenberg, ZS6COG, told SARL NEWS. "To achieve this, special balloons have been ordered to carry the payload to this altitude. Currently 10 payloads are under construction and schools will be actively building their payloads on 16 June on Youth Day”.
The weekend of 23 - 24 July will see many radio amateurs and learners from schools camping out and preparing their missions in true Space Programme Style with a mission control, search and recovery teams and even a launch pad. "If you want to be part of this exciting project you are requested to contact the SciBono Discovery Centre on 011-639 8400 and ask for Fannie Matumba. We still need many search- and-recovery teams to assist in this massive undertaking," Chris said.
NAME THE CUBESAT PROJECT
SA-AMSAT is inviting radio amateurs to propose a name for its CubeSat project. The project was announced at the recently held Space Symposium and will involve the design and construction of a CubeSat. A CubeSat is a 10 cm cube with a mass of up to 1 kg. The project name should be a single word in any of South Africa's official languages and reflect the spirit of the project. A good example is the name given to the Around-the-world-balloon project which is called “lalela”, the Zulu word for “listen”. The winning entry will receive a satellite handbook. Entries should be sent by e-mail to saamsat@intekom.co.za. The closing date is 15 July.
GREAT TURNOUT FOR THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY SPRINT
49 logs were received in the recently held 85th Anniversary sprint. The winner is Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, who achieved 232 points and won an ARRL Handbook. Jan requested the contest committee to present the book to the youngest radio amateur participating in the contest. Thanks Jan, and congratulations Jean-Pierre, ZU6PJ, who was the youngest participant. The second place was achieved by Wessie Wessels, ZS2A, with 147, and the third spot by Philip Esterhuizen, ZS4PJ, with 144 points
Three logs were received from young radio amateurs. Mitchell Mynhardt, ZS6YH, was first with 128 points, second was Jean-Pierre Coetzee, ZU6PJ, with 48 and third Ben Scholtz, ZU1BEN with 10 points. Congratulations to Mitchell, ZS6YH, for also winning an ARRL Handbook. Pam Momberg, ZS6APT, won the lucky draw prize.
The winner's prizes will be shipped by mid-July.
For the full results and stats of the contest, a PDF file can be downloaded from zs6wr.co.za/contest.php.
ZS85SARL ON THE AIR ON YOUTH DAY
A group of amateurs from the Boland Amateur Radio Club will be participating in the Youth Sprint on Wednesday 16 June, under the call sign ZS85SARL.
Their objective is twofold. Firstly, to offer the youth and other radio amateurs the opportunity to work this special call sign in celebration of SARL’s 85th year of existence, and secondly, to obtain the last of the outstanding contacts to ensure that ZS85SARL qualifies for a WAZS certificate.
UHF/VHF INDABA.
No feedback has been received so far about this contest, or about the Indaba scheduled for 26 June. It would be appreciated if we could get some feedback if anyone will be attending the Indaba.
If there is not a favourable response, the only option will be to scrap the contest from the calendar and replace it with something else.
Please give this some serious thought.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Congratulations to Jannie Minny, ZS4JR, and his triplets Janita, Hannelie and Emelia and his wife, Johannatjie, who all passed the recent RAE with B points. It is just possible that it is the first time that triplets wrote and passed the RAE together. Congratulations to all of you.
Jan Jordaan, ZS3JAN, previously ZR3JAJ, was on 5 June exactly 1 year on the air. During that period he upgraded from ZR to ZS, obtained WAZS100, WAZS 200 and Topband certificates and hhis application for a WEAZS 300 has been submitted. Congratulations to you Jan, you have set an excellent example.
WEST RAND AMATEUR RADIO CLUB FLEA MARKET
The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 26 June at the clubhouse at Kroton Street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everyone is most welcome. For more information, contact Joop, ZS6C, at 082 342 3280.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels although Sunspot 1 078 and a companion are growing nicely in the southern hemisphere. The sun is waking from a deep slumber and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. The effective sunspot number is expected to be less than 10 for the coming week.
20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 15 and 17 m. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon onwards. During the late afternoon and early evenings it will be favourable towards Europe. Contacts with the USA are still challenging. Exchanges with Australia and New Zealand are becoming promising on 20 m at sunrise. Contacts with Brazil are becoming tough.
Local conditions are going to be good during the daytime on 40 m. With the change of season, 30 m has taken over from 20 m for contacts over the longer distances during the middle of the day. With the decrease in static levels 80 m is best for the shorter distances and also during the early mornings and late afternoons.
80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
12 - 26 June - ZS1VTS Voortrekker camp, Southern Cape;
16 June - Youth Day celebrations; SARL Sprint; HABEX payload construction;
26 June – UHF/VHF indaba at the NARC at 12:00;
26 June – West Rand flea amrket at 12:00;
15 July – Closing date to submit name for CubeSat project;
18 July - Intechnet at 19:30 on VHF/UHF/MICROWAVE matters;
23 - 24 July - Preparation and launch of the HABEX balloon project;
24 July - RTA symposium in Cape Town;
12 -14 August - International EME Conference, Dallas, Texas;
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 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 Leon, ZS4V, and edited by Jannie, ZR6PHD.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
