SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 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 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.
SILENT KEY
Hennie Smit, ZS6ASS, from Vanderbijlpark became silent key on Tuesday 7 September 2010. He leaves his wife, daughter and two sons. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
CLOSING DATE FOR RAE OCTOBER 2010 ENTRIES
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ON SATURDAY PROMISES TO BE A BLAST
SUBSCRIPTION REMINDER
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
CLOSING DATE FOR RAE OCTOBER 2010 ENTRIES
Please remember that entries for the October 2010 RAE close on 24 September 2010. When you submit your RAE entries, please check that you have completed the following documentation:
1) RAE Application form (remember to indicate your examination centre and a choice of three call signs).
2) Proof of payment.
3) Copy of ID document.
4) Fully completed ICASA application form. (If you are unsure of any details on the form please refer to the example application form which can be obtained on the Radio Amateur Examination portion of the SARL Web.)
5) A completed HF assessment.
6) A completed SARL membership application form (optional but recommended).
Failure to submit any of the above documentation could disqualify you from sitting the RAE examination.
Should you have any queries, please contact Mariska at the SARL on email: admin@sarl.org.za or alternately you can phone the office on 011 675 2393.
No late entries will be accepted.
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ON SATURDAY PROMISES TO BE A BLAST
You cannot afford to miss the SARL Technology in Action 2010 to be held on Saturday 18 September at the National Amateur Radio Centre in Gauteng.
Dr Robin Drennan, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation, will deliver the opening address and inaugurate the real-time space weather display that is being installed in collaboration with the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory. The hardware has been donated by Acer South Africa.
As in the past, the RTA lectures are presented in such a way that they will cater for the interests of people from a wide range of backgrounds. You will learn about digital signal processing and how to enhance signals and bring them out of the noise. Space weather is another fascinating subject and for the first time you will be able to see real-time space weather updates. A look at the CPUT satellite project, the 85 years of Amateur Radio in South Africa and how to build direction-finding gear will provide great insights into these activities. You can also learn more about D-Star, the latest amateur radio digital communication system, and try out the system.
Another interesting feature is the display and demonstration of the re-engineered beacon project, which will soon be rolled out.
The full programme can be downloaded from www.sarl.org.za; click on RTA and follow the links. If you would like a copy in your mailbox, send an email to rta@sarl.org.za with RTA in the subject line. The cost to attend the RTA is R50, which includes refreshment and lunchtime snacks. You can prepay for the RTA attendance or pay at the door. Every entry ticket has a lucky number, which goes into the draw for the attendance prizes sponsored by RS Components and Microchip. Find all the details on www.sarl.org.za and select RTA from the left-hand menu.
A new ARRL book, “PIC Programming for Beginners”, will also go on sale at the RTA by the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust. For more detail of how to order this and other books, go to www.amateurradio.org.za/books.
SUBSCRIPTION REMINDER
If you have not paid your SARL subscription, do it this weekend. If you mislaid your invoice or reminder call Mariska on Monday morning at 011 675-2393 for assistance.
INCREASES IN LICENCE FEES
The copy of the Government Gazette announcing the increase in license fees by ICASA is available on the member pages of the SARL web at www.sarl.org.za. Click on members only at top right hand of the home page and enter your PIN.
TAKE YOUR HAND-HELD TO WORK DAY
The annual SARL "take your hand-held to work day" will be held on Friday 1 October 2010. Show your colleagues what amateur radio is all about. For those retired and at home, come on the local repeaters and participate in spreading the story of Amateur Radio. Connect via Echolink or IRLP and make it a bumper activity.
What about getting one of your colleagues to take a picture of your activity? There will be some nice prizes up for grabs. Listen to SARLNEWS next week for more details.
ON THE AIR: AMATEUR RADIO TO CELEBRATE BONAIRE BECOMING A DXCC ENTITY
On the air, the upcoming Bonaire DXpedition by a combined Dutch and American operating team plans to use the large antenna farm of Radio Netherlands. This will deliver to the world a truly whopping signal between 10 and 24 October when they activate the island for the first time after it becomes a new DXCC entity.
Bonaire is currently part of the Netherlands Antilles, which are scheduled to be dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October. The five islands of the former Netherlands Antilles will each attain a new constitutional status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, thus creating several new DXCC entities.
To commemorate the event, this group of dedicated radio amateurs will take to the High Frequency airwaves using the giant Radio Netherlands antenna system constructed on the island back in 1969. As of Tuesday, 7 September, a large shipment of equipment has been loaded into a sea container in Miami, Florida. The shipment consists of Yagi antennas, masts, amplifiers, coax, band pass filters, tuners and a wide variety of accessories. It was expected to set sail for Bonaire on Friday, 10 September.
You can keep track of the planning for the Bonaire DXpedition and vicariously join in on the festivities online at the operations website. Its home in cyberspace is www.bonaire2010.com. Thanks to Newsline and QRZ for this story.
CONTEST NEWS
The provisional results for two SARL Contest have been released.
SARL YL Sprint. Fifteen logs were received, made up of ten logs from YLs and five logs non-YLs. There were more YLs active in the Sprint, but not all of them sent in logs.
The winner of the bouquet of flowers comes from the Western Cape, Corinna Carstens, ZS1CC. Congratulations Corinna!
1st Collette Rundle, ZS2CR, 240 points
2nd Bridgette van der Rede, ZS3V, 193 points
3rd Heather Holland, ZS6YE, 140 points
SARL HF Phone Contest. Twenty two single operator logs, two multi-operator logs and one check log were received for the HF Phone contest.
Multi-operator
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 162 points
2nd Oakdale ARC, ZS1OAK, 102 points
Single operator
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, 226 points
2nd Gary Potgieter, ZS5NK, 184 points
3rd Danie Mans, ZS3D, 144 points
The committee is doing a final check on the logs and the final results will be published in HF Happenings.
The Spring QRP Sprint, which would have been on the air this afternoon, has been moved to Sunday 23 October 2010.
The SARL VHF/UHF Contest will be run from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 18 September to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 19 September.
The SARL Heritage Day Sprint will be on the air on Friday 24 September. Clubs are encouraged to set up stations at various heritage sites around the country.
The 5th SARL Club 80 metre contest will be run on Wednesday evening 29 September. This will be a digimodes contest.
CLUB NEWS
During the weekend of 18-19 September 2010, OTL Club is planning to take part in the VHF/BHF Competition. The club will be located on Steenkampsberg, between Lydenburg and Roossenekal. OTL is also planning to install a repeater on Mariepskop over the weekend of 24-25 September 2010. The frequency will be 145,712 5 MHz. The repeater will also be linked to the Long Tom repeater to hopefully give coverage in the Kruger Park on 2 m on a frequency of 145,637 5 as well as all the other repeaters of OTL Club. Please stand by for a test on this repeater.
The Centurion Radio Amateur Club will commence with CW classes on Monday 20 September 2010. The classes will start at 19:30 for about an hour, Mondays to Thursdays, on the Centurion Radio Amateur Club repeater, frequency 145,775 MHz. All are welcome. Certificates for 5, 8 and 12 wpm will be issued. For further information, contact Jimmy, ZS6APS, on 012 653 2025.
The Overberg Amateur Radio Club will be hosting a special event station at the Hermanus Primary School on 25 September coinciding with the Whales and Wheels festival.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels. The earth-facing side of the sun is blank, and there are no large sunspots. Old Sunspot region 1 100 is now set to return and is hiding on the eastern limb. 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 40 m. With the change of season, 15 m is also starting to show signs of life. Conditions to India will be good from the late afternoon until after sunset. During sunset, it will be good towards Europe. Contacts with the USA are still challenging. Contacts with Australia and New Zealand are possible at sunrise on 20 m and on 40 m after sunset. 15 m openings to Brazil and South America are possible during the afternoons.
For the CW and digital enthusiasts, 30 m may be very rewarding with openings to many parts of the world.
Locally 40 m is the workhorse for contacts around the country with 30 m also being very useful for contacts over the longer distances. 80 m will be best during the early mornings and late afternoons as well as over the shorter distances.
80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
18 September - RTA symposium in Gauteng;
18/19 September – VHF/UHF competition;
20 September – Morsekode classes by ZS6APS starts on 145,775 repeater in Pretoria;
24 September – Heritage day sprint
24 September – Enrolments for October RAE close;
25 September - Launch of HABEX at Klerksdorp.
25 September – Special event station at Hermanus Primary School;
29 September – SARL 80 m digimodes club competition;
30 September - Closing date for entries 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 22:05 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 Gustav, ZS6BWN, and edited by Hester van der Walt.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
