SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 3 OCTOBER 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. 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 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.
In the news today:
ICASA PUBLISHED DRAFT RADIO REGULATIONS FOR COMMENT
SA AMSAT TO PRESENT AT SPACE CONGRESS
ESSAY COMPETITION TO CELEBRATE SPACE WEEK
SARL TO PETITION ICASA FOR SPECTRUM AROUND 5 MHz
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
ICASA PUBLISHED DRAFT RADIO REGULATIONS FOR COMMENT
ICASA has published the draft radio regulations in the Government Gazette number 33 590 of 26 September 2010. The Gazette is available for download from the members only section on www.sarl.org.za, click on members.
Comment are invited to be sent to ICASA before 19 November 2010.
There are some significant changes to regulations pertaining to amateur radio. The SARL will study the draft and will hold a discussion during the President's net to be held on Sunday 17 October 2010 at 19:30.
Some of the major changes are: the ZR licence will disappear and with that the requirements for one of the five upgrade criteria. Persons having passed the Class A examination will be allocated a ZS callsign.
The SARL will discuss with ICASA at the next liaison meeting the procedure for ZR's to upgrade to ZS.
There will be an age restriction on the class B license. The Class B licence will be available to persons under the age of 20. ZU licence holders are expected to write the class A examination before they reach 25 after which the Class B license (ZU) will be cancelled.
ICASA will be holding a public hearing on 1 and 2 December 2010. Soon after that the final regulations will be promulgated.
You are invited to send any comment before 10 October to armi@sarl.org.za.
SA AMSAT TO PRESENT AT SPACE CONGRESS
SA AMSAT will present a paper at the first Annual South African Space Congress
to be held in Cape Town at the SA Astronomical Observatory on 7 and 8 October 2010.
The paper entitled "Amateur Radio's significant contribution to satellite communication" will trace the many facets of Amateur Radio's involvement in space. In brief, the story of Amateur Radio and satellites is in a way a repeat of when radio was first invented. In the early 1900 Radio Amateurs pioneered the use of short waves for world-wide communication, in 1961 Radio Amateurs proved the value of low earth satellite orbits. Against this background the paper will review the major contributions made by Amateur Radio to satellite communication and focus on some of the current projects both world-wide and in South Africa. The paper will also touch on other space related activities such as SETI and Radio Telescopes. The paper will be presented by Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, and will be available for download from www.amsatsa.org after the event.
ESSAY COMPETITION TO CELEBRATE SPACE WEEK
The Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association in co-operation with the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust has launched an essay competition to celebrate the 2010 International Space Week.
The theme for World Space Week 2010, which runs from 4 - 10 October, is "Mysteries of the Cosmos”. Throughout history, humans have looked to the heavens and wondered about the universe and our place within it. Today, we are learning much about our universe but, with each answer comes more questions. Not only do the questions deal with the nature of the galaxies and stars, but the nature of life itself. World Space Week is a time to probe what we know, what it means, and what we have yet to learn about the mysteries of the cosmos. It is an International Celebration of Science and Technology.
The essay competition is open to all learners under the age of 18. The subject for the Essay is "If you were an astronaut on the international space station, what experiment would you like to carry out and why?”. Entries must be between 600 and 1 000 words. The first prize is an Acer Aspire 1 Netbook with several consolation prizes. Entries close on 15 December 2010. Get full details on www.amsatsa,org.za.
DATA CAPTURING EQUIPMENT FOR STUDENT EXPERIMENTS SUCCESSFULLY TESTED ON LAST WEEKEND'S HABEX BALLOON PROJECT
Last Saturday's launch of the High Altitude Experiment involving tests of the various equipment that has been designed and built to capture data from the student's projects and relay this back to ground, was a success despite some small hitches. Ancillary equipment to track the balloon and Radio Amateur experiments were also included.
Although there were issues with the launch, the main purpose of the exercise was to ensure the controller worked as required. The controller needed to be able to track itself, take measurements which included battery voltage, inside and outside air temperature and barometric pressure readings and to finally activate a release mechanism to detach itself from the balloon and return back to earth.
The project started as a Sci-Bono Discovery Centre and Radio amateur project in co-operation with the Gauteng Department of Education. An invite was sent to schools in the Gauteng area inviting interested students wishing to build experiments that could be taken into the sky via balloons to enter. 10 schools volunteered.
For more on this story visit www.hamradio.org.za.
SARL TO PETITION ICASA FOR SPECTRUM AROUND 5 MHz
This coming week the SARL will submit a petition to ICASA to consider an amateur radio allocation around 5 MHz. The original document has been updated with more propagation research carried out by Ean Retief, ZS1PR. The subject will also be placed on the November ICASA/SARL liaison committee meeting for further discussion. Members will be able to download the document from www.sarl.org.za on the members' only section.
JOIN A VERY LOW FREQUENCY PROJECT
With access to the new VLF spectrum of 135,7 - 137,8 kHz imminent, Hannes Coetzee of the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust invites radio amateurs to participate in a VLF project. If you have ideas and are interested send your details to saardt@intekom.co.za. Mark the subject line VLF. Your name will be added to a database of interested persons and once the regulations are published, you will be provided with the details of the project.
SINES CAPE LIGHTHOUSE ON THE AIR
For DX hunters the Sines Cape Lighthouse, grid IM57nx, will be on the air October 9 from 09:00 to 19:00 UTC under the call sign CS2FCS with CW and SSB on the non WARC frequencies.
More information is available from http://wlol.arlhs.com/lighthouse/POR8.html and http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/prt.htm.
FORMATION OF LONGTOM RADIO AMATEUR CLUB
At a meeting held on Saturday 28 August 2010 at Lydenburg the Longtom Radio Amateur Club was established.
The object of the club is: to promote and encourage all direct and indirect activities pertaining to Amateur Radio as exercised by the club members; to promote and encourage interest in Amateur Radio and all its facets in the Lydenburg and surrounding community and; to promote the aims and goals of the SARL.
The first management committee was chosen as follows:
Chairman: Theo van Wyk, ZS6RED;
Vice chairman: Nolene Smit, ZU6NS;
Secretary and Treasurer: Gabriël Joubert, ZS6BJ.
A constitution has been drawn up and has been accepted. For further information please contact the secretary, Gabriel Joubert - ZS6BJ, at 082 793 2070 or via e-mail at zs06bj@gmail.com.
Welcome the new Club and may you have a prosperous future.
EAST RAND RADIO BRANCH NEW COMMITTEE
ZR6COI, Francois Jacobs, Chairman;
ZS6MGM, Marius Mynhardt, Vice Chairman & Youth Manager;
ZS6HE, Andre van Tonder, Honorary Treasurer;
ZR6POP, Judy Pretorius, Secretary;
ZS6COG, Chris Gryffenberg, Repeater custodian;
ZS6HJF, Hampie Findt, Repeater custodian (Technical);
ZS6BNM & ZS6MRG, Brain & Margolet McKenzie, Special projects;
ZS6VIN, Vincent Molloy, News bulletins;
ZU6RDP, Rijnhardt Kotze, News bulletins;
ZS6YH, Mitchel Mynhardt, QSL manager;
Deidre Kotze, Special events.
Thanks to the retiring committee members and a prosperous year to the new committee.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels. Sunspot 1 109 remains a good sized sunspot and is beginning to take on a different shape. Sunspot 1 110 appears to be shrinking somewhat. The possibility for a C-Class flare remains. Sunspot 1 111 which is located towards the eastern limb remains small and quiet. The solar flux has peaked above 90 for the first time since March 13, 2010. The effective sunspot number is expected to be less than 20 for this week.
20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 15 and 10 m. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset. During the afternoon conditions will be good towards Europe firstly on 10 m, later followed by good 15 and then 20 m openings. Early evening 15 m contacts with the USA are at last happening again. 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. With the good 15 and 20 m openings 17 m will also be full of surprises.
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 work horse for contacts around the country with 20 and 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
9 October - Pretoria ARC Flea Market at Pretoria Motor Club in Silverton from 08:00. Contact Almero, ZS6LDP, on 083 938 8955;
9–10 – October Antique Wireless Association AM/SSB Valve QSO Party;
10 October – Last day to submit comments on draft radio regulations to armi@sarl.org.za;
15 October – Last day to enter your photos taken at “Take your hand-held to Work Day”;
17 October – President’s Net at 19:30 on draft radio regulations.
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.
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 George, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
