SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2011
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.
VOICE OF THE OCEAN GOES SILENT
For the past twenty six years his voice kept yachtsmen and women company as they sailed the oceans, providing them with regular weather reports and assisted those who ran into trouble. Alister Campbell, ZS5MU, went silent key on the afternoon of 14 February 2011.
Alistair's interest in marine matters started many years ago when Alistair helped a friend build a yacht. Once the yacht was completed and on the water they kept in contact via amateur radio. It wasn't long before other yachts started checking in with Alistair and the South African Maritime Mobile Net was born in October 1979.
With Davina, ZS5GC, at his side they devoted themselves tirelessly to the building up of the South African Maritime Mobile Net which is now internationally renowned and held in high regard in the yachting fraternity.
Alister believed so much in the importance of the net that he groomed Graham Griggs, ZS2ABK, and others to carry on the tradition and when his health started failing handed the reigns over to Graham.
In 2000 Alister and Davina were awarded the ICOM Excellence Award by the SARL. This award is bestowed annually by Council on the amateur who through his/her activity in the Amateur Service has brought international recognition to South Africa.
In 2005 Alister was awarded the Nokia Siemens Community Service Award by the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust, and, on the 25th anniversary of the net the SARL awarded a special certificate.
We extend our sincere condolences to Davina and his family. The couple showed South Africa and the world what real amateur radio spirit is about. Alister's voice is silent but will live on in our memories and in the memories of those whose lives he saved through his action on the daily net.
A special tribute with some historic audio clips will be broadcast on Amateur Radio TODAY this morning.
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In the news today
SA AMSAT DECIDES ON THE KLETSKOUS PAYLOAD
SARL STRATEGY INDABA
LEARN TO PROGRAM IN WINDOWS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
SA AMSAT DECIDES ON THE KLETSKOUS PAYLOAD
SA AMSAT this week announced that the main payload on the KLETSkous CubeSat will be a linear UV transponder with a bandwidth of 20 kHz. The UV mode which is 70 cm uplink and 2 metre downlink was chosen in line with internationally recommended practice as it will minimize interference. The aim is to have it operating over Africa without the need of an access tone to open the transponder.
A multi city team is working on the designs and will soon finalise the specifications. Fundraising for the project has started in all earnest and radio amateurs are invited to make contributions to the fund. Visit www.amsatsa.org.za for bank details and more about the KLETSkous project.
SARL STRATEGY INDABA
The SARL Council meets annually for a two-day strategic session ahead of the National Convention to plan for the year ahead. These plans are then presented at the Annual General Meeting which this year will be held on 15 and 16 April at the Vaal University of Technology. This is the only time that councillors meet face to face as all other council meetings are held via teleconference.
Members are invited to make input to the strategic indaba by submitting suggestions of what they would like the SARL to plan for the coming year or issues which they feel require attention. Send your input to armi@sarl.org.za before 28 February 2011.
LEARN TO PROGRAM IN WINDOWS
Learning to program in Windows is a new SARL course presented by John Willescroft, ZS6EF. Learn how to produce your own applications in Windows to run peripherals from an USB port. The course includes an USB interface that will switch relays and read push buttons and voltages. Design your own shack control program with stand-alone applications. Your very own EXE files.
The first course will be presented in Cape Town on Saturday 19 March 2011. There is a substantial discount for SARL members. Full details and a booking form can be found on www.sarl.org.za and select RTA.
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM
The 2011 SA AMSAT space symposium will be presented in at the Talk100 Auditorium at Vodaworld in Midrand on 2 April. The date was changed by one week to avoid building operations at Vodaworld. Book now and benefit from the early bird rate. Find full details on www.amsatsa.org.za. It the symposium you do not want to miss.
DIGIMODE ACTIVITY IN THE 40 m CW SEGMENT
At WRC03, the ITU allocated frequency segment 7 100 – 7 200 kHz to the Amateur Service in Region 1. This extension of the 40 m band allowed IARU Region 1 to modify the Region 1 band plan. These changes became effective on 29 March 2009. Some of these changes include extension of the exclusive CW segment by 5 kHz, and is now 7 000 – 7 040 kHz; the segment for Narrow Band Modes (Digimodes) with a maximum bandwidth of 500 Hz was extended by 5 kHz (doubled) and moved to 7 040 – 7 050 kHz and the segment for All Modes (Digimodes) with a maximum bandwidth of 2 700 Hz was extended by 7 kHz and moved to 7 050 – 7 060 kHz.
Although the separation of the segments is by frequencies that are easy to remember (7 040, 7 050, 7 060 kHz), there is still a lot of PSK31 activity around 7 037 kHz. Radio amateurs are requested to adhere to the guidelines as stipulated in the IARU Region 1 HF Band Plan.
ARISSAT-1 DEPLOYMENT DELAYED UNTIL JULY
The launch from the International Space Station of ARISSAT-1 has been delayed till July.
On Thursday, 10 February Energia decided to have the crew do a checkout of ARISSAT One to make certain that it had survived the trip up on board the re-supply cargo flight that had carried it to its temporary home on the ISS. This test was not an event that was previously scheduled and there was no public announcement made of it. Instead, a message was sent to the ISS crew to connect ARISSAT-1 to one of the external amateur radio antennas, to turn it on and listen to it on the Kenwood dual-bander normally used for ARISS school contacts. During the test, Energia decided to keep the ARISSAT transmitter on through to the next day after which the crew reported back that the satellite was functioning flawlessly and it was ready to go off into space on its own.
On Friday, 11 February Energia management announced that the deployment of the ARISSAT One satellite had been removed from the schedule of events for E-V-A 28. This, Energia SAID, was due to changes in the tasks associated with the work scheduled to be performed during this spacewalk. Subsequently, Energia informed NASA that deployment of ARISSAT One will be added to EVA number 29. Its currently scheduled for sometime this coming July.
The good news in all this is that ARISSAT One will likely work exactly as it was designed to, once deployed in-orbit. Amateurs on the ground who heard ARISSAT One during the test period said its signal was definitely loud and clear.
CONTEST NEWS
The first SARL Digital Contest will be on the air next Sunday, 27 February from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC. The SARL Hamnet 40 Metre Simulated Emergency Contest will be run on Sunday 6 March from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC.
The rules for both these contests can be found in the 2011 SARL Contest Manual, the rules will also be included in the next issue of the HF Happenings newsletter.
Log sheets for the SARL National Field Day must be submitted by midnight on Monday 21 February 2011 to zs4bfn@netactive.co.za or by normal mail to Box 12104, Brandhof, 9324.
CLUB NEWS
The Overberg Amateur Radio Club held their AGM at the field station on 12/2 at Stanford. The following committee was chosen.
Chairman - Andre Meintjes - ZS1AZ
Vice chairman - Sam McLeary - ZS1OR
Secretary - Judy Gardener - ZS1JEG
Treasurer - John Martin - ZS1DI
Technical _ Len van Riell - ZS1LEN
ZS6PTA FLEA MARKET AND BOOT SALE IN PRETORIA
The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club will be hosting their next flea market and boot sale on Saturday 5 March. The fleamarket will be held at the Pretoria Motor Club facilities in Keunig street Silverton. The starting time is 08:00.
Everyone is welcome to attend. Come and visit the Mega Fleamarket in Pretoria. Phone Almero, ZS6LDP, on 083 938 8955 if you want to book a table or if you need more details about the flea market.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, can at last report that the solar activity has increased from low to moderate levels, as the biggest solar flare since December 2006 was produced by Sunspot 1 158. Sunspot 1 158 remains very large as it heads towards the western limb and a new sunspot is also forming just to the north of Sunspot 1 161. The effective sunspot number is expected to be around 50 for the coming week.
15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 20 m. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset. During the afternoons conditions will be good towards Europe on 15 m, later to be followed by fair 20 m openings. Fair 15 m contacts with the USA are possible during the evenings. Contacts with Australia are possible on 20 m after sunset. 15 and especially 20 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. With the increase in solar activity 10 m may also come alive from time to time.
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 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
21 February – Due date for the SARL field day logs to zs4bfn@netactive.co.za or Box 12104, Brandhof, 9324.
25 February - Logs for AWA CW Activity day to be in to Andy, ZSADY.
27 February - First SARL Digital Contest for 2011 from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC on 80, 40 and 20 metres.
28 February - Offers to host a station at Sun City during IARU Region 1 conference to be in to iaru2011@sarl.org.za.
28 February – Due date for inputs for SARL Strategic Indaba to armi@armi.sarl.org.
5 March – ZS6PTA Flea Market at POMC Club house in Keunig St, Silverton from 08:00.
6 March - SARL Hamnet 40 Metre Simulated Emergency Contest will be run from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC.
19 March – RTA, Programming in Windows course in Cape Town, book at www.sarl.org.za.
25 March - SAiSAT briefing session at the NARC.
2 April – SA AMSAT, book at www.amsatsa.org.za. Space Simposium at Vodaworld,
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 Today 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.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
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