SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 08 MAY 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 news reader 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:
MAY 2011 RAE EXAMINATION NUMBERS ON THE WEB TODAY
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM GOES FULL STEAM AHEAD
US STUDY SAYS NO SPECTRUM CRUNCH EXISTS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
MAY 2011 RAE EXAMINATION NUMBERS ON THE WEB TODAY
The May 2011 RA Examination numbers will be available on the SARL web page from 12:00 today (Sunday 08 May 2011). Please could all candidates check their examination venues and should there be any errors or queries, these need to be directed to Mariska at the SARL office on Monday morning. A letter will be emailed to all candidates confirming their entrance into the examination.
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM GOES FULL STEAM AHEAD
SA AMSAT said that its Space Symposium 2011 will go full steam ahead on Saturday 21 May. Following an agreement with Sentech the auditorium at Radiokop will be the venue with the SARL National Amateur Radio centre being used for refreshment breaks and lunch.
The new arrangement has substantially reduced the registration fee to R75 for SARL and SA AMSAT members if booked before 15 May 2011. Student and scholars will enter free if a student card or scholar ID is submitted at the time of Registration.
The conference will be opened by the CEO of the South African National Space Agency, Sandile Malinga. John Willescroft, ZS6EF, will demonstrate the development of a totally new concept which allows a solar panel to the released from SAiSAT once in Space. For full details, registration forms and programme, visit www.amsatsa.org.za
US STUDY SAYS NO SPECTRUM CRUNCH EXISTS
The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States has released a study arguing that there is no spectrum crisis. According to NAB, the research shows that insufficient analysis and reliance on faulty information in the formation of the FCC's National Broadband Plan has led to the overstated assumption of a nationwide spectrum shortage for future broadband expansion. NAB says that this is not the case.
The White House, the FCC and numerous in the wireless industry have cited a spectrum crisis as a justification for policies that would reallocate TV airwaves for mobile broadband use. But broadcasters have said that there is no way that they will willingly relinquish even a single hertz of spectrum to broadband.
The report authored by a former FCC aide was released the week of April 26th. It came on the heels of the NAB's recent statement that the broadcast lobby group is in full battle mode to stop the reframing of broadcast spectrum to broadband providers.
In South Africa a similar situation will loom as TV will turn digital and some of the current frequencies will become available for other services. At a recent workshop arranged by ICASA. ICASA said that they have other plans than simply handing it over to broadband suppliers.
ANOTHER SARL
Another organisation is using the abbreviation SARL; they are the SA Racing League. Their website is www.sarl.co.za. Ours, the South African Radio League, website remains www.sarl.org.za.
Now two items obtained from this week’s WIANews:
INFORMATION SUPER HIGHWAY
A story worth a read is in last Tuesday, 3 May's Yorkshire Post.
“Instead of floating in space, much of the information super highway is actually under water.
You might be surprised to know that this global communications system surfaces in the UK near a small village on the Yorkshire coast.
If you think the internet is largely dependent on satellites circling thousands of miles above the earth, think again.
The global communications system relies on old submarine cable routes that date from the 1800s.
Two hundred and fifty submarine cable systems provide the backbone for most of today's communications systems.
Another 19 are due to come online this year.
Less than five per cent of our hi-tech communications network is done via satellite, with fibre accounting for most of the rest.
The 19th century version of the information super highway would have struggled to keep up. The first transatlantic cable transmission in 1858 was a 98-word message from Queen Victoria of the UK to President Buchanan of the US which took 16 hours to transmit.
Fifteen years later, the first commercial transatlantic cable message was sent. It cost the princely sum of £20 for 20 words, which is roughly the equivalent of £900 today.
By 1870, information could be transmitted at around 10 words per minute.
Fans of Tolstoy should note that it would have taken 37 days to send over one copy of War & Peace.
Today, of-course information moves at lightning pace. Messages can be sent with the click of a mouse.
It is estimated that there are between 100 and 150 cable faults around the world each year.
Nearly half of these faults are due to fishing, although earthquakes can also cause damage and disruption.
Some things haven't changed in the last 150 years.
The method of recovering faulty cables has remained the same.
They are retrieved using a grappling hook on the end of up to five miles of rope. The rope is more expensive than the cables it helps to recover.
So the next time you log on, pray that a shark with a power complex isn't nibbling away at a cable in the deep.
SHOWER POWER SOAP OPERAS
The world's first shower powered radio comes from UK based Tango Group the same group that commercialised the award-winning Wind-Up Radio.
This radio is powered entirely by your shower water.
The H20 brand, has a patented a micro turbine concept through the motion of water flowing through a little turbine.
The convenient and energy-efficient shower powered radio, means users can listen to their favourite radio stations while in the shower.
The radio, and is even more convenient since it is recharged as the shower runs, dispelling the need for disposable batteries.
The radio even allows users to carry on listening after the shower is turned off; using any excess energy stored in an integral Ni-Mh rechargeable cell.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at low levels. There is currently no chance for strong solar flares. Sunspots 1 203 and 1 204 are the main features on the visible solar disk. New sunspot 1 207 remains a simple sunspot group. For the people doing their own frequency predictions the expected effective sunspot number for the week is about 45.
15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 20 m.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
21 May - SA AMSAT space simposium at NARC at Radiokop.
18 to 22 May - Follow Dayton Hamvention via W5KUB.com.
25 May - Closing date for nominations for NSN awards, visit www.amateurradio.org.za.
18 June - Programming in Windows course in Gauteng. Book at www.sarl.org.za.
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 17 750 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 18:30 CAT on 3 230 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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