SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 17 JULY 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 'Amateur Radio Today' 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.
In the news today:
SAARDT MAKES 5 RAE BURSARIES AVAILABLE
FURTHER ARISSAT-1 LAUNCH DELAY
PRESIDENT’S NET TO DISCUSS IARU MOTIONS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.
SAARDT MAKES 5 RAE BURSARIES AVAILABLE
The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust is making bursaries available for students under 25 who are planning to write the October 2011 Class A Radio Amateur Examination. Through the generous sponsorship of the Tony Reumerman, ZS6AOG, family, the Trust is able to offer five bursaries. The bursary includes the examination fee, SARL student membership subscription for one year and tuition fee of R640. The total bursary amount is R1000.
The closing date for applications is 31 July 2011 For more details and an application form go to www.amateurradio.org.za/bursaries.htm.
FURTHER ARISSAT-1 LAUNCH DELAY
The orbiting of ARISSat One has been delayed for a few weeks. According to ARISSat One Project Manager Gould Smith, WA4SXM, the former Suit-Sat will not make an appearance in space until sometime in August.
In a news release, Smith said he and ARISS Hardware Engineer Lou McFadin, W5DID, participated in a teleconference call this week with NASA to review the Roscosmos spacewalk procedures for the release of ARISSat One during E-V-A 29. For those who never heard the term before, E-V-A is an acronym for Extra Vehicular Activity and is NASA-ese for describing a spacewalk.
Smith now says the discussion centered on preparation procedures including the battery being charged and assembled into the satellite. Also discussed were the procedures to remove the protective quilts from the solar cells and turning on the safety switches prior to deployment.
During a later teleconference Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, announced that the ARISSat One battery will be charged in late July and a test of the system will be conducted from the ISS from 30 July at 19:15 to about 12:00 or 14:00 UTC July 31. The standard ARISSat One 2 metre downlink band plan should be transmitted as well as the FM signal also down linked on 437,55 MHz.
PRESIDENT’S NET TO DISCUSS IARU MOTIONS
A President’s Net will be held on Sunday 24 July from 19:30 to brief the SARL delegates on the motions on the IARU Region 1 Conference Agenda. The motions can be downloaded from www.iaru2011.org.za. The motions cover a wide range of issues affecting amateur radio. The SARL would like your input. Join us next Sunday for the discussion.
NEW AFRICAN COUNTRY
On Thursday, 14 July the UN General Assembly admitted the Republic of South Sudan as its 193rd member state. Immediately following the General Assembly meeting, the flag of the Republic of South Sudan flew for the first time in front of the UN.
Now that the Republic of South Sudan is a member of the United Nations, the new country is now a DXCC entity. However the ITU has not confirmed the new country’s callsign prefix.
BARK 40 METRE SUNDAY WINTER WARMER
The Boland Amateur Radio Club will be holding its 40 metre sprint contest on Sunday 24 July from 15:00 – 18:00 CAT. This is a fun activity to promote contacts on 40 metres between radio amateurs in Southern African countries. It is also an ideal opportunity for Mobile stations, Field stations and RaDAR stations to participate. For more information go to page 60 of the SARL “Blue book” available on the SARL web. The full URL is available on the web version of SARL News
( Do not read the url only for web version of SARL News) http://www.sarl.org.za/public/contests/SARL_2011_Contest%20Manual_issue_9.pdf
SARL MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
With just two weeks into the new financial year, over 50% of members have renewed their membership. Invoices were mailed some time ago. If you have not yet responded with your payment please do so as soon as possible. Your support of the SARL as the national body is important for the future of amateur radio. Thank you for your support. When making bank transfers or electronic payments, please add your name and callsign so that the office can identify your payment.
SARL WEB REMAINS A CHALLENGE
The SARL Web remains a challenge. While the new hosting company is sorting out some of the code and scripting issues, Imaginet will be moving the website to another server on Monday. For the past few weeks the web had to be reset several times a day. Expect disruption on Monday morning.
At this stage it looks if we will have a mirror site running in the next few days when all functionalities will be tested. The website is a priority for the SARL but before making the final move we want to make sure that every aspect works. Some of the uncalled for remarks on the forum will not change the process that we have to follow to ensure that we do not repeat the problems of the past.
CLUB NEWS
The Centurion Radio Amateur Club held a very successful Annual General Meeting on Saturday 9th July 2011 at the Scout Hall in Wierda Park. The following members were elected to the club’s new committee:
Chairman: Pam Momberg, ZS6APT;
Vice Chairman: James du Toit, ZS6JDT;
Secretary: Billy Strumpher, ZS6WPS;
Treasurer: Pam Momberg, ZS6APT;
Ordinary Committee members:
Repeater - Pieter du Toit, ZS6PZ;
Technical Training - Rian Venter, ZS6RXY;
Technical Forums - Pine Pienaar, ZS6GST;
RAE Training/Events - John Longland, ZS6AA;
Additional member - Ben Booysen, ZS6BTB.
Thanks to the outgoing committee and chairman for their good work during 2010-2011 and best wishes and strength to the new committee.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels. The parade of small sunspots continue with another new region forming to the southeast of 1 251 in the northern hemisphere. Solar activity does remain at very low levels however and there remains a chance for a C-Class flare. None of the current regions are magnetically complex.
For the people doing their own frequency predictions the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be less than 35.
With the winter here 20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 30 m. There is a chance of 15 m openings to South America.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
24 July - Boland Amateur Radio Club 40 metre sprint contest 15:00 – 18:00
CAT.
24 July – President’s Net at 19:30 CAT.
27 July – 4th leg of SARL Club Competition.
30 July – RTA in Durban.
07 Aug. - SARL HF Phone Competition.
09 Aug. - SARL YL Sprint.
21 Aug. - 3rd leg of SARL Digital Competition.
28 Aug. - SARL HF CW Competition.
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 'Amateur Radio TODAY', go down the green column and click on 'LISTEN ON THE WEB'. 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 George, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
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