SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 6 MAY 2012
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. For audio over 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 17570 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
IN THE NEWS TODAY:
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM IN DURBAN ON SATURDAY
PROPAGATION STUDY ON 5 MHz PUBLISHED
NATIONAL AMATEUR RADIO DAY
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM IN DURBAN ON SATURDAY
If you have not yet booked for the SA AMSAT Space Symposium to be held at the University of KwaZulu Natal this Saturday, 12 May, do it now. The programme is packed with presentations and demonstrations covering a wide range of subjects of interest to radio amateurs and persons who have an interest in science and technology.
Telkom is the lead sponsor making it possible to have speakers from all over South Africa. The SA National Space Agency is sponsoring the attendance of students and learners and a number of companies have come on board with attendance prizes. From RF Design there are four Tiny track APRS boards to be won, Comtest and RS are donating multi meters. Visit www.amsatsa.org.za for the programme, list of attendance prizes which is growing everyday and registration form. The early bird registration fee for SARL and SA AMSAT members has been extend till Monday evening.
PROPAGATION STUDY ON 5 MHz PUBLISHED
A paper entitled Comparison of propagation predictions and measurements for mid-latitude HF near-vertical incidence sky wave links at 5MHz has just been published in the peer-reviewed, academic journal, Radio Science. The paper, by Dr Marcus Walden, G0IJZ, compares near-vertical incidence sky wave, or NVIS, measurements from the UK 5 MHz beacon network with HF propagation predictions using VOACAP and ASAPS software. A link to the manuscript can be found on www.rsgb.org.uk.
The SARL has submitted a proposal to ICASA to allocate spectrum in the 5 MHz band for radio amateurs in South Africa to do propagation research on this band. An amateur allocation in the 5 MHz band is on the ITU WRC-015 agenda.
One of the problems with Amateur allocations at 40 and 80 metres is that the two bands are an octave apart in frequency. At stages when the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) falls below 7 MHz in the 300 to 500 km distance range, the LUF (Lowest Usable Frequency) is still above 4 MHz. This is especially true in the late afternoon/early evening. This leaves Radio Amateurs without a direct workable HF frequency over these moderate distances. When the MUF falls below 7 MHz, the lower portion of 5 MHz is perfectly in the OTF (Optimum Traffic Frequency) range that then stretch from about 4,9 to 5,6 MHz range. Ean Retief, ZS1PR, found that in studies carried out in a commercial application, that during times of low Solar Flux, 5 MHz could be used right through the day in preference to frequencies just below 7 MHz. He also observed that in winter the band is very quiet during the day and excellent for Packet radio as well phone. In times of high Solar Flux 5 MHz can be used from sundown right trough the night till well after dawn when there is no daytime "skip zone" on 5 MHz.
The SARL is following up with ICASA and has asked the agency to fast track the application.
NATIONAL AMATEUR RADIO DAY
At the recent strategic indaba, the Council of the SARL decided to set a day aside to be called National Amateur Radio Day, celebrating Amateur Radio as a National Resource and its diversity as the most exciting of all scientific hobbies.
This year National Amateur Radio Day will be held on Saturday 16 June which is also youth day. Council selected the date as the youth is the future of amateur radio. The day will however not detract from older and senior amateurs. It will be all inclusive.
The objective is to take amateur radio to the public by exhibiting and doing live demonstrations of the various aspects that make amateur radio great and a fun thing to be part of. It is planned that the activity be run from 09:00 - 16:00.
Council will finalise the programme at it meeting this week. Be sure to tune in to SARLNEWS next Sunday to get all the details and watch out for a SARL letter in your email inbox after that and on the web.
RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION NUMBERS ON THE WEB
Candidates who have registered to write the Radio Amateur Examination on Thursday 24 May can look up their examination number and venue where the examination will be written on the web. Visit www.amateurradio.org.za/RAE.htm or link from the news item on the SARL home page on www.sarl.org.za.
168 Candidates have registered for the May examination. The exam starts at 19:00 and candidates have three hours to complete the two sections of the examination. Candidates should report to the examination centre by 18:30 and bring their ID book or other suitable identification. We wish candidates success in the exam.
EME WORKED ALL CONTINENTS
On Tuesday evening 1 May, Andre van Deventer, ZS2BK, worked PY2GN via EME and this was the sixth QSO required for the Worked all Continents Award. Andre has now made an EME contact with a station in Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, North and South America.
Congratulations to Andre.
CONTEST NEWS
SARL VHF/UHF Contest results.
Only 8 logs were received which consisted of 6 Home stations and 2 Club stations. Where were all the other club stations? Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL, SARL Contest Manager, would like to issue a challenge to all the clubs countrywide to take part in the next leg in September 2012. It is up to the clubs to generate interest amongst their members to the wonders of VHF/UHF.
Analog results.
Rover station.
ZS6MHH 1 448 points
Single operator Home stations.
1st - ZS1NAZ 112 890 Points
2nd - ZS6A 31 455 Poins
3rd - ZS6PX 12 746 Points
Multi Operator Club Station.
1st - ZS6WR 43 932 Points
2nd - ZS6MRK 40 733 points
Digital results.
Single operator home station.
1st - ZS5Y 106452 Points
2nd - ZS6A 102438 Points
3rd - ZS2ACP 100775 Points
Multi Operator Club Station.
1st - ZS6MRK 20 556 Points
2nd - ZS6WR 5 346 Points
Congratulations to all the winners. Thanks go to the stations who sent in a log. A special word of thanks to Tienie Herbst, ZS6MHH, who went the extra mile.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the Solar activity remains at moderate levels. The sun's surface is peppered with smaller, fairly quiet sunspots.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 51.
All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 15 m providing the best openings with 10 m not far behind.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 15 m
providing the best openings with 10 m not far behind.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
6 May – This afternoon, ZS3 Sprint, 14:00 to 15:00 UTC.
12 May - SA AMSAT space symposium; visit www.amsatsa.org.za for details and registration.
12/13 May the AWA Valve QSO party, 15:00 to 19:00 CAT.
13 May - Log sheets for ZS3 Sprint to to be in to ZS3 Sprint, PO Box 1049, Kathu, 8446 or by e-mail to zs3nc@qsl.net.
19 May - 14:00 PEARS AGM at the Italian Club, Charlo, Port Elizabeth with a boot sale prior to the AGM with a bring and braai afterwards.
28 May - Logs for AWA Valve QSO party to be in to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za or AWA of Southern Africa, P O Box 12320; Benoryn 1504.
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 175,70 MHz in the Pretoria area, with relays on 7
082, 7 205 and 17 570 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 17:30 UTC on 3230 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 Johan Marais, ZU1JM.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
