SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 20 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 145,725 AND 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with a relay on 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
To all mothers listening today, we wish you happy mother's day.
IN THE NEWS TODAY:
MORE TIME FOR ZU LICENCEES
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DID NOT RENEW YOUR LICENCE AND LOST YOUR CALL SIGN
NATIONAL AMATEUR RADIO DAY
AMATEUR RADIO ON MARION ISLAND
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
SOME MORE TIME FOR ZU LICENSEES OVER 25 TO WRITE THE CLASS A EXAM
ZU Licensees (class B) will have more time to study and write the class A examination. In a discussion with ICASA the agency confirmed that the rule that class B licensees will loose their licence if they are over 25 years old will only apply once the corrections to the regulation, which were published, on 31 March 2011, have been promulgated. After that date holder of ZU licences who are over 25 years old will get two years to qualify for the class A licence.
There is no indication when the revisions will be published. The revised regulations are being held up pending court action by one of the spectrum users which may affect one of the regulations. ICASA's legal department believes that by publishing the amateur radio portion of the regulations separately will jeopardise their case in court.
BEST WISHES TO RTA STUDENTS
Students will be sitting the RAE on Thursday evening. We wish them well and look forward to a record new callsigns on the air soon.
DID NOT RENEW YOUR LICENCE AND LOST YOUR CALLSIGN?
Currently if a person has not paid the license fee, the callsign is cancelled. To reapply ICASA charges the application fee plus any outstanding amount on the account. This is not negotiable unless the person can prove that he/she cancelled the license in writing. A copy of the letter is needed.
The SARL has taken this matter up with ICASA. The Agency confirmed that they are reviewing the process. This may take several weeks. If you in the position that you let your licence lapse, the above procedure is the only one to follow.
RADIO ZS IN THE MAIL
The March - April Edition of Radio ZS is in the mail and available on the web for download by members of the SARL. The edition was delayed due to a change in printer. The printer who has been printing RADIO ZS for the past few years decided to retire and close the business.
The edition is packed with interesting articles. Read about "An Easy HF Field Day Station" by Rob Parkinson, ZS1RAP. Ean Retief ZS1PR's article "Deeltiteleiendomme - Antennas in die solder" will be of great interest for Amateurs living in complexes. Read about "New Amateur Radio Shack at the Institute for the Blind in Worcester". Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, writes about "The ZS-Dipole, a compact, efficient, wide band dipole for 40 m and up and Sydney Smith, ZS1TMJ, takes us back to the valve days with "The BH-NHS 'Rat Trap' Regenerative Receiver".
Dennis Green, ZS4BS, brings us up-to-date with "Amateur Radio on the iPad", a small sample of some of the apps available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod.
Enjoy reading!
If you are not yet a member of the SARL, take up our special offer and get May and June free. For full details call Mariska on Monday at 011 675 2393.
You can also ask for a sample copy of Radio ZS by sending an email to artoday@sarl.org.za with RZS in the subject line.
SHARE YOUR PASSION OF AMATEUR RADIO
Share your passion of amateur radio for two special programmes to be transmitted on National Amateur Radio Day on 16 June. If you are an old timer in Amateur Radio we would like to hear your story and record it for the programme. All you need to do is to send your telephone number (Landlines only) to artoday@sarl.org.za and Hans, ZS6AKV, will call you to record your views on why amateur radio is great.
The second programme is about how young persons experience amateur radio. If you under 25 years old send your telephone details to artoday@sarl.org.za, Hans will call you. Recordings will be done on Thursday evening this week so please respond today or tomorrow.
YOUTH DAY SPRINT
The annual Youth Day Sprint will be held on Saturday 16 June from 10:00 - 12:00 CAT. There are many prizes to be won in this 2 hour 40 metre fun event. Radio Amateurs are encouraged to invite young persons to enjoy the event from their station and top give youngster a hands-on experience of amateur radio. The youth day Sprint is part of the 2012 National Amateur Radio Day. Visit www.sarl.org.za for more details.
AMATEUR RADIO ON MARION ISLAND
Rory Meyer, ZS6RGV, is the new radio technician at Marion Island base, the Daily DX reports. It may be sometime before we hear Rory because he is very busy now helping with the change over from the old team to the new team on the island. Rory has an IC-736 and FL-7000, but does not yet have a ZS8 call sign. Pierre, ZS1HF (ex ZS8M) will be supporting Rory with obtaining a ZS8 call sign and Pierre is planning to be the QSL manager.
DIGITAL MODES ON 40 METRES
The SARL has received a complaint of a ZS6 radio amateur operating DominoEx-4 between 7 058 and 7 060 kHz. Stations using this digital mode must operate between 7 040 and 7 050 kHz. SSB operation starts at 7 053 kHz.
DAYLIGHT METEOR SHOWERS ARE HERE
If you have never experienced any meteor scatter signals on VHF before, then now is your chance to learn something about it. Starting this week the Earth is passing through two intense daylight meteor showers, the Arietids and the Zeta Perseids with hourly rates of 54 and 20 respectively. The first step is to listen for meteor signals from the VHF beacons on 50 MHz, 70 MHz and even on 144 MHz, as the meteor bursts should be audible thoughout the day. Once you can hear the beacon signals then concentrate on 50,200 MHz SSB for any long distance contacts that may peak up to S9, alternatively you could also monitor 70,200 MHz FM. These showers will continue throughout June until beginning of July 2012.
THE SARL ZS4 SPRINT.
This is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Free State and radio amateurs in Southern African countries. The Sprint is run from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC on Sunday 20 May 2012 and is a phone and CW contest in the 40-metre band.
ZS4 stations will give a RS(T) report and the town name or abbreviation, while other stations will give a RS(T) report and their provincial or country abbreviation. Earn 2 points for working a ZS4 station and one point for a QSO with any other station. ZS4 stations will earn one point for a QSO with a ZS4 station and 2 points per contact outside ZS4. Contacts with the Bloemfontein RAC, ZS4BFN, Vrystaat Radioklub, ZS4B or the Sasolburg ARC, ZS4SRK is worth 5 points each, only one contact per station is allowed
Log sheets shall be submitted by 4 June and can be sent to The Sasolburg Amateur Radio Club, ZS4SRK, PO Box 28194, Sonlandpark, 1944 or by e-mail to riaanzs4pr@gmail.com and copy fwolff@global.co.za
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the Solar activity is at moderate levels. The sun's surface is peppered with sunspots and a new sunspot is emerging on the western limb.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 80.
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
Today is National Museum Day: Zululand Radio Amateurs will broadcast from the Nongqayi Fort under callsign ZS5ZLB.
The SARL ZS4 sprint from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC.
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.
4 June – Logs for the ZS4 Sprint to be in to to The Sasolburg Amateur Radio Club, ZS4SRK, PO Box 28194, Sonlandpark, 1944 or by e-mail to riaanzs4pr@gmail.com and copy fwolff@global.co.za.
16 June - National Amateur Radio day between 09:00 and 16:00 and Youth Day Sprint 10:00 – 12:00 CAT.
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 17 570 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, and edited by George, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
