SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 01 JULY 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 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 MHz FM from Pretoria with relays on 7 066 and 3 695 kHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
(PAUSE)
IN THE NEWS TODAY:
FIRST WORKED ALL SOUTH AFRICAN GRID SQUARES AWARD FOR 160 m AWARDED
AMATEURS ASSIST STRICKEN VESSEL
LEARN HOW DO YOUR OWN HF PREDICTIONS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these items and other important and interesting items.
FIRST WORKED ALL SOUTH AFRICAN GRID SQUARES AWARD FOR 160 m AWARDED
The Sandton Amateur Radio Club is pleased to announce that the first certificate for contacts with 25 grid squares on 160 m has been awarded to Lukas Holtzhausen ZS6LH. Pierre ZS6BB (now ZS6A) still holds the record as the only person to achieve all 83 grids in South Africa, and no one has yet achieved this for a specific band. The aim of this award is to involve any licensed radio amateur in a fun activity to collect at least one contact from each of the four-character Maidenhead grid squares. South Africa is covered by 83 grid squares, and some of these can be worked from adjacent territories. The rules for the Worked All South African Grid Squares award can be found on the Sandton amateur radio club website at www.zs6stn.org.za.
AMATEURS ASSIST STRICKEN VESSEL
If all else fails there's always amateur radio. David Ogg, M0OGY, was in QSO with Ian, VK3MO, in Melbourne in Australia using the long path at nearly 24 000 km. Later into the QSO he heard a Break station that turned out to be AI4FH, Maritime Mobile off the coast of Spain, who had lost his mast and sails in a massive storm. He asked for their assistance via amateur radio. David filmed the whole episode for YouTube and has posted the video. He says, 'It just goes to show in these modern times, when all else fails there is amateur radio'. You can find the audio on www.sarl.org.za, click on the Amateur Radio Today link.
LEARN HOW DO YOUR OWN HF PREDICTIONS
At the SARL Radio in Action symposiums you will learn how to do your own HF propagation predictions. Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BPZ, will talk about the In's and Out's of Ionospheric Propagation and demonstrate the VOACOP frequency prediction software and show delegates how to set it up on their home computers from the disk that will be supplied to all delegates at the RTA. The first RTA will be held in Durban at the University of Natal on Saturday 21 July. The event starts at 09:00 with registration from 08:30. The full programme is on the SARL web at www.sarl.org.za, select RTA. The RTA will come to Gauteng on 18 August. Port Elizabeth on 1 September and Cape Town on 29 September.
DXCC DESK APPROVES SEVEN OPERATIONS FOR CREDIT
In June, the DXCC approved seven operations for DXCC credit. On June 21, the 2012 TT8ES (Chad) operation, the XX9E (Macao) operation and the 2011 TL9EL (Central African Republic) were approved. On June 25, the 2012 XW4XR (Laos) operation was approved. On June 26, the 2010 J28RO (Djibouti) operation, the 2011 J25DXA (Djibouti) operation and the 2012 5X1RO (Uganda) operation have been approved. "If you had cards that were recently rejected for these operations, please send an e-mail to the ARRL DXCC Desk, "Moore said. "Please note that due to extremely heavy e-mail, DXCC staff may not respond to your message. Once your record is updated, results will appear in Logbook of The World (LoTW) accounts or in the live, daily DXCC Standings. Due to a backup on DXCC e-mail, DXCC staff will make the corrections to accounts, but may not respond directly to messages about this." Moore noted that the J28RO and 5X1RO logs have been uploaded to LoTW.
OPERATE IN THE IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIP FROM THE NARC
The International Amateur Radio Union sponsored High Frequency World Championship 2012 will take place beginning 12:00 UTC on Saturday July 14th and ending 12:00 UTC on Sunday July 15th. The objective of this contest is to contact as many other amateurs, especially IARU member society Headquarters stations, around the world as possible. This, using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metre bands.
The SARL would like to put its station at the NARC on the air and is looking for volunteers to man the station for the full period. This would be a great opportunity for experienced contesters to show newcomers how much fun contesting is. If you are interested, drop a line to contest@sarl.org.za this week and you will be contacted.
THE SARL DX RECORD TABLE FOR VHF, UHF & MICROWAVES TO BE UPDATED
The current SARL DX record table for VHF, UHF and Microwaves will be updated after 30 June 2012. All VHF amateurs throughout the country are invited to submit their record claims for 50, 70, 144, 432, 1 296 and 2 300 MHz or any microwave records that they may have made during the past year or earlier. To find out whether you qualify for a record check the 2011 record table by clicking on General Info on the homepage of the SARL, followed by Local information and then VHF, UHF, SHF, EHF SA records. The top five records of each category are listed. You can post your claims on the VHF forums, or ZSVHF mailman list or e-mail it to mcbosch@webafrica.org.za.
DO YOU NEED A CONTACT IN KG 10?
Dennis, ZS4BS, will be traveling to the Northern Cape on 6 to 8 July and spend most of the time in KG10. Dennis will be active on 40 and 30 metres while mobile and when at his base will be able to work on 80 metres as well.
If you need KG10, contact Dennis at zs4bs@iaru-r1.org to arrange a sked.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the week's expected Solar activity will be at moderate levels. Sunspots 1 512 and 1 513 harbours enough energy for M-class flares.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 47.
All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 20 m providing the best openings with 15 m not far behind. 10 m openings will be much less frequent due to the lower solar activity and then mostly on east-west paths.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
6/8 July – Dennis, ZS4BS, operating mobile in KG10, contact him per email to zs4bs@iaru-r1.org to arrange a sked if you need this grid square.
14/15 July - The IARU HF Championship on all the bands. Rules are available at tinyurl.com/iaru-hf-championship. If you wish to operate the station from the NARC, send email immediately to contest@sarl.org.za.
21 July - The first Radio Technology in Action (RTA) of 2012 in Durban at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The full programme will be available on www.sarl.org.za early next week.
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 17 760 kHz. There is also a podcast by Dick, 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 4 895 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 Honiball, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening. 73.
/EX
