SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 26 AUGUST 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 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
SILENT KEYS
It is with regret we advise that the keys of two radio amateurs stopped operation on the same day last week.
That of Chris Willigenburg, ZS6VB, went silent after a short period of fighting a battle with Leukemia. Chris was very involved with Hamnet and was Provincial Director for Gauteng South for a period a few years back. He leaves Linda, his wife and 2 daughters.
That of Rodney James, ZR6NTN, went silent at the age of 58 after a short illness.
Rodney was licenced in 2009, and was a member of the Sandton ARC.
He leaves his wife Delilah and adopted son Ryan.
We offer our condolences to their families and friends.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ON 1 SEPTEMBER IN PE
MTN TO SPONSOR RADIO AMATEUR AWARDS - NOMINATIONS ARE INVITED
BPL WAR: EU VS RSGB OVER BPL STANDARD
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ON 1 SEPTEMBER IN PE
Register now for the SARL Radio Technology in Action Symposium to be held at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth on 1 September 2012. The event features an exciting keynote address by Jason Manly of SKA South Africa.
He will discuss the road to the world's largest science instrument, the Square Kilometre Array. There'll be a specific focus on South Africa's part in this project, both from technical and human capital development viewpoints. South Africa's own KAT-7 and 64-dish MeerKAT arrays that are currently being deployed in the Karoo will be described in some detail along with how these are leading towards the SKA. The SKA itself will consist of three separate array types built in two phases over multiple continents. What does the right to host this premier international instrument mean for South Africa and Africa in general?
Jason told SARL NEWS: "With my background in signal processing, there'll probably be a bit of a bias towards SDR, but I'll keep it interesting describing everything from antenna feeds and reflector design to signal transport and data post processing, with a few slides about the science goals thrown in for good measure!”
We promised that the Port Elizabeth RTA would have a very special keynote. We are able to deliver on that promise with a very special hour.
The rest of the programme will follow the programme presented at the Durban and Gauteng RTA with plenty of hands-on type presentation.
Pre-booking is recommended to ensure that enough 80 metre experimental SDR kits and CD's are available. It also assists with the catering. A registration form can be downloaded from www.sarl.org.za as well as a detailed programme. Pre-booking closes on Thursday evening. So do not delay. All persons who pre-book will take part in an additional draw for the ARRL Basic Antenna book.
You can register at the venue on Saturday morning but pre-booking is preferred.
MTN TO SPONSOR RADIO AMATEUR AWARDS - NOMINATIONS ARE INVITED
MTN is the new sponsor for the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust Radio Amateurs awards. Nominations are invited for the three categories in which awards are made:
GARTH MILNE TECHNICAL INNOVATION AWARD
The award is made for the support, development and application of Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio in South Africa. The recipient will be a person who has promoted the use of technology in amateur radio at club level, nationally, at schools or a tertiary education institution.
MTN RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD
The award is made for the support and development of the Amateur Radio Service in South Africa, not for individual achievements such as DXCC and other operational awards or contests. The recipient will be a person who has given of his or her expertise and time to the promotion of Amateur Radio in South Africa.
MTN AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Annually the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust is recognising a radio amateur or a group of radio amateurs for service to the community.
Community service can be assistance to a handicapped radio amateur, communications support during a sporting event or a disaster situation like a road accident or a natural disaster like a flood, veld fires, or an earthquake. Nominations are invited for an individual or a group of people like a radio club, or an association.
Nomination forms are available on www.amateurradio.org.za or by sending a mail request to saardt@intekom.co.za. The closing date for nominations is 30 September.
BPL WAR: EU VS RSGB OVER BPL STANDARD
A battle appears to be brewing between the Radio Society of Great Britain and the chairman of the European Union Committee. This after the latter attacked the RSGB's call to arms in the battle against Powerline Transmission radio pollution according to a report on Newsline.
The chairman of the European Union committee on Powerline Networking has responded to the Radio Society of Great Britain's call to arms, claiming that every minute of filibustering pollutes the radio spectrum more.
According to the UK newspaper the Register, the Radio Society of Great Britain says that the new standard for broadband powerline transmission, will water down existing requirements. This it says will open the way to greater spectrum pollution. As such, the RSGB has asked members to lobby their local representatives.
But Ronald Storrs, Chair of the committee defining the standard, refutes that. He claims that it is the RSGB that is risking the airwaves with - and we quote" "their pointless protests and inflexible attitude."
The problem is that sending data signals over unshielded mains wiring, as Broadband Over Powerline transmissions does, generates radio interference. And as the manufacturers push to increase speeds that interference is spreading into the frequencies used by other radio services. That, says the RSGB, is unacceptable.
But BPL or PLT equipment manufacturers have a totally different view. They say that the devices don't generate significant interference. Rather it's the mains wiring thats the culprit. The manufacturers also contend that in many homes the wiring is sufficiently shielded that no interference is generated. As such they will continue to sell their devices legally.
Meantime UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom has taken a back seat in this matter. It says that it can't do anything as the devices themselves aren't radio transmitters so fall outside their purview. Ofcom says it's waiting for the new standard to be enacted which will give it some authority to regulate Broadband over Powerline technology.
So it appears that a proverbial line has been drawn in the sand between the UK amateur radio community represented by the Radio Society of Great Britain and those who want to sell Broadband Over Powerline or PLT gear. And while the European Union's Storrs agrees that BPL is generating unacceptable interference, he says that every day there isn't an applicable standard in place more unrestricted gear is getting into the marketplace. He adds that the intransigence of United Kingdom's amateur radio community isn't helping.
CPUT CUBESAT TO LAUNCH END NOVEMBER
The CubeSat designed and built by students at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology in Bellville will be launched towards the end of November. Still known by its engineering name ZACube-1, the satellite will be shipped in the next few weeks to Holland where it will be integrated with two other CubeSats in the launch carrier before being shipped for integrating with the rocket. ZACube-1 carries a HF transmitter operating on 14 099 kHz, a small camera and a telemetry transmitter. Listen to Amateur Radio Today this morning for an interview with Francois Visser, of CPUT who is leading the project.
NEW WEB FEATURES ON THE SARL WEB
From this week, two new regular news features have been added on the home page of the SARL Web. Dennis Green, ZS4BS, will weekly update HF and DX information while Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL, will keep you up to date with contesting.
Visit www.sarl.org.za, another membership service form the SARL.
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
Subscriptions to the SARL were due on 1 June 2012. If you have not yet paid yours please do so without delay. The cutoff date is 31 August. If you have mislaid your invoice, call Mariska on Monday on 011 675 2393 to get the information.
CONTEST NEWS
The SARL HF CW Contest is on the air this afternoon from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC with activity on 20, 40 and 80 metres. The exchange is a RST report and a consecutive serial number. Find the rules in the 2012 SARL Contest Manual.
Contest results.
SARL YL Sprint. The Contest Committee received seven contest logs and two check logs for the SARL YL Sprint held on Thursday 9 August.
Judy Pretorius, ZS6JDY, takes first place with her 142 points, followed closely by Pam Momberg, ZS6APT, with 137 points. Third place went to Celeste Searle, ZS6CNS, with 132 points and Jenni Warren, ZS4J, on 131 points, a worthy challenger.
The winner of the lucky draw for a bouquet of flowers is Celeste Searle, ZS6CNS.
SARL HF Phone Contest. The contest committee received twenty-six single operator logs, one multi-operator log and two check logs for the contest held on Sunday 5 August.
Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR, takes top honours in the Single Operator class with 175 points, followed by Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC, in second place with 163 points. Sharing the third position is Brendan Muller, ZS4BM, and Pierre van Deventer, ZS6A, with 151 points each. Pierre also scored the highest points on a single band with his 151 points on 40 metres.
Hendrik Rudman, ZS6RHL, and Ivan Pleho, ZS6IVP, teamed up with Francois Reyneke, ZS6FDX, to operate as ZS6FDX in the multi-operator class and they made 148 points.
In the Club Competition, the East Rand Branch has challenged the West Rand ARC! Taking first place is the East Rand Branch with 551 points, followed by the West Rand ARC with 246 points and the Pretoria ARC in third place with 223 points.
Congratulations to Hans, Pierre and the East Rand Branch. The full results of both contests have been published in HF Happenings 519.
ZS6PTA SPRING FLEA MARKET AND BOOT SALE IN PRETORIA
The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club will be hosting their spring flea market and boot sale on Saturday 1 September. The fleamarket will be held at Pretoria Motor Club in Keuning street in Silverton. The starting time is 08:00.
Everyone is welcome to attend. Come and visit the Mega Fleamarket in Pretoria. Phone Almero, ZS6LDP, on 083 938 8955, if you want to book a table or if you need more details about the flea market.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at low levels. There are currently a few sunspot regions visible but fortunately some more are in the process of being formed.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 41.
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 less frequent due to the lower solar activity.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
26 August - SARL HF CW competition from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC on 20, 40 and 80 metres only.
27 August - Last day to submit logs for SARL HF digital contest to zs4bfn@netactive.co.za or Bloemfontein ARC, Box 33211, Fichardt Park, 9317,
1 September – RTA in Port Elizabeth at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, pre-booking starts tomorrow, visit www.sarl.org.za.
1 September – Pretoria ARC spring flea market starting 08:00.
30 September – Nominations for MTN sponsored SAARDT awards to be in to saardt@intekom.co.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 17 760 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 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 Honiball, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
