SARL NEWS 16 September 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 newsreaders change to suit).
SILENT KEYS
It is with regret that it must be announced that the keys of two radio amateurs went silent recently. They are:
ZS1CP, Chuck Du Preez, about 2 months ago. It seems that no radio members had been notified of this previously.
The other one is that of ZS1VX - Valter Blaughsted, on 2 September after a long battle with cancer a month shy of his 79th birthday. He is seen as father of the west-coast publication "Ons Kontrei" which he started in 1968 and is still published today. He is survived by his loving wife Patricia and son Erik and will be much missed by family and friends.
We offer our condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased.
(PAUSE)
In the news today:
RSGB ASKS IARU REGION ONE TO RECONSIDER PLT STANDARD
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION
THREE RADIO AMATEURS RETURN TO EARTH THIS WEEKEND
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
RSGB ASKS IARU REGION ONE TO RECONSIDER PLT STANDARD
The Radio Society of Great Britain has formally asked the International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Electromagnetic Compatibility Working Group to reconsider its policy on the draft European Broadband over Power Line or PLT standard, one that the RSGB claims to threaten a 38 dB increase in RF pollution over much of the short wave radio spectrum.
The request from the RSGB came in an August 28th letter from the RSGB's Don Beattie. G3BJ, to C.M. Verholt, who is the Chairman of the IARU Region 1 EMC Working Group. In it, Beattie says that there is no way that the emissions from devices meeting this new standard can satisfy the essential requirements of the EMC Directive outside the notched frequencies. As such, G3BJ says that the IARU Region 1 EMC Working Group is in effect condoning overriding the essential requirements of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive by backing the standard. He says that this action of the Commission is clearly contrary to the law of the European Union and therefore open to judicial review.
Beattie goes on to say that the new emission levels, if sanctioned, will inevitably become the baseline for future standards. In this context he notes that that there are already some new drafts that are circulating which reference the more liberal proposed emission levels.
Beattie ends his letter by saying that the RSGB hopes that common sense will prevail and that IARU Region 1 will amend its position on this matter. The IARU Region 1 EMC Working Group had previously added its support to the new Pan-European electromagnetic Compatibility standard that the RSGB so vigorously opposes.
The SARL supports the RSGB's views as any relaxation in emission levels can have far reaching negative effects which ultimately may impact also on South Africa
RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION SYMPOSIUM - PRE-BOOK FOR CAPE TOWN NOW
The last in the 2012 series of the SARL Radio Technology in Action Symposiums will be held min Cape Town on 29 September 2012 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Bellville Campus. The full programme and registration forms are now available on www.sarl.org.za. Click on RTA or the link in the news update centre stage on the home page.
Pre-booking assists with catering arrangements and guarantees that you will be able to get the CD and the SDR kit at the meeting.
The challenge is on for the Western Cape Radio Amateurs to beat the Gauteng record of close to 100 participants. Please make use of the pre-booking facility and stand a change to win an ARRL Basic Antenna book. The booking form can be downloaded from www.sarl.org.za.
THREE RADIO AMATEURS RETURN TO EARTH THIS WEEKEND
After spending 125 days in space, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba, KE5DAR, Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin, RN3BS, (both of the Russian Federal Space Agency) will begin their voyage home to Earth this weekend, marking the end of Expedition 32 on board the International Space Station. The trio will undock their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft today for the flight home. They are scheduled to arrive in Kazakhstan at the Baikonur Cosmodrome almost four hours later.
At the time of undocking, Expedition 33 will formally begin on board the ISS under the command of NASA's Sunita Williams, KD5PLB. She and her crewmates -- Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, and Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) -- will tend to the station as a three-person crew for a month until the arrival of three new crew members in mid-October, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, KF5GPP, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to return to Earth in mid-November.
IS YOUR SARL MEMBERSHIP UP TO DATE?
The cutoff date for membership renewal of the SARL is 30 September 2012. On the 1st of October the SARL database will be refreshed and persons who have not yet renewed their membership will be indicated as "non-members". To prevent your uninterrupted membership from lapsing, renewals can now be done on line on the SARL web page or contact the SARL office during weekdays between 09:00 and 13:00 on 011 675 2393. Renew your membership now- It is the right thing to do!
CLUB NEWS
The West Rand Amateur Radio club is hosting its next flea market 12:00 on Saturday 29 September 2012 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information contact Phillip ZS6PVT, 083 267 3835 or Geoff ZS6GRL 082 546 5546.
HF PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at low levels. Only a few sunspot regions are currently visible.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 39.
All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 15 m providing the best openings with 20 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
15 and 16 September - SARL VHF/UHF analogue and digital contest.
29 September - Flea market of the West Rand Amateur Radio club.
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 Martin Schwella, ZS4MS, and edited George Honiball, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
