SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 07 October 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. The SARL broadcasts 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 relays on 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
SILENT KEY
It is with regret that it must be announced that the key of Frans Jonker, ZS6ANI, became silent on 23 August 2012.
Our sincerest condolences to his relatives and friends.
(PAUSE)
IN THE NEWS TODAY:
PETER LAKE, ZL2AZ, APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF IARU REGION 3
NEW MINISTER FOR DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
RADIO AMATEURS MUST CONTRIBUTE TO SA'S KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
PETER LAKE, ZL2AZ, APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF IARU REGION 3
The Directors in IARU Region 3 have voted to appoint Peter Lake, ZL2AZ, of Wellington, New Zealand, as the Chairman of IARU Region 3. He replaces Michael Owen, VK3KI, who passed away unexpectedly last month. Owen, who was also President of the Wireless Institute of Australia, had served as Region 3 Chairman since 2006. "I am extremely grateful to my fellow Directors for their support in this difficult time, and for the procedural work by IARU Region 3 Secretary Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP, to formalize an appointment,” Lake said in a statement. "I will do my best to carry through all the work that we have in progress, much of it due to items and ideas put in place by Michael. It is my privilege to have the opportunity to serve you, the Member Societies and fellow amateurs in Region 3."
NEW MINISTER FOR DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Derek Hanekom has been appointed as the new minister of Science and Technology following the appointment of Naledi Pandor as Minister of Home Affairs. He has a tough act to follow as Naledi Pandor has excelled in the Portfolio securing 75% of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) for South Africa. She put science and technology on the high road in South Africa and passionately promoted the development of a knowledge economy for the country. She was a passionate speaker at many science and technology related event. Undoubtedly she will be missed in the corridors of DST. Derek Hanekom as deputy Minister of Science and Technology was behind the scenes involved in several projects and more recently hosted several SKA briefing events.
We wish both ministers well in their portfolios.
CHANGES ON SARL COUNCIL
Council has co-opted Gideon Jannasch, ZS4GJA, on Council. Gideon has taken over the RAE Manager portfolio. In other changes, the VHF/UHF Bandplanning Manager portfolio has been moved from Riaan Greeff, ZS4PR, to Frik Wolff, ZS6FZ. Riaan retains the Treasurer portfolio. Council has made the changes to manage the workload better.
NEW EMAIL ADDRESS FOR RAE MATTERS
A new RAE mailbox has been set-up to speed up the information flow. In future RAE queries should be sent to rae@sarl.org.za. Candidates should carefully read the correspondence addressed to them as it contains vitally important information. Candidates who still have outstanding documents should send these in as soon as possible to rae@sarl.org.za.
RTA CD and SDR KITS
A small number of RTA CD's and SDR 80 m experimental kits are available to persons who have not attended the RTA. Details can be found at www.sarl.org.za, click on RTA in the left hand column on the home page.
A package containing the kit and CD is available at R150 plus R30 packaging and postage. The CD only is available at R100 plus R20 packaging and postage. These are the costs if you are a member of the SARL. Non-Members pay an additional premium. Only orders on the order form and pre-paid by bank draft can be accepted. Check the RTA webpage for details of stock before ordering.
RADIO AMATEURS MUST CONTRIBUTE TO SA'S KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
In his keynote address at the four RTA's, SARL President said that Radio Amateurs must contribute to the country's effort to build an knowledge economy. He said that Research and Development (R&D) promotes the growth of knowledge-intensive activity. There is a clear connection between R&D intensity and competitiveness. One of the goals for South Africa is to enhance the country's knowledge-generation capacity in order to produce world-class research and turn some advanced findings into innovative products and processes.
"I believe we can and must make a contribution. Amateur radio is blessed with a large slice of the radio spectrum much larger than what many believe the amateur radio service should have but balanced against this is that radio amateurs have a history of pioneering new developments and we need to continue with our passion to experiment and develop.
Exposure to amateur radio has turned many young people to taking up careers in the technology industry. Many have excelled and made major contributions. I am reminded of Jack Kirby who received the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his development of the integrated circuit. Another Nobel Laureate, who developed his career from an interest in amateur radio, is Joe Taylor, K1JT. He received the Nobel prize jointly with Russell Hulse for Physics in 1993 for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation.
"You may now argue but how can I contribute?" Rassie said. " We are not Joe Taylor! Yes but Joe Taylor was not what Joe Taylor is today. It was his interest in new things, new ideas that made him what he is today. Radio Amateurs experiment a lot but they have one major problem, they do not share it by giving talks at club meetings, by writing articles for Radio ZS or other professional publications."
"He outlined various interesting projects in which radio amateurs can make a major contribution." You can down load the full text of his presentation on www.sarl.org.za, select RTA in the left hand column.
VOLUNTEERS FOR NEWS TEAM
The SARL News Team is experiencing a severe shortage of bulletin compilers. This news item is a request for volunteers to offer their services to keep the bulletin system going. The bulletin compiler's work is to receive news items sent to him/her from the website, compile them into a bulletin and translate the bulletin into Afrikaans. (The translation is by far the most time consuming task of the bulletin compiler.) After the compilations and translation the bulletin is sent to the News Editor by e-mail.
Bulletin compilers will be SARL members, bilingual, with some rudimentary computer and editing skills and will have an e-mail address. They take responsibilty for the bulletins for two months out of every year.
If you might have the necessary skills and be willing to try your hand at this, please send your name and contact details to Fritz, ZS6SF, with email address secretary@sarl.org.za before Monday 15 October. Without enough volunteers, it will not be possible to keep the Afrikaans bulletin going.
CLUB NEWS
The East Rand Radio club's AGM was held on Saturday 29th of September 2012. A new chairman and committee was elected.
The are:
1. Chairman - Marc d'Hotman de Villiers, ZS6MDH
2. Vice Chairman - Ben Fourie, ZS6BEN
3. Secretary - Elize Findt, ZS6JDY
4. Treasurer - Chris Gryffenberg, ZS6COG
5. Repeater Custodians - Hampie Findt, ZS6HJ,F & Chris Gryffenberg, ZS6COG
6. Flea market - Francois Jacobs, ZS6COI, & Judy Pretorius, ZS6JDY
7. QSL Manager - Francois Reyneke, ZS6FDX
8. News Letter - Elize Findt, ZS6ECF
9. Awards Manager - Chris Gryffenberg, ZS6COG
10. News Bulletins - Elize Findt, ZS6ECF
11. Webmaster - Glynn Chamberlain, ZS6GLN
12. Club Caretaker - Glynn Chamberlain, ZS6GLN
13. RAE Coordinator = Elize Findt, ZS6ECF
14. Special events & Projects - Brian Mckenzie, ZS6BNM, & Margolet Mckenzie, ZS6MRG
15. Club 675 - Judy Pretorius, ZS6JDY; Glynn Chamberlain, ZS6GLN, & Elize Findt, ZS6ECF
16. HF Relays & Net - Francois Reyneke, ZS6FDX
We congratulate the new committee members on their new positions and wish them all the best for the year to come.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at low levels. Earth facing Sunspots 1 579 and 1 582 are massive but non of them are actively flaring.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 50.
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 more frequent due to the change of season.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
9 October - Heritage Day Sprint logs to be in to riaanzs4pr@gmail.com and a copy to fwolff@global.co.za.
15 October – Names of volunteers for the SARL news team to be in to secretary@sarl.org.za.
20 October -Jamboree-on-the-air and CQ Hou Koers
SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and short-wave 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 by Fritz Sutherland ZS6SF, and edited George Honiball, ZS6NE.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
