SARL NEWS SUNDAY 03 March 2013

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 via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za and also subscribe there to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

Your newsreader this morning is (name and call sign), on 145,725 from Pretoria, with relays on 7,066 MHz and 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).

SILENT KEYS

It is with regret that the passing of two radio amateurs must be announced this morning.

Radio amateurs around the world will be saddened to learn of the death of Pat Hawker MBE, G3VA, on 21 February 2013. He was 90 years old. His son and daughter, Philip and Virginia, were with him at the time. Pat was first licensed in 1936 as 2BUH, becoming G3VA in 1938. We send our deepest condolences to Pat's family and close friends. Amateur radio has lost one of its legends.

The key of Bernard Tyler, ZS1TYL, ex-ZS4CW, went silent on Thursday 28 February 2013. Bernie was 83 and was an SARL member for 65 years. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Joey, family and many friends.

(PAUSE)

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

BOOKING FOR THE SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION WILL OPEN ON MONDAY

ARE YOU KEEPING A LOG BOOK?

SOLAR CYCLE 24 MAY HAVE A DOUBLE PEAK

You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.

BOOKING FOR THE SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION WILL OPEN ON MONDAY

The 2013 SARL national convention bookings will open on Monday when the registration forms and programme details will be available on www.sarl.org.za. The event starts on Friday evening 26 April with a welcoming function at the West Rand Amateur Radio Club. The guest speaker is Kenny Neville from West Rand Astronomy Club. If the weather is clear you may even have an opportunity to look at the stars.

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday morning 27 April at SULLA VIA conference centre overlooking the Cradle of Mankind. Registration for the annual general meeting is free and starts at 08:00. The meeting itself will start at 09:00. During the registration the SA Amateur Radio Development Trust bookstore will be open offering some of the latest ARRL publications.

On Saturday afternoon there is a visit to the Hartbeeshoek satellite tracking station where many international satellites are tracked and managed. You will also be able to see the SumbandilaSat ground station.

On Saturday evening it is back to Sulla Via for the SARL Annual Awards Dinner. The booking for the dinner includes lucky draws for a number of prizes including a ICOM 2 metre handheld and two dual band 2 m and 70 cm antennas sponsored by Sam Ford of Radio Accessories and Data Modems.

You can select from a number of B@B near SULLA VIA to stay for the weekend, and while there is no formal programme on Sunday, why not visit the Cradle of Mankind before heading home. Incidentally Sulla Via means "on the way", on the way to the Cradle of Mankind!

ARE YOU KEEPING A LOG BOOK?

The Frequency Spectrum Regulations for Amateur Radio require that you keep a logbook for all HF contacts. Section 4 of the regulation states:
(1) The licensee must keep a log book recording the activities of the amateur radio station used by him or her or any other person under the supervision of the licensee, except when operating a station in the VHF and UHF bands or mobile.
(2) Details recorded in the log book referred to in sub-regulation (15) must include-
(a) the date, time and nature of each transmission: provided that the date with regard to each individual day's operation need to be recorded only once and for the purposes of this paragraph “time of each transmission" shall mean the time that a specific station is called and the time at which the communication with such station is terminated;
(b) the full name and address of the person making the transmission: provided that the name of the licensee who regularly uses the amateur radio station need to be recorded only once in the log book with an explicit statement that all transmissions are made by him, except where stated otherwise;
(c) the call sign of every station: provided that it need not be recorded repeatedly for calls made to the station during the course of the communication;
(d) the transmitter power that is used;
(e) the frequency band that is used: provided that it need to be recorded in the log book only once until a change of frequency to another authorized band takes place; and
(f) the address from where the transmission takes place: provided that such address needs to be recorded only once, should the place of transmission not change.
The regulations further warns that any person who fails to comply with these regulations is liable on conviction by the Complaints and Compliance Commission to a fine not exceeding R200 000 unless stated otherwise in regulations.

SOLAR CYCLE 24 MAY HAVE A DOUBLE PEAK

Something unexpected is happening on the sun. 2013 is supposed to be the year of Solar Max, the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Yet 2013 has arrived and solar activity is relatively low. Sunspot numbers are well below their values in 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent for many months.

The quiet has led some observers to wonder if forecasters missed the mark. Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Centre has a different explanation: "This is solar maximum," he suggests. "But it looks different from what we expected because it is double peaked."

Conventional wisdom holds that solar activity swings back and forth like a simple pendulum. At one end of the cycle, there is a quiet time with few sunspots and flares. At the other end, Solar Max brings high sunspot numbers and solar storms. It's a regular rhythm that repeats every 11 years.

Reality, however, is more complicated. Astronomers have been counting sunspots for centuries, and they have seen that the solar cycle is not perfectly regular. For one thing, the back-and-forth swing in sunspot counts can take anywhere from 10 to 13 years to complete; also, the amplitude of the cycle varies. Some solar maxima are very weak, others very strong.

Pesnell notes yet another complication: "The last two solar maxima, around 1989 and 2001, had not one but two peaks." Solar activity went up, dipped, then resumed, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years.

The same thing could be happening now. Sunspot counts jumped in 2011, dipped in 2012, and Pesnell expects them to rebound again in 2013: "I am comfortable in saying that another peak will happen in 2013 and possibly last into 2014," he predicts.

Another curiosity of the solar cycle is that the sun's hemispheres do not always peak at the same time. In the current cycle, the south has been lagging behind the north. The second peak, if it occurs, will likely feature the southern hemisphere playing catch-up, with a surge in activity south of the sun's equator.

Watch a 4 minutes NASA video on www.sarl.org.za.

APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP

The following persons have applied for membership of the SARL:
Stefan Terblanche ZSL1059
Johann Andre Marais ZSL1060
Willie Coetzee ZSL1061
Hannes Strydom ZSL1062

Members are reminded that membership is not automatic on application, but subject to council approval. Objections to any application must reach the Secretary before the Tuesday after the SARL News bulletin in which the application was announced.

CONTEST NEWS

Results of the February leg of the SARL National Field Day.

The committee received 19 logs of which fifteen of these stations headed for the outdoors and set-up field stations at resorts or camping areas. The new Class E drew 2 participants.

Class A - Field Station - Multi operator.
1st Welkom ARC, ZS4WRC - 89 208 points
2nd Bloemfontein ARC, ZS4BFN - 66 096 points
3rd Magalies ARK, ZS6MRK - 63 720 points.

Class B - Field Station -Multi operator – QRP.
No entries.

Class C - Field Station -Single Operator.
1st Marius Snyman, ZR6MS/4 - 24 576 points
2nd Andries Visagie, ZS6VL/4 - 13 320 points

Class D - Field Station -Single Operator – QRP.
1st Dick Hayter, ZS6RSH - 10 800 points

Class E - Ultra light portable.
1st Pierre van Deventer, ZS6A - 10 350 points
2nd Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE - 3 510 points

Class F - General stations
1st Pravin Kumar, ZS5LT - 11 088 points
2nd Ken Gurr, ZR5KW/6 - 9 792 points

Well done to all the participants and congratulations to the Class winners. The full results were published in HF Happenings 546. Start your planning now for the November leg of the National Field Day. It is scheduled for the weekend of 16 and 17 November 2013.

This afternoon between 12:00 and 14:00 UTC the SARL Hamnet 40 m Simulated Emergency Contest will be on the air with phone activity in the band segments 7 063 to 7 100 kHz and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz. This contest is open to all radio amateurs in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, Marion Island and South African Antarctica. Only contacts with these areas will count. Participation can be as a Single operator stationary mobile, a Single operator portable, a Multi-operator portable or a Single operator base station. The exchange is a signal report followed by a three-figure number determined by the class of participation. Read from page 26 of the 2013 SARL Contest Manual for the contest rules and details on antennas, power, the exchange and scoring. Logs must be submitted by 11 March to Hamnet Eastern Cape, Al Akers, ZS2U, 53 Clarence Street, Westering, Port Elizabeth, 6025 or by e-mail to contest@peham.co.za.

The March leg of the SARL VHF/UHF analogue and digital contest will be on the air from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 16 March to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 17 March with the aim to promote activity on the VHF/UHF and microwave bands, to encourage people to work greater distances than usual by operating portable and/or improve antenna systems and to provide opportunities for people to activate or work new grid squares. Activity will take place on 6, 4 and 2 metres, 70 and 23 cm and higher using CW, SBB, FM and the digital modes. Participation can be as a base station, a field station, a club or multi operator station, a rover station or a 4 hour limited category station. The contest exchange consists of the call signs, signal report and six-digit grid locator. All the exchange information shall be copied at the time of the QSO. Read from page 28 in the 2013 SARL Contest Manual for all the details.

ELECTRONIC RADIO ZS

SARL Members using a Kindle or the Kindle app on an iPad can receive their copy of Radio ZS on that tablet. Please provide the editor with your Kindle e-mail address and update your Kindle profile to receive mail from radiozs@sarl.org.za.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to continue at low to very low levels. There remains a chance for C-class Solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 42.

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. There will also be 10 m openings on sunlit paths in the afternoons.

Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

24 February – That is today, the SARL Digital Contest 13:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC.
03 March - SARL Hamnet 40 m Simulated Emergency Contest 12:00 to 14:00 UTC.
03 March – Logs for the SARL Digital Contest to be in to contest@sarl.org.za.
11 March - Logs for the SARL Hamnet 40 m Simulated Emergency Contest must be in to Hamnet Eastern Cape, Al Akers, ZS2U, 53 Clarence Street, Westering, Port Elizabeth, 6025 or by e-mail to contest@peham.co.za.
16/17 March - SARL VHF/UHF analogue and digital contest 10:00 UTC 16 to 10:00 UTC 17 March.

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 18:30 UTC on 4 895 kHz ((A new time and frequency!). Reception reports are invited. We are particularly interested in reports of the 4 895 kHz transmission on Mondays at 16:30 UTC as the frequency is close to the proposed new amateur allocation near 5 MHz. Reception reports from all areas in South Africa would be useful in our bid to ICASA for frequencies pilot studies. Send reports to artoday@sarl.org.za.

Sentech sponsors the transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.

You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League compiled and edited by George Honiball, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX