SARL NEWS SUNDAY 31 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).
IN THE NEWS TODAY:
SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION REMAINS IN THE NEWS
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM TO FEATURE INTERESTING TOPICS
FREQUENCY CHANGES FOR AMATEUR RADIO TODAY
NEW HEADPHONES SCAN YOUR BRAIN AND PLAY THE MUSIC IT WANTS TO HEAR
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION REMAINS IN THE NEWS
Overseas Amateur Radio Services are reporting on the SARL National Convention which will take place on the West Rand on 26 and 27 April. This year you can learn more about astronomy at the welcoming event at the West Rand Amateur Radio Club house. At the Annual Dinner on the Saturday evening, 27 April, the guest speaker is Anthony Turton who tells the story of how amateur radio saved the day in Mozambique and turned around the country on its way to prosperity.
Time is however running out for the booking of your attendance. Get details on www.sarl.org.za and download the booking form. Spaces on the SANSA Hartbeeshoek visit are fast being booked out. Only 45 visitors can be accommodated.
Attendance at the AGM is free but you are still requested to complete the registration form and submit it as soon as possible This is required for catering purposes and ensuring that the venue is set up for comfort.
The full set of AGM documents, including the agenda, motions, financial statements and minutes of last year's AGM are available for download on the member's only section of the SARL web. Go to www.sarl.org.za and click on members only which can be found at the top right hand of the home page. Enter your pin and follow the links.
If you are not able to attend the AGM, please give your proxy to a member who is attending. The proxy form is also available in the member's only section of the web.
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM TO FEATURE INTERESTING TOPICS
The symposium will be held at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria on Saturday 18 May 2013. Some of the topics on the agenda include a full report on the SA AMSAT KLETSkous cubesat, how DynaCube will, after launch, study the particle radiation in the South Atlantic, building a 14 MHz receiver to measure signal properties of the ZACUBE 1 and Innovative Solutions in Space by ISIS.
The full programme and registration forms will be available soon. Tune in to SARL NEWS next Sunday for full details or visit www.amasatsa.org.za towards the end of the week.
FREQUENCY CHANGES FOR AMATEUR RADIO TODAY
Today some of the frequencies on which Amateur Radio Today is transmitted will change. Here is the complete HF transmit schedule:
Sundays 10:00 - 11:00 local time for Southern Africa the frequency will remain the same on 7 025 kHz, however for East and Central Africa listeners the frequency has changed to 17 570 kHz. For our listeners outside South Africa local time translates to 08:00 - 09:00 UTC. From Monday the programme is repeated at 16:30 UTC, 18:30 local time in South Africa, on a new frequency of 3 230 kHz. For more information about podcasts and other relays and retransmissions visit www.sarl.org.za and select Amateur Radio Today from the menu.
From the web pages you can also download the programme in a high and low res format for retransmission on local repeaters or for your own listening pleasure.
Reception reports, comments and suggestions are always invited. Send an email to artoday@sarl.org.za.
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: NEW HEADPHONES SCAN YOUR BRAIN AND PLAY THE MUSIC IT WANTS TO HEAR
This week Newsline carried as story about a new scientific communications breakthrough of sorts reported by Discovery News. It says that the task of building a perfect play-list for your smart phone or other private listening device has just gotten a lot easier thanks to a new brainwave scanning device called the Mico headphones.
Mico headphones are a development of a company called Neurowear. The rather interesting looking headphones have what the company calls an electroencephalograph sensor that protrudes to scans the wearers brain patterns to match a person's mood with an appropriate song.
When plugged in to a smart device running Mico's app, its claimed that the headphones will detect the wearer's state of mind and select a "neuro-tagged," mood-fitting song from Neurowear's database and play it. The sides of the ear pieces illuminate when music plays and even show symbols correlating to the wearers state of mind such as if the user is sleepy, stressed or highly focused.
Currently, the headphones are still in the prototype phase. They made their debut at the recent South by Southwest® Conferences and Festival in Austin, Texas, but the Mico Headphones inventor was optimistic they'll be on the market in what they term as the near future.
HAMNET WESTERN CAPE ACTIVE ON THE 2 OCEANS RACE ROUTE
Hamnet Western Cape was involved yesterday in the communications for the most beautiful race in the world - the 2 Oceans Ultramarathon. 19 operators manned the sweep vehicles picking up drop-out runners along the way, the rover vehicles patrolling and responding rapidly to emergency calls, and the stationary vehicles at all official timed cut-off points. All mobile operators were tracked by GSM Trackers, and some APRS units were installed to test the accessibility of the route to the central digipeater. The Joint Operations Centre was manned at Tygerberg Hospital Emergency Management Centre, and 2 repeaters and a simplex channel were monitored for the duration of the race.
Hamnet extends its grateful thanks to all operators who volunteered their services yesterday.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to continue at low levels. There are currently five sunspots visible but none are actively flaring.
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
18 April – World Amateur Radio Day and ZS9DCC on the air. Operators required, Email Geoff to contest@sarl.org.za or call him on 082 546 5546.
April 20-May 1 – Commemorative station PB33BQ on the air, see pa7da.jouwweb.nl/pb33q for more information.
26- 27 April – SARL National Convention, register now, get details on www.sarl.org.za.
15/16 June – First weekend of International Museums Weekend special event, register your museum station at www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw.
22/23 June – Second weekend of International Museums Weekend special event.
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, 7 025, and 17 570 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 16:30 UTC on 3 230 kHz. Reception reports, comments and suggestions are invited. Send an email to artoday@sarl.org.za.
Sentech sponsors the transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
We wish all our listeners a happy Easter and our Jewish listeners happy Passover.
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
