SARL NEWS SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER 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 MHz from Pretoria, with a relay on 7,066 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
IN THE NEWS TODAY
OVERLOOKED PAYING YOUR SARL SUBSCRIPTION?
DID YOU WATCH THE RaDAR VIDEO?
WHAT COMES OUT OF THE TOP OF A THUNDERSTORM?
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
OVERLOOKED PAYING YOUR SARL SUBSCRIPTION?
During the past week a final invoice was sent to members who had not paid their subscription. Thank you to the many who responded with their payment and who are now firmly on-board. If you have not yet paid your subscription please pay before 31 October to avoid having your name removed from the membership records. Failing to do so, you will lose access to the member's only section of the web and will not receive Radio ZS and other services. If you need details about how much to pay and how to pay, call Mariska on Monday at 011 675 2393. Supporting the SARL with your membership is supporting Amateur Radio. It's worth doing.
DID YOU WATCH THE RaDAR VIDEO?
In last week's SARLNEWS we posted a link to a video promoting RaDAR. Did you watch it? This is the kind of video that could like you big prizes in the video competition. Visit www.amateurradio.org.za for details of the competition.
Go and watch the RaDAR video and get ready for the contest on 2 November. The RaDAR contest is an event aimed at promoting the use of Rapidly Deployable Amateur Radio stations. The contest is for all licensed radio Amateurs. A choice is made prior to the contest to participate in one of the defined categories. The points system is so structured as to encourage portable operation especially moveable stations.
The contest will be held on 2 November 2013, starting at 14:00 UTC and ending at 18:00 UTC All amateur bands, besides the WARC bands, are allowed including cross band contacts via amateur radio satellites. Modes - CW, SSB, AM, FM or any digital mode. QSOs via terrestrial repeaters will not be allowed.
Watch a promotional video on Amateur Radio Today page on www.sarl.org.za.
WHAT COMES OUT OF THE TOP OF A THUNDERSTORM?
In recent decades researchers have discovered some strange things happening in the cloud tops. High above ordinary lightning, exotic forms known as red sprites and blue elves shoot toward the heavens, cold cousins to the fiery bolts below. In some places jets of antimatter fly upwards, triggering the detectors on NASA's orbiting high-energy observatories. And as often as 500 times a day, Earth briefly mimics a supernova, producing a powerful blast of gamma-rays known as a Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash or TGF.
No one knows exactly how these phenomena are related either to each other or to the lightning down below. A new experiment called "Firestation" onboard the ISS aims to find out. Firestation is a package of sensors designed to explore the links between TGFs, ordinary lightning, and sprites.
The space station's orbit will carry Firestation directly above thousands of active thunderstorms during the one-year lifetime of the experiment. Unlike previous experiments in upper atmospheric lightning, Firestation has the unique ability to observe thunderstorms at multiple wavelengths simultaneously. It can record the radio static from lightning, measure its optical glow (including the red and blue light of sprites and elves), and detect the gamma-rays and electrons associated with TGFs and antimatter events.
AMSAT CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMATEUR RADIO INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT
A special highlight of this year's AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting will be the celebration of the 30th anniversary of amateur radio involvement in human space flight. This as it evolved into a successful programme on board the International Space Station.
The AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting takes place November 1st to the 3rd in Houston Texas. And in recognition of the 30th anniversary of manned amateur radio in space, a specially invited panel featuring former Astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL, and other key individuals who initiated this amazing programme will take place on Saturday evening, November 2nd as a part of the symposium's grand banquet.
CELEBRATING THE FIRST ZL DX ACCOMPLISHMENTS
October marked the beginning of a celebration in New Zealand of the earliest days of DX. After World War 1 and with the relocation of radio amateurs to the supposedly useless shorter wavelength bands an amazing period of radio exploration took place.
News Line reports that Amateurs in New Zealand were among those at the forefront of this activity with the first Zed-L to Australia QSO in April 1923. This was followed by what was then world record distance. QSOs between New Zealand and Argentina in May 1924, New Zealand and California in September 1924, and Connecticut on the US east coast just weeks later. And then the ultimate early Zed-L DX contact of Frank Bell, Z4AA, and his QSO with Cecil Goyder, G2SZ, in London, England on October 18 1924.
To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the record breaking activities of these early pioneers of Amateur Radio, ZM90DX will be on the air between October of this year through October 31st of 2014 on all bands 1,8 MHz to 1,2 GHz and beyond using all modes. Activated by the Kiwi DX Group which is an informal group of DXers and contest enthusiasts, ZM90DX will be used by stations around New Zealand and a special commemorative QSL card will be available as well as an award programme for contacts with this nation during this period.
Not only will ZM90DX be active at expected times and on expected bands, but in the spirit of those early pioneers the operators will also be calling CQ on bands and in directions one may not necessarily expect. This, with the intention of exploring the boundaries of radio propagation.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Application for membership of the SARL have been received from Ivan Marks ZS1ZX. Any objections against the acceptance of Ivan’s application must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.
To date more than 1 400 members have renewed their membership of the SARL.
During the past week Coalfields Radio Club, ZS6CRC, en Potchefstroom Amateur Radio Club, ZS6POT, affiliated with the SARL.
JOTA AND CQ HOU KOERS
The Voortrekkers and Scouts South Africa wish to thank the SARL as well as every radio amateur who assisted them in making CQ Hou Koers and JOTA a success. It gives young people and the general public good exposure to amateur radio. We are also thankful for every radio amateur who took the time to have a QSO with the young people.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at moderate levels. There will be a chance of isolated M-class flares.
For those want to do their own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 57.
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.
Please visit the new website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
22 October - High Altitude Balloon Experiment at 19:00 at the 9th Benoni Scout Hall, Ebenezer Road, Benoni.
31 October – Log sheets for Antique Wireless Association valve QSO party to be in.
02 November – RaDAR competition 14:00 – 18:00 UTC.
30 November - High Altitude Balloon launch from Klerksdorp airport between 06:00 and 08:00.
30 November - SARL@Home at the National Amateur Radio Centre.
31 December - Last day to submit amateur radio video; get details from www.amateurradio.org.za.
28 February 2014 – Closing date for Youth Essay Competition.
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 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 17 660 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. The website also lists various other retransmissions. Reception reports, comments and suggestions are invited. Send an email 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
