SARL NEWS SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2014

Good morning, 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.

IN TODAY'S SARL NEWS:
AMATEUR RADIO REPEATERS MUST ALSO COMPLY WITH 12,5 kHZ CHANNEL SPACING
INTECNET DELIVERED SOME INTERESTING DISCUSSION ON YOUTH IN AMATEUR RADIO
ESSAY COMPETITION CLOSING DATE EXTENDED TO 15 MARCH


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).

AMATEUR RADIO REPEATERS MUST ALSO COMPLY WITH 12,5 kHZ CHANNEL SPACING

ICASA confirmed on Friday at the quarterly SARL - ICASA Liaison meeting that amateur radio repeaters must comply to the 12,5 kHz channel spacing. A notice to this effect was issued by the Postmaster General, the regulatory authority before the establishment of SATRA and then ICASA.

The notice published by the Postmaster General in the Government Gazette stipulated the following: "As from January 1991 all radio apparatus for new radio communication systems as well as expansion or replacement of existing systems in the 136 - 174 MHz part of the radio spectrum must be equipped to work with 12,5 kHz channel spacing.” The changeover of all existing radio communication systems in this part of the radio spectrum must be completed by the end of 1994.

While most repeaters operating in the two metre band today comply with 12,5 kHz spacing there are however still a few repeaters that operate on 25 kHz spacing.

The SARL and ICASA will meet during March for a workshop to address repeater frequency coordination and other operational issues.

The meeting also discussed the publication of the revision to the regulations. The SARL delegation urged ICASA to consider the table of amateur frequency allocations, which is an addendum to the regulations, as a separate document and to expedite its publication in the government gazette. The full set of changes to the regulations will be subjected to a public comment period which is only expected to happen in ICASA's new financial year starting on 1 April 2014.

ICASA confirmed at the meeting that it will extend the SARL 5 MHz licence on a month by month basis till the proposal for a long term experimentation period, which is suggested to expire when the WRC15 is held in November 2015, has been approved by the ICASA Council.

The SARL was represented at the meeting by ZS6AKV, ZS6SF, ZS6FZ, ZS6COL and ZS6PX. The next liaison meeting will be held on Thursday 10 April.


INTECNET DELIVERED SOME INTERESTING DISCUSSION ON YOUTH IN AMATEUR RADIO

Last Tuesday's Intecnet discussing on what is needed to bring more young people into amateur radio and more importantly on how to keep them involved resulted in some very interesting discussion and proposals. When the SARL Council meets this week Friday and Saturday for its annual strategy indaba, several of the proposals will be discussed. More details will be in future SARL NEWS and on the web. The next Intecnet will be held on Tuesday 18 March 2014 starting at 19:30.

UK MONITORING STATION TRACES 40 METRE INTERFERENCE TO FRANCE

A United Kingdom monitoring station has gotten a fix on a possible French military station that has been causing interference on 7.166 MHz in the 40 meter band. The IARU Monitoring System newsletter reports a French station has been making long CW transmissions of 5 letter groups on 7.166 MHz. United Kingdom telecommunications regulator Ofcom's used its direction finding facility at Baldock to get a fix on the station which is now believed to be located in France's Loire valley.

ESSAY COMPETITION CLOSING DATE EXTENDED TO 15 MARCH

Young people under the age of 20 are invited to explore how amateur radio has shaped the development of radio science and how today amateur radio can be a gateway into an engineering, electronic and science career. Research the subject on the internet, talk to radio amateurs and people in industry who came into the field through their amateur radio activity.

Participants will compete in two different age groups with the main prize in each age group a laptop and accessories.

Group 1 under 15 years old and Group 2 between 15 and 20 years old.
Length of the Essay: between 800 and 1200 words.
Language: any of South Africa's official language

Closing date has been extended by two weeks to 15 March 2014 Entries must be in a word format and submitted by email to youthweek2014@sarl.org.za The winning entry in each category will be presented with his/her award at the annual SARL Convention to be held in Pretoria on 12 April 2014.

The overall winner will be presented with a Raspberry PI B, a 19" LCD NEC screen, keyboard and mouse sponsored by RS Components There will be 10 runners up prizes in each category and every person submitting an essay will be awarded a certificate .For more details and links to resource material will be available on www.hamradio.org.za.

Share this information with young people and schools in your area.

LEAGUE NEWS

DOWNLOAD THE LATETS RADIO ZS

SARL Members can now download the January/February Edition of Radio ZS from the members section of the web. Click on members only button on the top right-hand corner of the homepage and enter your pin number. Previous copies of RADIO ZS are also available on this page.

In the latest edition read about: ZS6OB First on African Continent to Be Awarded 144 MHz EME DXCC, Two articles about the ZS9MADIBA special event stations, a first study into the propagation of 5 MHz (60 m using the iosond network), Mike Bosch ZS2FM asks the question "What is the amateur service", Henry Chamberlin does more exploring with SDRs, learn more about propagation with "Beginner's guide to HF radio propagation" by Richard Corbeil, VE2XIP, and a thought provoking article entitled 'n Mens sou dink... Not a member, you have just missed out!

To join the SARL - new members can join at the six month rate carrying you through to end June. This does not apply to members who are in arears with their membership fee.

SARL LAPEL BADGES

SARL lapel badges with the new logo are now available. These are offered for sale to members at R25-00 each, plus postage and packaging. 'n New member still receives a free lapel badge when he first joins the SARL.

Mailing the badges has to be done by registered mail. The total cost of packagingand postage varies from time to time and can be obtained from the SARL office. Phone or email Mariska for this information. Postage and packaging will be cheaper per unit if more than one badge is ordered.

SARL MEMBERSHIP

Applications for membership of the SARL have been received from the following persons:

Gysbert Du Plessis, ZSL1084
Martin Swanepoel, ZSL1085
Annemarie Van Den Berg, ZSL1086
Beat Streckeisen, ZS1HB

Any objections against the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.

The SARL member count is now 1688

CLUB NEWS

OVERBERG AMATEUR RADIO CLUB AGM

On Saturday, 8th February, the Overberg Amateur Radio Club held their AGM. The following committee members were chosen.

Chairman - Andre Meintjes - ZS1AZ
Vice Chairman - Sam McLeary - ZS1OR
Treasurer - John Martin - ZSDI
Secretary - Judy Gardner - ZS1JEG

COMPETITION NEWS

RESULTS OF QRP CONTEST

The results of the QRP contest held on 25 January are as follows:

1st - West Rand ARC, ZS6WR
2nd - Francois Reyneke, ZS6FDX
3rd - Andre Botes, ZS2ACP

Thanks to those who submitted their logs. The complete results can be found in HF Happenings 594.

SARL DIGITAL CONTEST

The aim of the SARL Digital Contest is to establish as many contacts as possible between radio amateurs in Southern Africa using the PSK31 / RTTY mode. The contest is open to all radio amateurs in Southern Africa (General Rules 1.b)

The contest takes place from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC on Saturday 23 February with PSK31 and RTTY on 80 metres (3 580 to 3 600 kHz); 40 metres (7 040 to 7 060 kHz) and 20 metres (14 070 to 14 099 kHz). PSK31 is preferred at the lower end of the specified frequencies and RTTY is preferred at the upper end of the specified frequencies. Please note that USB must be used at all times. Refer to (General Rule 16).

A station may be contacted twice on each band once on RTTY, once on PSK31. The exchange is a RST report plus a sequential serial number starting at 001. Logs shall be submitted by 2 March 2014 to contest@sarl.org.za

SARL HAMNET 40 M SIMULATED EMERGENCY CONTEST

This SSB 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.

The contest runs from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC on Sunday 2 March 2014 and it is a phone contest in the band segments 7 063 to 7 100 kHz and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz. Participation can be as a Single operator stationary mobile; a Single operator portable; a Multi-operator portable or a Single operator base station.

Antennas are limited to antennas with less than unity gain relative to a dipole. Stationary Mobile stations shall use antennas that rely solely on their vehicles for support and shall not exceed a height of 5 metres above ground. Portable station antennas may not be erected and installed before the day of the contest and no permanent manmade structure may be used to either house equipment or for antenna supports. Stationary Mobile and Portable stations shall operate from the same site for the duration of the contest and all power used shall comply with the requirements for Field Stations in the general rules.

The exchange is a signal report followed by a three-figure number as determined by the category of participation. Logs must be sent by 10 March to Hamnet Eastern Cape, Al Akers, ZS2U, 53 Clarence Street, Westering, Port Elizabeth, 6025 or by e-mail to contest@peham.co.za.

Get the complete rules for both contests in the 2014 SARL Contest Manual.


PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at active levels. Sunspot AR1974 has a "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic field and has been the source for the flaring of the past week. All the other earth facing sunspots are stable.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 105.

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. There may also be some 6 m openings in the early evenings.

Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

21 February - Last day to register radio amateur examination centres.
22 February - Logs for Youth Sprint to be in to youthsprint@sarl.org.za.
28 February - Closing date for Youth Essay Competition
15 March - Last day to submit proposals for papers for the 2014 SA AMSAT space symposium to saamsat@intekom.co.za

The 2014 SARL Diary of Events is available for download from www.sarl.org.za. Get a copy and keep it handy in your radio shack.

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 17 760 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 16:30 UTC on 4 895 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 Louis Kirstein, ZS1LK.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX