SARL NEWS SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2014
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.
This weekend we are celebrating Easter, an important period on the Christian calendar. The President, Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL and the Council of the South African Radio League wish all our listeners and their families a Happy Easter. To our Jewish listeners who are celebrating the Exodus of the ancient Israelites from their slavery in Egypt starting sundown on Monday, happy Passover.
SILENT KEY
On Wednesday 16 April the key of Renι van Zyl, ZS1VR, went silent. He received a Jack Twine award in 2005.
Our condolences to his wife and children.
(Silence)
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:
HAMNET PROVIDED CRUCIAL COMMUNICATION FOR TWO OCEANS YESTERDAY
NEW ISS DIGITAL HAM VIDEO FULLY COMMISSIONED
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME ON THE WEB
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
HAMNET PROVIDED CRUCIAL COMMUNICATION FOR TWO OCEANS YESTERDAY
This weekend - For the sixteenth consecutive year, Hamnet Western Cape managed the communications in the sweep vehicles during the 2 Oceans Marathon run yesterday. The Medical aspects of the race have been taken over by Metro Emergency Management Services in the last 2 years, and Hamnet form part of the rescue functionality during the race. 16 operators man and drive the sweep 9-seaters, drive rapid response rover vehicles, or man the official cut-offs to ensure accuracy of times at cut-offs and report on problems. 2 operators man a radio station in the Joint Operation Centre at Tygerberg Hospital's Provincial Emergency Management Centre. All operators have trackers in their vehicles and are visible to all other services on the TV wall in the Joint Operations Centre.
"Even though some of the communications during the race between the JOC and the ambulances and response vehicles are handled by the new Emergency Services Computer Aided Despatch system, the value of analogue communication with the sweeps and rovers should not be underestimated", said Dave Reece Deputy Provincial Director Hamnet Western Cape.
NEW ISS DIGITAL HAM VIDEO FULLY COMMISSIONED
"It is my pleasure to proceed to the Ham Video's functional commissioning. I feel honoured to inaugurate this new amateur radio educational facility which will enhance space conversations between crew members and students. I congratulate ARISS for this acquisition and I wish Ham Video a long life and plenty of successful school contacts, said the International Space Station Commander Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, operating station OR4ISS from the International Space Station during the live ceremony commissioning the new digital Ham Video station on board the orbiting outpost.
Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, is the ARISS Europe chairman. In a statement Gaston Bertels said that at 18:23 UTC on Sunday, April 13th that Commander Wakata placed the digital Ham Video system into full operation while ground monitors G4KLB, F6DZP, IK1SLD and others received the signal. It was also streamed live over the British Amateur Radio Club's video server. The high quality digital amateur television signal was received for about 6 minutes. During that time Commander Wakata answered a series of questions that had been prepared in the manner of a school contact and performed a microgravity experiment.
The full commissioning of the Ham Video system recorded and is now on-line at several sources for anyone to watch. Go www.hamradio.org.za for the ISS video.
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME ON THE WEB
From Monday the full programme of the SA AMSAT Space Symposium to be held on Saturday 24 May at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria will be available on www.amsatsa.org.za. Make use of the special early bird discounts.
RADIO HARGEISHA ON THE 40 METRE BAND
The IARU Monitoring System newsletter reports interference from broadcast stations to amateur radio operations in the amateur exclusive segment of the 40 metre band. The report notes that the source of the interfering signals has been traced to Radio Hargeisha in Somaliland on 7120 kHz and Khartoum in the Sudan on 7200 kHz. Monitor those two frequencies and report times when transmissions are heard in South Africa to the councillor responsible for intruder watch, Gideon Jannasch, ZS4GJA. Please send report of any intruders on the amateur bands including audio clips to intruder@sarl.org.za.
LEAGUE NEWS
SARL COUNCIL APPOINTS A VHF/UHF/MICROWAVE COMMITTEE
The Council of the South African Radio League has appointed a three-man committee to facilitate repeater and beacon frequency and location planning as well as general band planning on the VHF, UHF and Microwave spectrum. The convenor of the committee is Rassie Erasmus ZS1YT, supported by the technical expertise of Frik Wolff ZS6FZ and Nico Janse van Rensburg, ZS6QL. All VHF/UHF/Microwave matters including application for repeater and beacon frequencies should be referred to the committee by email. The address is vhf@sarl.org.za.
WEB VERSION OF RADIO ZS HAS MORE
The Web version of Radio ZS will in future have more than the printed copy, also diagrams will be larger and easier to read. The March/April edition is now on the web. Go to www.sarl.org.za and click on the members' only button on the top right corner of the home page. Dr Brian Austin writes about his version of the G5RV, called the ZS6BKW multiband dipole. It is worth a read and even more worth to build and erect. Dennis Green ZS4BS writes about SOTA, what is it with all these acronyms, Dennis explains "Summits on the air"! "An isolated USB transceiver control with sound card interface" by Frik Wolff, ZS6FZ is a web only article. "n Mens sou so dink, is commentary from Fritz Sutherland ZS6S, a must read. This is just a sample of what you will find in the current edition of Radio ZS.
HF PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at moderate levels. The earth-facing side of the sun is peppered with sunspots with at least three of them harboring enough energy for M-class solar flares.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 130.
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
4 May SARL ZS3 Sprint
10-11 May AWA, AM and SSB Contest
15 May RAE
24 May - SA AMSAT space symposium
24 25 may CQ WW DX SSB Contest
25 May SARL Digital Contest
The SARL invites you to listen to Amateur Radio Today every Sunday morning at 10:00 local time on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area, and on the 145,650 network in Johannesburg 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 230kHz. 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.
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.
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
