SARL News Sunday 25 May 2014
Good morning and welcome, you are tuned to ZS6SRL the official voice of the South African Radio League. The South African Radio League broadcasts a weekly news bulletin on HF and many VHF/UHF repeaters every Sunday morning at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and at 08:30 CAT in English. Listeners on Echolink may connect to ZS0JPL for a streamed version.
You may download an audio version of this bulletin by following the link on the front page of the South African Radio League website at www.sarl.org.za. While you are there, you may also obtain a text version of this bulletin. You may also sign up to receive future bulletins via e-mail.
This bulletin is read by .......... (your name, call sign and QTH where applicable)
Highlights
Bloemfontein to host the 2015 AGM
5MHz weekend brings surprises
QRZ database functionality increases
and some news from the league
Stay tuned to this newscast for more on this and other interesting stories
== The Bloemfontein Amateur radio club will host the 2015 National Convention between 17 and 19 April 2015. Although this is still a faint flash on the horizon of time, it might be a good idea to mark this event on your year planner for 2015 since the Bloemfontein Amateur radio club already proved that they can host a really worth while event. Some of the highlights of the 2008 AGM, which the club also hosted included, a visit to the Boyden Observatory, the annual dinner at the house of President Steyn.
With such a track record the 2015 AGM promises to be a spectacular event
== The 5MHz activity weekend proved very fruitful and delivered some interesting surprises. The first analyses of the WSPR reports shows some interesting propagation phenomena. Join Stewart Moss on Amateur Radio Today for a report on the ZS6KTS beacon. The logs for the fun SSB part of the weekend are still coming in and a full report will be included in next week's SARL News.
In International news
== Some very positive changes have come to QRZ.com. The first is that the websites call-sign database now fully supports secondary call-signs.A secondary call-sign is one which includes a slash plus a modifier as either a prefix or a suffix to the primary call.
Another major change at QRZ concerns its online logbook. Many users had asked for Logbook of the World integration and this is now available to all Logbook subscribers. It means that if you're a Logbook of the World user you can push your QRZ logs directly to Logbook of the World with just a couple of clicks of your mouse.
** You are tuned to a bulletin of the South African radio league ZS6SRL read by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC and we now continue with news from the league
== Applications for membership of the SARL have been received from the following persons:
Willem Johannes Stevenson, ZSL1104;
Johannes Andries Scheepers, ZSL1105; and
Sarel du Plessis, ZSL1106.
Any objections against the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.
Membership of the SARL currently stands at 1730
== While we are on the subject of membership, the SARL still offers a special discount to new members who join the ranks of the league. Should you decide to become a member of the SARL you will receive the remainder of the current year on the house. This means that you will only pay for the 2014/2015 year but you will receive the remainder of May and June as an added bonus
To make it even more attractive and to assist members who can’t afford the full payment of R 430 in one go, there is an option of paying in 4 easy installments. You may contact the office administrator in this regard on the e mail provided in the print edition of this newscast
== SARL@HOME COVERING SURFACE MOUNT TECHNOLOGY TO BE HELD ON 7 JUNE
The next SARL@home covering surface mount technology will be held at the NARC on Saturday 7 June. This popular course will be presented by Frik Wolff, ZS6FZ. Booking is essential. Details can be found on the SARL website, follow the links from the home page.
== The first SARL Technology in Action symposium will be held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday 21 June. The program features a great variety of subjects of interest to radio amateurs and electronic enthusiast. A number of presentations will be supported by practical demonstrations.
The full program and booking form are now available on the SARL webpage, select the Radio Technology in Action link on the left hand side of the home page. If you like a copy of the program in your email inbox, send an email to the RTS team with RTA Durban in the subject line.
== The Westrand Amateur radio club is hosting its next flea market 12:00 on Saturday 31 May 2014 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information contact Geoff ZS6C 082 546 5546.
Contest news
== In the preliminary results of the 2013 ARRL 10 Meter Contest, the call sign of ZR9C is noted as winner of the multi-operator low power category for Africa. The station is in 7th place in the Top Ten multi-operator low power DX station category and they are 12th in the multi-operator low power category world wide. Well done to Karel, ZS6WN, and his team.
== Then we have news on the South African Radio League Digital Contest. The aim is to establish as many contacts as possible between radio amateurs in Southern Africa using the PSK31 and RTTY modes. The contest is open to all radio amateurs in Southern Africa. The contest runs from 13:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC on Sunday 25 May with activity on 80 meters (3 580 to 3 600 kHz), 40 meters (7 040 to 7 060 kHz) and 20 meters (14 070 to 14 099 kHz).
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 1 June 2014 to the contest organizer. Refer to the 2014 South African Radio League Contest manual for the complete rules.
== The CQ WPX CW contest ends this evening at midnight UTC. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters and the exchange is a RST report and a serial number.
== In June there are two local contests to participate in. On Sunday 8 June the ZS4 Sprint will be run from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC and the South African Radio League Top Band QSO Party will run from midnight UTC on 19 June to midnight UTC on Monday 23 June.
HF Propagation report
== Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low levels. New Sunspot AR2071 has a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors 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 45.
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.
Please visit the SANSA website for further information.
Diary of events
25 May the SARL digital contest between 15:00 and 18:00 local time, more information is available from the 2014 contest manual.
31 May the West-rand Amateur radio club is hosting its flea market starting at 12:00 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort.
7 & 8 June the IARU Region 1 CW Field day.
07 June SARL@Home at the NARC.
08 June the ZS4 Sprint.
19 – 22 June SARL top band QSO party.
== We end this week’s newscast with a look at our top story: The Bloemfontein Amateur radio club will host the 2015 National Convention between 17 and 19 April 2015. Although this is still a faint flash on the horizon of time, it might be a good idea to mark this event on your year planner for 2015 since the Bloemfontein Amateur radio club already proved that they can host a really worth while event.
With that we have come to the end of this mornings newscast, you may find more information on these and other stories on the SARL website.
The South African Radio League 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 a podcast by Dick, ZS6RO. For web-streaming and Echolink by Chris, ZS6FCS, visit the SARL website 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 us an email. Sentech sponsors the transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies
South African Radio League 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 the newsinbox on the SARL webpage no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.
We continually need the services of accomplished news compilers, proofreaders and translators. If you are able to assist please contact the SARL secretary to arrange for inclusion into the bulletin roster
You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League compiled by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC
Thank you for listening, 73’s
Websites and e mail addresses mentioned in this bulletin:
SARL website www.sarl.org.za
SARL Newsinbox www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp
RTA Email adress rta@sarl.org.za
SARL Office admin admin@sarl.org.za
SARL Digital contest organizer contest@sarl.org.za
SANSA Website spaceweather.sansa.org.za
SARL Secretary secretary@sarl.org.za
