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SARL NEWS SUNDAY 29 JUNE 2014
Good morning and welcome, you are tuned to a newscast of the South African Radio League, ZS6SRL, read by _________________________ (name and callsign). The SARL broadcasts a newsbulletin on a Sunday morning at eight hours fifteen local time in Afrikaans and at eight hours thirty in English. The bulletin may be heard on 7066kHz Lower side band or on many VHF and UHF frequencies around the country. Echolink users may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay.

This audio version of the bulletin may be downloaded from the SARL webpage. If you prefer the printed version you may visit the league's website where you will be able to download such a copy as well as sign up to receive future copies via e mail.


IN THE NEWS TODAY

TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR RAE BURSARY APPLICANTS

ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT FOR THE RTA IN DURBAN

A NEW TRANSATLANTIC ATTEMPT ON 144 MHz

5 MHZ ALLOCATION DISCUSSED AT WRC15 INDUSTRY PREPARATORY WORK GROUP

GET READY FOR THE PREMIER SARL CONTESTS

Stay tuned for more on these and other stories


>> Time is running out for students and learners under 26 years old planning to write the October 2014 Class A Radio Amateur Examination to apply for the Tony Reumerman bursary. You only have until this coming Monday 30 June to get your application in to the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust. Each bursary is valued at R1000. This will cover the RAE examination fee, cost of the first year license with the balance towards tuition cost. Two bursaries are available for the October RAE

In addition on passing the examination with a minimum of a B, the candidate will receive the ARRL Basic Antenna book valued at R350. To claim the book the successful candidate must submit the pass letter received from the SARL to the bursary scheme. Full detail is available on www.amateurradio.org.za Remember the closing date is 30 June.

>> Last week the SARL attended the Department of Telecommunication and Postal Services industry WRC15 preparatory work group. Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV presented the position that the SARL believes South Africa should take on the agenda item 1.4 which calls for a permanent allocation on 5 MHz. The SARL presentation highlighted the advantages such an allocation would have for better supporting emergency and disaster communication as the propagation characteristics are very different from the 40 and 80 metre bands. . The paper also highlighted the propagation research the SARL and its members are currently carrying out.

The SARL also monitored other agenda items that could affect amateur radio. A full rapport will be available soon and posted on the SARL web.


>> The SARL Radio Technology in Action symposium was enthusiastically supported by amateurs who travelled from many areas in KwaZulu-Natal to attend the event in Durban last Saturday. The presentations attracted a lot of interesting discussion.

The discussion on the SARL's 5 MHz research project has resulted in several new ZS5 stations being active on WSPR on 5250 kHz. Visit the SARL propagation research web page for some interesting screenshots. . It is linked from the SARL homepage.

Booking for the SARL Radio in Action symposium in Johannesburg on 23 August and Pretoria on 13 September will open next weekend


>> The Irish Radio Transmitters Society's Brendan Trophy for the first two-way transatlantic amateur communication has gone unclaimed for years. A determined effort is being made this summer by the Brendan Quest team in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland. Using 750W to a 30 metre long 43-element Yagi at 6 to 8.5m above ground level, the VC1T team hope to achieve transatlantic communication on 2 metres, one of the few remaining amateur radio distance records. The detailed summer operating schedule has now been released at www.brendanquest.org and describes how VC1T will be using WSJT, CW and SSB between 4 and 12 July. It is important that EU operators follow the operating protocol closely to increase the chance of success. Full details, including details of the monster antenna, are on the website.

>> Three major annual SARL contests are held during August each year. The SARL HF SSB Contest takes place on 3 August, the SARL Digital Contest on 17 August and the SARL HF CW Contest on 31 August. It is now time to get your antennas for 20, 40 and 80 metres checked out and get your station ready for the event. The full details are available on the contest pages on the SARL web.

>> The annual SARL subscriptions are now due. Invoices were mailed a few weeks ago. Please pay your subscription as soon as possible. When making bank transfers or paying in at a bank, please make sure your callsign and name appears on the documentation. Annually the SARL receives bank transfers with no indication who the sender is which makes it impossible to allocate the payment to the right person's subscription accounts. Payments can also be made in three amounts as long as the full subscription amount is received by 31 August which is the cut-off date. Thank you to all who have already renewed their subscription.

>> And then a reminder that the IARU HF Championship takes place on the second full weekend of July. The contest begins on Saturday 12 July at 12:00 UTC and ends on Sunday 13 July at 12:00 UTC .

The callsign ZS9HQ was assigned to the SARL by ICASA and will be operated from the National Amateur Radio Centre during the IARU HF championships. SARL President, Geoff Levey, ZS6C is inviting radio amateurs to join him at the NARC to man the station. Please send an email to Geoff at contest@sarl.org,za with your callsign and contact details. He will contact you to discuss the operational schedule.


>> The SARL Youth net will take to the air on Sunday 6 July at 15:00. Net controller will be Mitchel Mynhardt ZS6YH. The net will operate on 7070 kHz. Clubs are invited to activate their club station and facilitate young people to join the net. One of the discussion points will be around the best time for the net and to draw up a schedule of various young radio amateurs who can act as net controller so that the net can be on the air weekly.

The objective is for the net to bring young people together. If you are not in the youth category please give the young people a chance by not joining the net but by just listening.

For this first net there is a photo competition. Send in a photograph, high resolution, of a young radio amateur operating or a group of young people at the club station . Send your photograph to artoday@sarl.org.za by Thursday 10 July 2014. The prize for the photograph selected in a lucky draw will be awarded to the young person in the photograph and not the photographer. The price is a Velleman edukit which contain a soldering iron, cutters, solder and two projects. The kit valued at R395 is sponsored by Electronics FG, of Faerie Glen, Pretoria.


>> The Rustenburg Amateur Radio Club held it’s AGM on 30 May 2014 and at this event the following Amateurs were chosenn to lead the club during the next year:

Chairman : Koos Robbertse ZS6JJR
Secretary : John Keulder ZS6BXL
Technical : Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC
Miscelanious Member : Lukas Holtzhausen ZS6LH

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at moderate levels. All of the visible sunspots are currently stable and do not pose a threat for strong solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 60.

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 website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

We end this bulletin with a look at our diary of events:

13 and 13 July 2014 you may partake in the IARU HF Championships as well as in WRTC 14.19 July the SARL Winter QRP Sprint; 26&27 July RSGB Oslands on the air contest, and 3 August the SARL HF Phone contest, find out môre about these and other happenings from the SARL diary of events on the SARL website.

And to end this mornings bulletin wê once again look at our top story: The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust invites students and learners under 26 years old planning to write the October 2014 Class A Radio Amateur Examination to apply for the Tony Reumerman bursary.

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.

Podcasts of all the SARL newsbulletins as well as Amateur radio toady may now also be downloaded from www.podpage.co.za

You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League compiled and edited by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC


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