SARL NEWS SUNDAY 24 AUGUST 2014
Good morning and welcome, you are tuned to a newscast of the South African Radio League read by ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬-__________________________ (Name and Calsign) from _____________________(QTH). You may tune in to a SARL newscast on Sunday morning at 08:15 local time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 local time in English on HF VHF and UHF frequencies around the country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay and a podcast is also available from the official SARL webpage www.sarl.org.za as well as from www.podpage.co.za

You may find this and previous bulletins in text form on the SARL webpage under the news link on the left. While you are there you may also sign up to receive future bulletins via e mail.

We start this mornings bulletin with news of a silent key

It is with deep regret that we learnt of the passing of OM Johan Swanepoel ZS1JSK aka Johan Straatkat from Malmesbury. We express our sincerest condolences to his wife, children and friends.

R.I.P. Johan Straatkat

IN THE NEWS TODAY

RTA AT THE NARS A HUGE SUCCESS

ZS6SRL NOW ACTIVE ON WSPR

A NEW DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR HAMNET FREESTATE

AND SOLAR ACTIVITY ON THE UP

Stay tuned for more on this and other interesting news items

** The RTA held at the National Amateur Radio centre yesterday proved to be a great success. Tony Voorveld's key note address entitled" the magic lamps" set the programme off on a high note and set the tone for the day.

For those who missed missed yesterday's RTA in Johannesburg and the excellent presentations you will have another opportunity on Saturday 13 September when the symposium will be held at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria. Book now. Details can be found on the SARL web.

An while we are on the topic of the National Amateur Radio Center, news just in is that the NARC WSPR beacon on 5250 kHz is now active. Thanks to all the persons who worked together to get the beacon operational.

** A new sunspot emerging over the sun's North Eastern limb is bringing an uptick in solar activity. AR2149 announced itself on 21 August with an impulsive M3-class solar flare. UV radiation from the flare partially ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere. This "Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance" altered the normal propagation of Very Low Frequency radio transmissions over the northern hemisphere, The disturbance has since subsided. Because AR2149 is near the sun's eastern horizon, our view of the region is foreshortened. Evaluating the structure of its magnetic field is therefore tricky. As the sunspot turns toward Earth in the days ahead, scientists will get a better idea of its flare-producing potential.




** You are tuned to a newsbulletin of the South African Radio league. We now continue this bulletin with some news from the league office.

** It is with great pleasure that we announce that the position of Deputy Provincial Director, Hamnet, Free State will be handled by Frans Du Rand ZS4FD from Dennysville in the Northern Free State.

Welcome to Frans, we are looking forward to a good working relationship.

** The cut off date for SARL subscription, which were due on 1 July 2014, is 31 August. If you have not paid your subscription as yet, please do so as soon as possible. Reminder invoices were mailed his weekend. If you are not sure of how much is due, please call the office at 011 675 2393 and Vonnie will assist you

** The Westrand Amateur radio club is hosting its next flea market 12:00 on Saturday 30 August 2014 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information contact Noel ZR6DX on 082 490 9934.

** News from the competition front: The committee received eight logs for the SARL YL Sprint held on 9 August - six logs were from young ladies and the other two from gentlemen. These nine radio amateurs made 174 QSOs.

The leading possitions for this sprint is taken by the following persons:
1st Colette Rundle, ZS2CR, 117 Points
2nd Heather Holland, ZS6YE, 104 points
3rd Jenni Reilly, ZS4J, 100 points
4th Dawn Snyders, ZS5ME, 97 points
5th Sheila Coleman, ZS5SC, 77 points
6th Kempton Park Amateur Radio Technical Society, ZS6KTS, 67 points (operated by Lucia Oliver, ZS6LO, and Ronel Rossouw, ZR6RR)
7th Geoff Levey, ZS6C, and Keith Liddle, ZS6AGF, 18 points each.
Congratulations to Colette with a well deserved first place
** Next Sunday, 31 August from 13:00 to 16:30 UTC you may participate in the South African Radio League HF CW Contest with activity on 20, 40 and 80 metres. The exchange is a RST report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001. You can take part as a single operator single band; a single operator all band; a multi operator single band or a multi operator all band station. CW contacts count 2 point, count two points for each call area on each band and count 2 points for each station contacted on all three bands. Get the complete rules in the South African Radio League Contest Manual.
You may submit your log in Cabrillo or ADIF format or make use of the MS Excel spreadsheet available from www.zs4bfn.co.za/downloads.asp. Send your log as 'your call sign' log, e.g. ZS4BS log.xls. Remember to indicate your club - it goes towards the Club Completion.
There will be a lucky draw for an ARRL Antenna book valued at over R900. To enter the lucky draw, a participant must submit a log with a minimum of 15 contacts
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at last picking up a bit. Emerging sunspot AR2149m poses a threat for M- and maybe even X-class solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 88.

The three DX bands from 20 to 15 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.
Diary of events
30 August the West Rand Amateur Radio Club hosts their flea market at the clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome.
31 August - South African Radio League HF CW Contest
7 September - South African Radio League Youth Net
13 September - RTA at the Innovation Hub
To end this bulletina recap of our top story this week. The first of the Gauteng Radio Technology in Action symposia was a great success. For those who missed this event do not dispair as there will be another chance on 13 September 2014 when the RTA will be presented at the Inovation hub in Pretoria. Be sure to book well in advance for this informative event.
That brings us to the end of this SARL news bulletin.
You are invited to submit news items of interest to the SARL by following the newsinbox link on the SARL webpage. Newsitems should reach the newsteam not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date for inclusion in the bulletin.

You may also join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 local time. The program may be heard on various VHF and UHF frequencies around the country as well as on 7082 Lower side band and on 7205kHz and 17660kHz Am . A. replay may be heard on Monday evenings 18:30 local time on 3230kHz AM. The transmissions on the non amateur bands are sponsored by Sentech

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled and editied by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC, thank you for listening from me _________________________ (Name) and the entire news team best wishes for the week ahead, 73’s

/EX