SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER 2014

Good morning and welcome! You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ……………………………………………. (name, call sign and QTH)

You can tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on Sunday morning at 08:15 central African time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 central African time local time in English on HF and on many VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a relay. A podcast is available from the South African Radio League webpage.

This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the South African Radio League webpage at www.sarl.org.za. You can find this bulletin and previous bulletins in text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the South African Radio League webpage. While you are there, you can sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

IN THE NEWS TODAY

THE RTA ROADSHOW ON ITS WAY TO CAPE TOWN

AR TODAY FREQUENCY CHANGE

and

CUBESAT WORKSHOP AT THE CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting stories

** Book now for the Cape Town RTA and get a discount. The Cape Town Radio Technology in Action symposium will be held on Saturday 1 November. If you book for the RTA before 28 October and you are a member of the South African Radio League, then you only pay R100. After 28 October, it increases to R130 for members. Non-members are charged R200 to attend the event. The full programme and booking details can be found on the South African Radio League web using the link on the home page.

** From Sunday 26 October, the following schedule will come into effect for Amateur Radio Today. The Sunday morning transmission at 10:00 central African time will be transmitted on 7 205 and 17 760 kHz. The Monday transmission at 18:30 central African time will be transmitted on 4 895 kHz. As many broadcasters around the world make their frequency change on 26 October, reception reports on the various frequencies will be appreciated. Please send your reception report to artoday@sarl.org.za

** Radio amateurs are invited to attend the second annual International Africa CubeSat workshop in Cape Town. SATI invites radio amateurs and persons interested in satellites to attend the second International CubeSat workshop to be held at the Bellville Campus of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on 3 and 4 November. Registration is free. For more details and a registration form, visit the South African Radio League web and follow the links.

** Be careful of amateur radio sets on Gumtree. Sam, ZS1RO, has brought it to our attention that some amateur radio sets are being offered for sale on Gumtree at ridiculous low prices. These radios are part of a deceased estate that has not been finalised yet. The person who is selling these items has no idea what they are worth. A brand new Icom 706 MK IID was sold for as little as R450,00.

If anyone knows anything about these items, please contact the Malmesbury police or Sam, ZS1RO, by e-mail at samzan@whalemail.co.za.

** 5 MHz activity weekend. While the logs and the WSPR activity logs are still be analysed, the draw for the lucky SSB log entry was held. The winner of the South African Radio League Kit is Romeo Nardini, ZS6ARQ. The kit will be mailed as soon as the Post Office strike has been resolved. Congratulations Romeo!

You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League and we now continue with news from the league

Application for membership of the SARL has been received from the following persons:
Johann Potgieter, ZSL-1121;
Johannes L du Plessis, ZR6DJL;
Imile de Bruyn, ZSL-1122
John Age Nilsin, LA4QAA.

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

The following clubs affiliated with the South African Radio League during this week:
Secunda Amateur Radio Club,
Overberg Amateur Radio Club,
Lichtenburg Amateur Radio Club.

Membership of the South African Radio League currently stands at 1 481 members and 33 affiliated clubs

** The results of the October leg of the QRP contest have been released. There was quite a bit of activity on the bands for the October leg of the QRP contest, but once again, only a few logs were submitted. Why is it that SA amateurs take part in competitions and then do not bother sending in their logs?

Home station
Johan van Zijl, ZS4DZ - 138 points

Field Stations
West Rand ARC, ZS6WR - 440 points

Ultra-light stations
Theo Bresler, ZS6TVB - 396 points
Jaco Cronje, ZR6CMG - 276 points
Brian Jones, ZS6BV - 180 points

The overall results of the 4 QRP contests

Home stations
1st Johann van Zijl, ZS4DZ - 440 points
2nd Theo Bresler, ZS6TVB - 168 points
3rd L Serretta, ZS4SF - 110 points
4th Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC - 96 points
5th Richard Hyter, ZS6RSH - 24 points
6th Wicus Ross, ZS1WWW, and Johannes Geldenhuys ZS2JO, - 12 points each

Field Stations
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR – 1 888 points
2nd Pretoria ARC, ZS6PTA - 848 points
3rd Andre Botes, ZS2ACP - 730 points
4th Francois Reynecke, ZS6FDX - 406 points
5th Port Elizabeth ARS, ZS2PE - 120 points
6th Bloemfontein ARC, ZS4BFN - 96 points

Ultra light stations
1st Rudi Venter, ZS6DX – 1 260 points
2nd Theo Bresler, ZS6TVB - 396 points
3rd Pierre van Deventer, ZS6A - 306 points
4th Jaco Cronje ZR6CMG - 276 points
5th Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE - 216 points
6th John Kramer, ZS5J - 204 points
7th Brian Jones, ZS6BV - 180 points
8th Dennis Green, ZS4BS - 168 points

Congratulations to the winners. Let us hope the log submissions will improve next year.

** The second leg of the Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio or RaDAR Contest takes place on Saturday 1 November starting at 14:00 UTC and ending at 18:00 UTC approximately two hours during the day and two hours at night within the South African time zone. Use can be made of all amateur bands, excluding the WARC bands, including cross band contacts via amateur radio satellites and using CW, SSB, AM, FM and/or any digital mode. QSOs via terrestrial repeaters will NOT be allowed.

** The second leg of the South African Radio League National Field Day and the South African Radio League VHF/UHF Contest will take place from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 15 November to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 16 November.

Both these contests are great for Club outings and can even be combined into one event. Start planning your Club weekend, get the tents and caravans ready and check the radio equipment, antennas and batteries.

The rules for these contests can be found in the 2014 SARL Contest Manual.

** Geoff Levey, ZS6C, the South African Radio League Contest manager requests that members submit suggestions and/or changes to the South African Radio League contests for 2015. Geoff and his team are discussing the 2015 Contest manual. Send your input to contest@sarl.org.za by 10 November 2014.

** The AGM of the Sasolburg Radio club was held on 4 October 2014 and the following members were elected to the committee for 2014 / 2015
Chairman: Jaco, ZS6PX
Vice chairman: Frans, ZS4FDS
Secretary: Hester, ZS6PY
Treasurer: Andries, ZS6VL
Technical: Ockerd, ZS4LZ
QRX Newsletter: Riaan, ZS4PR
Web: Gideon, ZS4GJA
Public relations: Peet, ZS4VP

The outgoing committee wishes the new committee all of the best for 2014 /2015

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at moderate levels with a chance of M-class solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 105.

The 20 to 10 m bands will provide lots of DX fun with some exciting 10 m openings in the pipeline. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

** We now look at our diary of events

25 and 26 October - the CQ WW DX Phone Contest
26 October – AR Today frequency change
28 October – early bird booking for the Cape Town RTA
1 November – RTA in Cape Town and the RADAR Contest
3 & 4 November – CubeSat workshop at the Bellville Campus of CPUT
9 November - PEARS HF Contest
10 November – closing date for 2015 contest input
11 November – Armistice Day
15 and 16 November - the South African Radio League National Field Day as well as the South African Radio League VHF/UHF/Microwave Contest

We end this news bulletin with this mornings leading story:

Book now for the Cape Town RTA and get a discount. The Cape Town Radio Technology in Action symposium will be held on Saturday 1 November. If you book for the RTA before 28 October and you are a member of the South African Radio League, then you only pay R100. After 28 October, it increases to R130 for members. Non-members are charged R200 to attend the event.

That brings us to the end of this news bulletin.

You are invited to submit news items of interest to the South African Radio League by following the news inbox link on the South African Radio League webpage. News items for inclusion in the bulletin, should reach the news team no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.

You can also join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 central African time. The programme can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide, on 7 082 kHz lower side band and on 7 205 kHz and 17 660 kHz AM. There is also a podcast by Dick, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast may be heard on Monday evenings at 18:30 central African time on 3 230 kHz AM.

We welcome your signal reports, comments and suggestions; send it in an e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za. Sentech sponsors the radio transmissions on the non-amateur frequency bands.

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Johann du Plessis, ZS6PSS, edited by Dennis, ZS4BS, and read by ..................................

Thank you for listening, and from the entire news team, best wishes for the week ahead, 73’s.

/EX