SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2014

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

You can tune in to the South African Radio League news broadcast on Sunday mornings at 08:15 central African time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 central African 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 web site.

This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the South African Radio League website 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 webpage. While you are there, you can sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

We start the bulletin on a sad note.

It is with regret and great sadness that we have to announce that the key of Ian Leonard, ZS6TUB, became silent recently. Ian joined KARTS in 2013 and was part of the technical team that got the 60 m beacon commissioned.

Our sincerest condolences to the relatives and friends of Ian. We all will sadly miss him.

PAUSE ....

In the news today

YOUTH NET ON THE AIR AT 15:00 TODAY

EME DXPEDITION IN ZIMBABWE

5 MHZ PROPAGATION RESEARCH PROJECT SHOW UNEXPECTED RESULTS

and

PEARS AND SARL COMPETITIONS OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKENDS

Our leading story this morning

** The South African Radio League Youth net will be on the air this afternoon at 15:00 central African time on 7 070 kHz. Karel Bezuidenhout, ZR6K, will be the net host. There is a lucky draw for a surprize gift for all radio amateurs and their friends under 25 years old who participate in the net and appear in the log.

** Chris, PA2CHR, Lins, PA3CMC, John, ZS6JON, and Paul, ZS6NK, are active as Z21CHR, Z21CMC, Z21EME and Z21NK, respectively from 1 to 8 November on an EME DXpedition. They are active on 6 and 2 meters, and 70 and 23 cm. QSL via PA3CMC

** The annual Remembrance Day service will be transmitted as part of Amateur Radio Today, next Sunday at approximately 10:45 central African time. All radio amateur are requested to keep radio silence during the service, which remembers South African who paid the supreme price in service of their country. Clubs are requested to relay the service on local repeaters. The audio file will be available from next Saturday.

** There will be ninety-one new amateurs on the air soon. One hundred candidates wrote the examination of which 91 passed. They should be on the air soon as in an agreement between ICASA and the South African Radio League, candidates who passed the RAE and whose call signs appear on the South African Radio League list of successful candidates published on the League web, may go on the air immediately without having to wait for the printed license. Congratulations!

If you were not successful this time, we suggest you try again in May 2015. The highest pass percentage was 98% and this person obtained 100% for the regulations. If you passed but your call sign is not on the list, there is still some documentation outstanding. Please send all outstanding paperwork to the South African Radio League RAE manager, Gideon Jannasch at rae@sarl.org.za to prevent any delay in the licensing process.

** The 5 MHz propagation research project show unexpected results. One of the most interesting findings is the inconsistency in the results of Near-vertical-incidence sky wave propagation (NVIS). Comparing a communications path between two amateur stations, ZS6KN and ZS6KTS (a distance of 51 km) it is interesting to note that in June 2014 there was a good communications path from just after 05:00 until approximately 16:30 after which the signals disappeared. The pattern for July was the same, but signals were considerably stronger than during August and September.

During September, a strong dip in signal strength can be seen. The other interesting observation from the graph is that propagation "opens" earlier and closes later as we go into summer which indicates variations in the ionisation of the D layer of the ionosphere as the sun rises earlier and sets later. Not enough data has been collected to make any meaning full conclusions. If the path was a pure ground wave, the signals would have been more or less constant throughout the day and night.

The article will be published in the November/December edition of EngineerIT and is already available on the web. You can find the link on www.sarl.org.za, click on propagation research. You will find links to the article as well as a report of the first six months.

** Member States of the International Telecommunication Union have completed the election process that confirms candidates in the organisation's five elected posts, as well as the 12 members of the Radio Regulations Board and the 48 Members of ITU Council, the administrative body that governs the ITU in between quadrennial Plenipotentiary Conferences. This took place at the 19th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Korea

Houlin Zhao of China was successful in his bid to become the next Secretary-General of the ITU, after eight years as Deputy-Secretary General. He will take over from Dr Hamadoun Touré, HB9EHT, on 1 January 2015.

Malcolm Johnson of the United Kingdom was elected as the ITU's new Deputy Secretary-General.

François Rancy of France was confirmed in a second term as the Director of ITU's Radiocommunication Bureau. Brahima Sanou, of Burkina Faso, the incumbent Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, also contested his bid for a second term unopposed and Chaesub Lee from South Korea was the successful candidate for the post of Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau (TSB).

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

** Missing CW? There are still many DX stations around the bands operating CW. The South African Radio League has received a suggestion that an informal net is started for people to get some practice on CW. If this appeals to you, drop us a line at artoday@sal.org.za with your suggestion for day of the week and time. Maybe on a Saturday or a weekday evening on 80 metres?

** The South African Radio League "No Tears Kit" goes on sale. Now that all RTA's of the South African Radio League for 2014 have taken place, the "no tears kit" goes on general sale. It is packaged with the RTA CD, which includes all the construction details. The Isolated USB Transceiver Control Interface kit is a fully isolated interface between a transceiver and computer. It comprises a complete USB to Serial module and a bi-directional audio link between the sound card and the transceiver.

The USB control interface supports Icom CI-V, Kenwood and Yaesu CAT control ports on current transceivers. Visual (LED) indication of control data flow between the computer and radio and the PTT or CW status of the radio are provided. The kit is compatible with many of the current generations of amateur transceivers. The interface provides complete isolation between the transceiver and the computer, as well as complete isolation between both functions of the interface. Either side of the Isolated USB Transceiver Control Interface can be operated independently of the other.

The cost is for South African Radio League members is R480 plus packing and posting via Postnet at R120 or via the Post Office econo tracked parcel R50. Currently the Post Office is not handling parcels but this is expected to be resumed in the next two weeks. The cost for non-members is R550 plus the same packaging and postage charges. Read more about it at www.amateurradio.org.za/RTA.htm. The order form is also on available here.

** Application for membership of the South African Radio League have been received from the following persons:
John Steyn, ZR6VS, and
Loupo Adi, ZSl1125

Any objections against the acceptance of the applications must reach the SARL Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin. Membership of the South African Radio League currently stands at 1 490 members not including the newly passed RAE candidates; they will be included from next week onwards. There are 34 affiliated clubs.

** The Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society HF Contest will be on the air on Sunday 9 November from 12:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC. It is a phone only contest with activity on 20, 15 and 10 metres. The exchange is your call sign and RS report. You can participate as a Single Operator - base or field station or a multi-operator - base or field station. Log sheets must be submitted by 24 November 2014 to Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society PO Box 10402, Linton Grange, Port Elizabeth, 6015 or by e-mail to contest@peham.co.za. Read from page 45 in the SARL Contest Manual.

** The South African Radio League National Field Day and South African Radio League VHF/UHF Contest take to the air at 10:00 UTC on Saturday 15 November and end 24 hours later. The National Field Day is CW, phone and digital operation on 160 to 10 metres, while the VHF/UHF Contest lets you operate on 6, 4 and 2 metres, 70 and 23 cm and even higher. You can use CW, SSB, FM and digital modes on these frequencies.

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. SARL News is aware of a number of Clubs who will be camping out for the weekend.

Read from page 18 (National Field Day) and page 24 (VHF/UHF Contest) of the 2014 SARL Contest Manual for the complete rules.

** At the annual general meeting of the Bloemfontein ARC held on Saturday 25 October, the following committee was elected. Portfolios will be allocated at the first committee meeting.

Dennis Green, ZS4BS
Frans Marais, ZS4FM
Brendon Muller, ZS4BM
Pine Pienaar, ZS1ZB
Andre van Rensburg, ZS4APA

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity will be returning to low levels. None of the small spots is currently posing 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 70.

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

The diary of events for November

Today at 15:00 - the South African Radio League Youth Net on 7 070 kHz
3 and 4 November - CubeSat workshop at the Bellville Campus of CPUT
9 November - Remembrance Day transmission at 10:45; PEARS HF Contest
10 November - closing date for 2015 contest manual 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 and UHF Contest
29 and 30 November - the CQ WW DX CW Contest

To end this bulletin, a quick recap of the leading story:

The South African Radio League Youth net will be on the air this afternoon at 15:00 central African time on 7 070 kHz. Karel Bezuidenhout, ZR6K, will be the net host.


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 may join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur radio magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 Central African Time. The programme may be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and on 7 082 kHz lower side-band and on 7 205 kHz and 17 760 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 4 895 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS, edited by Carina Green and read by ...................

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