SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2014

Good morning and welcome, you are tuned to a newsbulletin of the South African Radio League read by __________________________ (Name and Callsign) 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 web page www.sarl.org.za.

You may find this and previous bulletins in text form on the SARL web page 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 sad news. During the week we learn t of the passing of two esteemed radio amateurs.

It is with deep regret that we have to announce the passing of Jenni Reilly, ZS4J, after loosing the battle with cancer on Monday 10 November 2014. Jenni was the secretary of the Bloemfontein Amateur Radio Club.
We express our sincere condolences to her husband Warren, ZS4W, her daughters Amber and Bianca, family and friends.

Then we also noted with regret the passing of Joe Mayer, ZS6ANW, on Tuesday. Joe battled for a long time with cancer and will fondly remembered as 'Arme Nat Wurm' on air. He knew the history of the Vredefort dome inside out and often led expeditions to the area. He held the position of Professor of Geology at the University of Pochefstroom.He was active till very recently and will be sorely missed by the Potchefstroom Amateur radio club where his pioneering work, as well as his involvement with Morse code will be remembered.

Our sincerest condolences to Joe's wife Alet, their children and grandchildren.

* * * * Pause * * * *

IN THE NEWS TODAY

NATIONAL INTEGRATED ICT POLICY DISCUSSION DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED

AMSAT CELEBRATES 40 YEARS IN SPACE FOR AO-7

THE MOST POWERFUL RADIO SIGNAL SENT INTO SPACE 40 YEARS AGO

PLEASE CHECK YOUR REPEATER DETAIL

** The Department of Telecommunication and Postal Services has published a 300 page national integrated ICT policy discussion document. It is available on the SARL web for download. The SARL will study the document and review where there are opportunities to integrate Amateur Radio in the final policy. Currently there does not appear to be any reference to the amateur radio service in the policy document.

Comment has to be submitted to the Department by 15 January. The SARL requests radio amateurs who have in interest in studying the document to let the SARL have their comments and input for a possible submission by the SARL by the middle of December. 2014. Please send your input to sarlrgwg@sarl.org.za . The document is available for download from www.amateurradio.org.za/SARLREGULATORYWG.htm
** SA AMSAT has issued a call for the submission of proposals for papers to be presented at the 2015 Space Symposium to be held at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria on Saturday 23 May 2015. Prospective authors should send a synopsis to saamsat@intekom.co.za . Theme is Communication and space - the ultimate amateur radio challenge. The deadline for submission of a paper synopsis is 31 January 2015

** The last update to the SARL unmanned devices database was logged on the 22 October 2014. There are however still a number of devices with temporary (T) license numbers or incorrect license numbers. Please check the list on the SARL web. If you are the custodian of any of these devices, please update the information via the web page within the next 2 weeks. The SARL will soon be correlating the information with the ICASA database and outdated/unlicensed data will be removed..

** Saturday, November 15, saw 40 years since the AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (AO-7) ham radio satellite went into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Special Event W7O will be on the air November
15-24 to commemorate the launch of AO-7, the oldest working Amateur Radio satellite. Satellite aficionado Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, who secured W7O for the occasion, plans to work
satellite passes during the special event from Arizona, including AO-7 passes. He also hopes to recruit other operators to participate in the celebration from other locations and on other bands, including HF.
** The most powerful radio signal ever transmitted, from Earth into space, was radiated from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico on 16 November 1974 on a frequency of 2,380 GHz and EIRP of 20 TeraWatts generated by a 1 MegaWatt transmitter. The three minute binary message was drafted by Dr. Frank Drake and Prof. Carl Sagan and beamed in the direction of M13, a globular star cluster in the constellation of Hercules, which happened to be overhead at the time and 25 000 light years away.
The radio telescope consisted of a 305 meter spherical reflector covered with perforated aluminum plates. The receiver is located on a platform suspended 150 meters above the dish by 18 cables running from three reinforced concrete towers, one 110 meters high, erected on three promontories. Arecibo is also equipped with three radar transmitters with effective isotropic radiated power of 20 TeraWatts at 2,380 GHz, 2,5 TeraWatts at 430 MHz and 300 MegaWatts at 47 MHz.
You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio league.

** The Westrand Amateur radio club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 29 November 2014 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information contact Noel ZR6DX 082 490 9934.

Contest news
PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity will at low to moderate levels. decaying sunspot 2205 may still produce M- or X-class solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 130.

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.

Diary of events
Today 16 November - 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
6 December you may look forward to the SARL digital contest
13 & 14 December ARRL 10 meter contest
The SARL requests radio amateurs who have in interest in studying the 300 page national integrated ICT policy discussion document, published by The Department of Telecommunication and Postal Services, to let the SARL have their comments and input for a possible submission by the SARL by the middle of December. 2014.
And that brings us to the end of this news bulletin of the South African Radio League
Radio Amateurs are invited to submit news items of interest to the SARL by following the “newsinbox” link on the SARL web page. News items should reach the new steam 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 radio magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 local time. The program may be heard on 7082 Lower side band and on 7205kHz and 17760kHz Am . A replay may be heard on Monday evenings 18:30 local time on 4895kHz AM. The transmissions on the non amateur bands are sponsored by Sentech

With thanks to the Potchefstroom Amateur Radio Club, Bloemfontein Amateur radio club, Wesrand Amateur radio Club, Dennis Green ZS4BS, Francois Botha ZS6BUU, Mike Bosch ZS2FM, Hannes Cotzee ZS6BZP and all the other contibutors. You have listened to a news bulletin compiled and editied by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC, thank you for listening best wishes for the week ahead, 73’s

/EX