SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 28 DECEMBER 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 to the South African Radio League news broadcast on Sunday mornings at 08:15 local time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 local time in English on HF and on many VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay and a podcast is available from the South African Radio League web site at www.sarl.org.za.

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IN THE NEWS TODAY
ZS90SARL MAKES ITS BEBUT ON 1 JANUARY 2015
RENEWAL OF AMATEUR RADIO LICENSES AND FORM B

YOUR INPUT NEEDED ON THE RTA

WATCH OUT FOR SPORADIC-E FROM Z21SIX BEACON ON 50,450 MHz USB

Stay tuned for more on these and other news items

** Please be advised that the SARL office is closed for the festive season and that Vonnie will only be back on 5 January 2015. Any urgent matters should be directed via e mail to secretary@sarl.org.za

** Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC, of PEARS will be the first station to use the callsign ZS90SARL to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the SARL. Originaly known as the South African Radio Relay League, the National Body for amateur radio in South Africa, was formed in May 1925, shortly after the formation of the International Amateur Radio Union Paris.
It is fitting that the first transmission of ZS90SARL will be made from Port Elizabeth as it was there that the first radio contact in South Africa was established. It was Edward Alfred Jennings, a telephone technician in the city who through experimentation to improve the performance of the telephone mouth piece detected its coherer properties. He also noticed that the electric tram passing his house a little distance away caused crackling. Later that year, it 1896, he carried out an ambitious experiment to send a signals over a nearly a kilometre distance between his house in Sherlock Street to a primitive receiving station at Copper ‘s kloof. A flag was hoisted if his signals were received and indeed they were. Jennings did not get much attention. The then Prime minister of the Cape, John X Merrimen was against wireless, but his famous comment that that life was complicated enough with the normal telegraph that with radio telegraphy life would become unbearable did not put Jennings off. He carried on with his radio experimentation. On 8 May 1899 he did a demonstration in the Port Elizabeth City hall at a meeting chaired by a prominent business man MM Loubser. Loubser referred to reports from overseas and said” Mr Jennings has over the past year carried on quietly with his experimentation and research and his results are as impressive as those of Prof Marconi. His achievements are so much more significant as he did his research in in free time.” Form all accounts he was the first true radio amateur in South Africa.
Give ZS90SARL a call and celebrate 90 years of SARL and the first transmission from Port Elisabeth. ZS2EC will be operating ZS90SARL from 1 January till 11 January 2015. Clubs and amateurs wishing to use the callsign from their station are invited to send their requests to sarl90@sarl.org.za with suggested dates and planned operation.
** During the past week a discussion on the SARL forum queried the need for Form B to be completed to renew amateur licenses. It is with delight that the news team is able to inform its listeners that Form B is no longer required. Amateur radio licenses are due on 1 April 2015. ICASA will be sending out reminders in January but the responsibility remains with the licensee to ensure that the license is paid by no later than 30 April. Unpaid licenses will expire at the end of April.

Radio amateurs also have the option to pay for 5 years. Simply send an email to dkuhrau@icasa.org.za and advise him that you are converting to a 5 year license then when making payment, pay R500. This is a saving of R100 and protects the licensee against inflation increases which will be introduced from the 2016 license year. When paying ICASA please ensure that you quote your licence number and callsign.

** There is a new easy way on the SARL web to locate repeaters. Peter Hers, ZS6PHD, has linked the SARL repeater data base to Google earth. From the home page click on services, then unmanned devices and then on "Repeater Map*Requires Google Earth" You will need to have Google Earth installed on your machine.

This is just another service from the SARL.

If you are not yet a member, is it not time that you joined? Call Vonnie on 011 675 2393 after 5 January 2015. Joining now means you only pay for 6 months.

** Athol Masdoll, Z21LV, at Harare informed us that he has changed his Z21SIX beacon frequency to 50,450 MHz USB transmitting a voice message from 09:00 CAT to 15:00 CAT daily. The antenna is an unidirectional horizontal halo and power is 30 Watts.

This DX beacon is in an ideal location to indicate the frequent Sporadic-E openings experienced in Zimbabwe and Zambia during December and January months around noon. There are still a few Band 3 analogue stations operating in Zimbabwe, such as Gweru with video channel on 199,25 MHz and sound channel on 205,25 MHz. The Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) on Sporadic-E has been recorded up to 220 MHz.

VHF stations in Namibia and Zimbabwe or further north should look for the most southern beacons, such as the Cape Town ZS1SIX beacon on 50,080 MHz FSK and Port Elizabeth ZS2X on 50,007 MHz FSK also around noon.

** The current November/December issue of RADIO-ZS features 17 propagation modes in the VHF, UHF and Microwave column, which could manifest on the VHF bands during certain times of the year including 8 DX propagation modes. This should be of interest to beginners and old-timers alike, who could use it as a program to arrange long distance skeds on VHF and UHF. A list of SARL distance records achieved on VHF, UHF, and SHF in this country is also included and covers different modes of propagation. It is also recommended to study the propagation chart on the front cover of the September/October 2013 edition of RADIO-ZS.

** While the SARL is still looking at changing the name of the RTA, it does not affect the call for papers. If you would like to present at one or all of the events in 2015, send a brief synopsis to rta@sarl.org.za by 31 December. The latest suggested name for the RTA in 2015 is Amateur Radio in Action or ARiA. Your comments are invited send them to the same address rta@sarl.org.za

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is returning to moderate levels. All visible sunspot regions are currently stable.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 85.

The 20 to 10 metre bands will provide lots of DX fun.

Please visit the website ‘spaceweather.sansa.org.za’ for further information.

And we end this rather abridged version of this morning’s news bulletin with a quick look at the diary of events:
Up to 31 December you may still partake in the current Youth on the Air with ZS9YOTA activity.
31 December - your proposals for papers for Hamradio Africa 2015 to rta@sarl.org.za.
1 January 2015 - ZS90SARL goes on the air.
15 January 2015 - your input to the South African Radio League about the draft amendments to the radio regulations.
16 to 18 January 2015 - PEARS National VHF/UHF Contest.

And with that we have reached the end of this morning’s SARL news: Before we sign off though, here is a quick recap of our leading story:

It is with pleasure that the SARL announce that the need to fill out Form Bin order to renew your license has been negated.

And with that we have reached 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 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 Dawie Conradie, ZR6DHC, edited by Richard Stratford, ZS6RO, and Dennis Green ZS4BS and read by ...................

Thank you for listening, and from the entire news team, may we take this opportunity to wish all our loyal supporters and listeners a very prosperous 2015, may the year ahead be filled with lots of good DX and many pleasurable hours in the radio shack.

73’s and thank you for listening