SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2015

Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ………………………………………… [Name, call sign and QTH]

You can tune into the South African Radio League news bulletin 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 our 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 will find this bulletin and previous bulletins in text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the web page. While you are there, you can sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

We start this morning’s bulletin with news of a silent key.

** It is with deep regret that the passing of Johannes Jooste, ZS2JP, on Saturday 7 February must be announced. Johannes was 92 years old.

We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

PAUSE

In the news today

A NEW YOUTH COORDINATOR APPOINTED

EXCELLENT TROPO OPENINGS ALONG THE EAST COAST

QSO TODAY EPISODE 28 WITH EDDIE LEIGHTON ZS6BNE

SARL YOUTH CONTEST AND DIGITAL CONTEST ON 21 AND 22 FEBRUARY

AND

THE NEXT SARL@HOME ABOUT DXING AND CONTESTING WITH ZS6EZ

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.

** The Council of the South African Radio League is busy finalising the appointment of a new Youth Coordinator. Mitchel Mynhardt, ZS6YH, has informed Council that he is resigning as he is in the last year of school and needs to concentrate on his schoolwork. The Council thanks Mitchel for his work as Youth Coordinator and wishes him well with his final year.

Koos Fick, ZR6KF, has been appointed as the new South African Radio League Youth Coordinator. Koos, 16 year old, is in grade 11 at the Helpmekaar secondary school in Johannesburg. He has been the net controller for the Youth Net since November and successfully operated ZS9YOTA during December 2014. Koos is very keen to promote amateur radio in general, including on air activity, amongst the youth.

The Council wishes Koos well in his role as Youth Coordinator.

** Operate the special call sign ZS90SARL to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the South African Radio League. There are still five slots available for operators wishing to operate the special call sign ZS90SARL. Affiliated clubs and members of the South African Radio League can book a slot for either SSB and/or CW by sending an e-mail to sarl90@sarl.or.za. For the latest schedule as well as a list of available slots, please visit the home page of the League’s website.

** Mike Bosch, ZS2FM submitted a report stating that there are excellent tropo openings along the east coast.

Peter Tottle, ZS2ABF, reports that on Monday evening 9 February conditions on 144,300 MHz upper side band horizontal were fantastic. On frequency in East London were John, ZS2AH, Hennie, ZS2HC, and Peter, ZS2ABF. They spoke to Al, ZS2U in Port Elizabeth and Dave, ZS5DJ, in Ramsgate. Ken, ZS2OC, in Port Elizabeth was also heard, but he was just floating on the underside of the noise threshold. Stations from Port Elizabeth were breaking through on the local 145,650 MHz FM repeater and several QSOs were made. ZS2U was 5 and 2 to ZS2ABF off the back of his beam and ZS5DJ was 59+60 dB for most of the time and their QSO lasted for about one hour before they called it a night.

On Tuesday evening at 20:00 Central African Time, signals were poor with QSB and into the noise. Dave, ZS5DJ, in Ramsgate was only heard and worked 5 and 0. Strangely enough, Hennie, ZS2HC, who lives in a hollow, which is not suited to VHF DX, heard and worked Dave after putting on his headphones. John, ZS2AH, came on also with limited results. However, the Hepburn Tropospheric Forecasts have indicated good tropo ducting conditions again along the South African East, South and West coasts for Wednesday and Thursday this week.

** Listen to QSO Today Episode 28 with Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE. When Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE, created 'shack in a sack' as a working concept for portable operation in South Africa's great outdoors, for amateur radio activity and contests, he had no idea it would become an international amateur radio phenomenon he renamed RaDAR, or rapid deployment amateur radio. RaDAR, could be amateur radio's 'iron man' contest that combines outdoor activity with amateur radio.

Eddie joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today at www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/zs6bne

** The Executive Committee of IARU Region 1 held its annual meeting on 7 and 8 February 2015 in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. During the two day meeting, the Executive Committee discussed, amongst other matters, the strategic priorities for the Region, the financial report and budget, spectrum matters included in the External Relations Committee, the HF and VHF reports, core issues such as electromagnetic compatibility, the member society and its regulator, activities involving young people and the Support To the Amateur Radio Service programme.

In the discussions about activities involving young people, the Executive Committee agreed that proper child protection policies and practices must be in place. A child protection policy has been drawn up and will soon be made available. A report was tabled about Member Society matters. Amateur Radio in disputed areas and second societies were also discussed.

** Congratulations to all the South African stations who participated in the 2014 IARU HF Championships. Nine stations were active from ITU Zone 57 representing ZS1, ZS2, ZS5 and ZS6. Father and son team, Karel, ZS6WN, and Karel, ZR6K, operating as ZR9C made 540 800 points.

There were 62 stations active in the HQ category with three stations from Africa. In 25th place is V55HQ with 9 956 010 points, in 42nd place is ZS9HQ (operated by ZS6RJ, VA7DX, ZS6JP, ZS1EL and ZS2EC) with 1 749 720 points and in 44th place is 7T0HQ from Algeria with 1 490 032 points.

Well done! The 2015 IARU HF Championships take place in July.

You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.

** The next SARL@Home will feature a presentation about DXing and contesting and will be held at 10:00 Central African Time on Saturday 28 March at the National Amateur Radio Centre. Chris Burger, ZS6EZ, will be doing the presentation and answering your questions. There are not many people in the world who have the knowledge and practical experience of DXing and Contesting as what Chris has. To attend this informative presentation, simply call the office on 011 675 2393 to confirm your attendance or send an e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za

** The South African Radio League 5 MHz activity weekend will be held on 28 and 29 March. The first slot will be run each day from 06:00 - 08:00 Central African Time with the second slot from 18:00 to 22:00 Central African Time. More details to follow.

Participation Certificates for the September 2014 5 MHz activity weekend are being processed and will be e-mailed to participant in the next two weeks.

** Application for membership of the South African Radio League has been received from Charl Lodewyk Cilliers, ZSL1135, and Henry Williams, ZSL1136.

Any objections against the acceptance of the applications must reach the South African Radio League Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin. The membership of the South African Radio League currently stands at 1 618 members and 36 affiliated clubs

** The South African Radio League Youth Sprint is a fun activity to celebrate the Youth and to promote contacts between young radio amateurs in Southern African countries. Call “CQ Youth” on Saturday 21 February from 08:00 to 10:00 UTC on 40 metres. The exchange is a RS report and the operator’s age.

Contacts between stations in the age group 25 and younger are worth 5 points; contacts between stations in the under 25 group and over 26 group are worth 2 points and contacts between stations in the age group 26 and older are worth 1 point. Log sheets must be submitted by 28 February by e-mail to youthsprint@sarl.org.za. The age of the operator must be shown on the summary sheet. All the logs received will be entered into a draw for a Student Membership of the South African Radio League. Certificates will be awarded for all logs that are submitted correctly.

** The first South African Radio League Digital Contest for 2015 takes place from 13:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC on Sunday 22 February on 80, 40 and 20 metres. The aim is to establish as many contacts as possible between radio amateurs in Southern Africa using the PSK31 and RTTY modes. The contest is open to all radio amateurs in Southern Africa. A station may be contacted twice on each band, once on RTTY and once on PSK31, and the exchange is a RST report and a sequential serial number starting at 001. Logs must be submitted by 1 March by e-mail to contest@sarl.org.za. Get all the information about scoring and multipliers in the 2015 Contest Manual.

** The ARRL International DX CW Contest starts at 00:00 UTC on 21 February and ends at 23:59 UTC on 22 February. DX must work the USA and Canada and the exchange is a RST report and power.

** The ever-popular Hamnet 40 metre Simulated Emergency Contest is scheduled for Sunday afternoon 1 March and it is a great opportunity for a club outing and to test your emergency radio gear.

** The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 28 February 2015 at its clubhouse in Kroton Street, Weltevreden Park, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information, contact Nick, ZS6NCK, on 082 454 1272.

** In the propagation report, Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low levels. All the sunspots that are currently visible have stable magnetic fields. There is thus not much chance of solar flaring. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 75.

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

** The news team is still in need of volunteers who can assist with the compilation and recording of the South African Radio League news bulletins. We are currently experiencing a shortage of people who can help with the English bulletins, in particular. If you are able to help, please contact Dawie, ZR6DHC, on zr6dhc@zs6rtb.co.za

And now for the diary of events

Today is the last day to submit your PEARS log sheets
21 February - the South African Radio League Youth Sprint
22 February - the South African Radio League Digital contest and closing date for National Field Day logs
21 and 22 February - ARRL International DX CW Contest
28 February – West Rand ARC Flea market
1 March – the Hamnet 40 metre Simulated Emergency Contest
14 and 15 March - Africa All Modes International DXCC contest
28 March – SARL@Home about DXing and Contesting
28 and 29 March – 5 MHz Activity Weekend
9 April - last day to register for the May RAE.

To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.

Koos Fick, ZR6KF, has been appointed as the new South African Radio League Youth Coordinator. He is very keen to promote amateur radio in general, including on-air activity, amongst the youth.

** Clubs and individuals are invited to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners, if possible, in both English and Afrikaans, by following the news inbox link on the South African Radio League web page. News items for inclusion in the bulletin, should reach the news team no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.

You are welcome to join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur radio magazine programme ‘Amateur Radio Today’ at 10:00 Central African Time. The programme can 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 available by Dick, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast can 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 these by e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za. Sentech sponsors the radio transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dennis Green, ZS4BS, edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, and read by ……………..…………………

From the entire news team, best wishes for the week ahead.

73's and thank you for listening

/EX