SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 01 MARCH 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 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 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 mornings bulletin with news of two silent keys.
It is with deep regret that the passing of Gilbert From, ZS5XI, on 7 January 2015 after a long battle with cancer must be announced. Gilbert was 77 and was well known for his 2-metre operations in the 80s and many contacts into division 6.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Mandy family and many friends
Chris Benecke, ZS4PE, passed away on Monday 23 February 2015. Chris was involved for many years with CQHouKoers in Bloemfontein and at Doornkloof.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and many friends
PAUSE
In the news today
YOUTH SPRINT EMAIL ADDRESS INCORRECT
HAMNET 40 METRE SIMULATED EMERGENCY CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
YOUTH NET ONE HOUR LATER TODAY
and
CONTESTING IN MARCH AND CONTEST RESULTS
Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.
** The Youth Sprint e-mail address is incorrect. The address given in SARL News last week and in the Blue Book is incorrect. Please resend your log directly to ZS6QL@mweb.co.za. The closing date has been extended until 9 March 2015. The South African Radio League apologizes for the mistake. Please re-send your log as a handsome prize can be won in the lucky draw competition.
** This afternoon between 12:00 and 14:00 UTC, you and your club can participate in the HAMNET 40 metre Simulated Emergency Contest. You can participate as a single operator stationary mobile, a single operator portable, a multi-operator portable or a single operator base station using 7 063 to 7 100 kHz and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz. The exchange is a signal report followed by a three-figure number depending on the class of participation.
Antennas are limited to antennas with less than unity gain relative to a dipole. Stationary Mobile stations shall use antennas that rely solely on their vehicles for support and shall not exceed a height of 5 metres above ground. Portable station antennas may not be erected and installed before the day of the contest and no permanent man-made structure may be used to either house equipment or for antenna supports. Stationary mobile and portable stations shall operate from the same site for the duration of the contest and all power used shall comply with the requirements for Field Stations in the general rules.
Log sheets must be submitted by 7 March 2015 to contest@peham.co.za. Consult page 31 of the 2015 Blue Book for all the details.
** The Youth Net is one hour later this afternoon because of the HAMNET Contest. The South African Radio League Youth Net will be held today at 16:00 Central African Time on 7070 kHz. This is one hour later than before. Join the newly appointed South African Radio League Youth coordinator, Koos Fick,ZR6KF, to talk about what you like most about amateur radio and what the League can do to enhance your experience. If you are a young radio amateur, support Koos with you call in.
** Contesting In March.The ARRL International DX SSB Contest will be run over the weekend of the 7 and 8 March on 160 to 10 metres. It is a 48-hour contest and the DX must work the USA and Canada.
** Over the weekend of 14 and 15 March, you can participate in the Africa All Mode International DX Contest which will be on the air from 12:00 UTC on the Saturday to 12:00 UTC on the Sunday with CW, phone and RTTY activity on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. The exchange is the RS or RST report followed by an incremental serial number commencing at 001. All QSOs with African entities count 10 points and all other QSOs count 1 point. Read all about the contest on page 50 of the 2015 Blue Book.
The second contest on this weekend is the RSGB Commonwealth Contest, which runs from 10:00 UTC on Saturday to 10:00 UTC on Sunday with CW only on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. Activity is normally concentrated in the lower 30 kHz of each band. However, entrants must observe band-plans and contest-preferred segments, so no operation must take place below 3 510 kHz or above 14 060 kHz. The exchange is a RST report and a serial number. HQ stations will additionally send HQ, which must be logged. Find all the information at www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2015/rberu.shtml
** The South African Radio League VHF/UHF Contest is on the air from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 21 March to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 22 March 2015 with participation as a base station, a field station, a Club / Multi operator station or a 4 hour limited category station. It is CW, SSB, FM and digital on 6, 4 and 2 metres, 70 and 23 cm and higher. All the information is on page 26 of the 2015 Blue Book.
** The CQ WPX SSB Contest is a 48-hour event over the weekend of the 28 and 29 March with activity on 160 to 10 metres. Read all the information at www.cqwpx.com/
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
** The results of the PEARS National VHF/UHF contest have been released. Digital communications excelled this time in the PEARS National VHF & UHF Contest, when a number of long distance contacts were recorded country-wide. A new VHF contest distance record was established on 50 MHz digital, and the first DX station logged from a neighboring state. However, poor weather conditions, rain, gale-force winds, power-failures in some areas, limited the distances on analogue to under 400 km as well as the number of analogue contacts made and unfortunately the field stations were also missing on the air. Nevertheless, 30 logs were received, with the most coming from Division 1 and QSOs were recorded on all five bands: 50, 70, 144, 432 and 1296 MHz.
Grand Overall Digital Winner: Andre Botes, ZS2ACP, 6987 points.
Longest distance on 50 MHz digital: EttienneVosloo, ZS1AX, and Jan "Pine" Pienaar, ZS6OB, 1 290 km.
Longest Distance on 144 MHz digital: Koos du Plessis, ZS6BFD, and Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, 1 115 km.
Grand Overall Analogue Winner: Michael Folkey, ZR4MF, 3338 points.
Divisional Analogue Winners:
Division 1: Mike Kellett, ZS1TAF, 557 points.
Division 2: Eric Hosten, ZS2ECH, 868 points.
Division 4: Michael Folkey, ZR4MF, 3338 points.
Division 6: Koos du Plessis, ZS6BFD, 2572 points.
Winner Rover Category: Glen Verran, ZS1VG/R, 145 points.
Prize Winners of the 144 MHz FM Category:
Division 1: Sybrand Strauss, ZS1SAS, 60 points.The prize to be donated by the Boland Amateurradioklub.
Division 2: Amanda la Mude, ZS2AV, 80 points.The prize to be donated by Rory Norton,ZS2BL, of SA Ham-Shack.
PEARS wish to express their sincere thanks to all the sponsors for offering to donate prizes. New certificates are being designed and will be e-mailed to the winners and runners-up as soon as available. Read more in "PEARS National VHF/UHF Contest" on the South African Radio League VHF Forum.
** The contest committee received eleven logs for the February leg of the National Field Day held on 14 and 15 February. Two of these logs are check logs.
Class A - Multi-operator Field Station:
1st Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, 104 640 points.
2nd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 90 828 points.
3rd Pretoria ARC, ZS6PTA, 61 452 points.
4th Sasolburg ARC, ZS50SRK, 38 016 points.
5th Zululand ARC, ZS5ZLB, 21 744 points.
6th Bloemfontein ARC, ZS90SARL, 15 204 points.
Class B - Multi-operator Field Station, QRP:
1st Potchefstroom ARC, ZS6POT, 33 534 points.
Class F - General Stations:
1st Graham, ZS6GL, 560 points.
2nd Mario, ZS6ARQ, 400 points.
Check logs were received from Bruce, ZS5XT, and Joop, ZS6JP.
Congratulations to the winners.
** In the propagation report, Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at very low levels. None of the visible sunspots is producing strong flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 67.
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, translation, proofreading and editing as well as recording of the South African Radio League news bulletins. If you are able to help, please contact Dawie, ZR6DHC, on zr6dhc@zs6rtb.co.za.
And now for the diary of events.
Today the HAMNET 40 m Contest from 14:00 to 16:00 CAT and the Youth Net at 16:00 CAT on 7 070 kHz.
7 and 8 March the ARRL International DX Contest.
14 and 15 March - Africa All Modes International DXCC contest and the RSGB Commonwealth Contest.
21 and 22 March - South African Radio League VHF/UHF 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.
The Youth Sprint e-mail address is incorrect. The address given in SARL News last week and in the Blue Book is incorrect. Please resend your log directly to ZS6QL@mweb.co.za. The closing date has been extended until 9 March 2015. The South African Radio League apologizes for the mistake. Please re-send your log as a handsome prize can won in the lucky draw competition.
** Clubs and individuals are invited to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and short-wave 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 program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 Central African Time. The program can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters country-wide 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 Richard Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by
..
From the entire news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
73's and thank you for listening.
/EX
