SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 15 MARCH 2015
Good morning and welcome, you are tuned to a newscast 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 webpage www.sarl.org.za.
You may find this and previous bulletins in text form on the SARL webpage under the news link on the left. While you are there you may also sign up to receive future bulletins via e mail.
IN THE NEWS TODAY
BOOK NOW FOR THE SARL COVENTION IN BLOEMFONTEIN.
SARL ASSIST THE RADIO SOCIETY OF ZAMBIA WITH LICENSING OF AMATEURS.
SARL WANT TO STEP UP THE FOCUS ON AMATEUR RADIO.
DO NOT PAY YOUR ICASA LICENSE FEES INTO THE SARL BANK ACCOUNT
** The SARL National Convention, hosted by the Bloemfontein Amateur Radio Club will be held in the city of Roses from Friday 17 April to Sunday 19 April. Reservations can now be made. Full details including a reservation form are available on the SARL web at www.sarl.org.za
On Friday evening there will be a visit to the Bloemfontein planetarium, which is the first and only digital planetarium in Africa. On Saturday afternoon the SARL@Home event will feature four presentations including "WISPR and the SARL 5 MHZ propagation research project" by Stewart Moss, ZS6SGM. Prof. Matthiam Hoffman of the University of the Free State will be the guest speaker and we will take a look back over the past 90 years in an audio-visual presentation.
The Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday morning. Members of the SARL attend the SARL@home free of charge. Please complete the registration form and return as soon as possible, even if you are only attending the AGM and SARL@home. A partner programme has also be arranged. Bloemfontein is one of the friendliest cities in South Africa and well known for its hospitality.
** The SARL will assist the Radio Society of Zambia with the licensing of amateurs in that country. In accordance with the requirements of the ITU, the Zambian authorities require a harmonised amateur radio examination certificate (HAREC) before issuing a license.
In the past this certificate was provided by the UK's City and Guilds after Zambian candidates passed the City and Guilds Radio Amateur Examination.. This arrangement is no longer in operation.
The Radio Society of Zambia has approached the SARL to conclude an agreement whereby the Zambian candidates can write the South African examination. Under the new agreement, set out in a memorandum of understanding, Zambian candidates will in future enter for the South African examination. For this purpose, a SARL examination centre will be registered in Zambia and the Radio Society of Zambia will provide the venue, invigilators, security arrangements and cover all costs.. The answer papers will be returned to South Africa and will be marked here. HAREC certificates will be couriered to the Radio Society of Zambia for those candidates who pass. The Zambian authorities have already agreed to accept the HARECs issued by the SARL.
Zambian candidates who are members of the Radio Society of Zambia qualify for SADC members of the SARL.
This arrangement is similar to the arrangement the SARL already has with Namibian Amateur Radio League.
** Two weeks ago the SARL Council met for its annual two day session at the National Amateur Radio Centre and launched a project to focus more on the promotion of Amateur Radio at various levels of Government, During a three hour session Councillors discussed segmentation of the benefits that amateur radio offers to South Africa and its people and how best to communicate this to the role players who can positively influence and support amateur radio, The objective is to put "amateur radio" back into the South African Radio League. Comprehensive support materials is being developed. A full report will be tabled and discussed at the annual general meeting next month.
Members are invited to support the communication and marketing project by sharing how they perceive the value that amateur radio brings to South Africa and its people. Send your input to admin@sarl.org.za
** SARL@HOME TO ADDRESS DXING AND CONTESTING
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 Chris 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
** This is an urgent call to all radio amateurs. Please do not pay your R120 ham licence fee into the account of the South African radio league. This cause an unwanted burden on the SARL admin office as well as on the SARL`s bank charges in terms of new additional transaction costs.
Should you have done this, and you have not informed the office of the SARL, these payments will be allocated as donation towards the president's fund.
The SARL will not renew your licence on your behalve. Please pay you annual license renewal to ICASA as stipulated by the Telecommunications Act.
** Applications for membership of the SARL have been received from the following persons:
Michel de Kock,ZU1M;
Stephen van Jaarsveldt, ZS6SVJ;
Johan S du Toit, ZS4JT.
Any objections to the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.
Membership of the SARL currently stands at 1630 plus 38 affiliated clubs
Clubs are requested to update their contact details.
There are a number of clubs listed on the SARL web page at www.sarl.org.za/public/local/ClubsList.asp with outdated information. The SARL would like club committees to visit this page and if the information is outdated to update the information by clicking the "update" icon next to the club call sign. Updated information will be captured into the database by the SARL office.
Your are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African radio league.
** 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. This is an SSB activity on 5260 KHz and is only open to SARL members
** The Magalies Radio-Amateur Club will be taking part in the CQ World-Wide WPX competition on the weekend of 28-29 March. The competition begins at 0000 UTC on Saturday and ends on 2359 UTC on Sunday. The purpose of the competition is to make worldwide contact with as many amateurs and prefixes as possible.
You are welcome to make yourself available and take part in the competition as a radio operator.
MRK invites everyone interested in seeing the competition station in action to come and visit on Saturday and Sunday. The competition station will be at Kleinfontein, Donkerhoek just east of Pretoria. Fires will be burning on Saturday afternoon, so bring your meat, liquid refreshments and come and enjoy the afternoon with the members of MRK. Safe camping facilities are also available for tents and caravans.
Information and a map is available on the MRK website www.zs6mrk.org For more information contact Pieter ZS6PA or Sam ZS6JZ via the contact detail listed on the site.
** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at moderate to high levels. Sunspot AR2297 has a "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic field that harbours enough energy for X-class 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, especially during the late afternoons, provide lots of DX fun.
Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Diary of events.
17 19 April - SARL national convension in Bloemfontein.
28 March - SARL @HOME at the National Amateurradio centre.
28 29 March - 5MHz Activity weekend.
28 29 March Magalies radio amateur club on the air with the CQ WW WPX contest.
We end this mornings bulletin with a quick recap of the of the leading story.
** The SARL National Convention, hosted by the Bloemfontein Amateur Radio Club will be held in the city of Roses from Friday 17 April to Sunday 19 April. Reservations can now be made.
And that brings us to the end of this news bulletin .
You are invited to submit news items of interest to the SARL by following the news inbox link on the SARL webpage. News items should reach the news team 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 magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 local time. The program may be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and also on 7082kHz lower side-band and on 7205kHz and 17660kHz AM. There is also a podcast by Dick ZS6RO.A replay may be heard on Monday evenings 18:30 local time on 3230kHz AM. The transmissions on the non amateur frequency bands are sponsored by Sentech.
You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Johann du Plessis ZS6PSS and edited by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC ,
..thank you for listening, from me _________________________ (Name) and the entire news team, best wishes for the week ahead, 73s.
/EX
