SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2015

Good morning and welcome! You are tuned to a news broadcast of the South African Radio League read by ............................................. (name, call and QTH)

You can tune to the South African Radio League news broadcast 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 webpage. 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 regret that SARL news have to announce the passing of Harold Lange ZS1VW during the Easter weekend. Harold was a member of the Cape Town Radio Amateur Club and also passed his CW test in 1955.

Our deepest sympathy is extended to his XYL Alice & his two sons, two grandsons & his many friends.

PAUSE

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION TO TAKE PLACE THIS COMING WEEKEND IN BLOEMFONTEIN.

NEW REGULATIONS VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT LOGBOOK KEEPING.

WHY SOME BANDS WERE NOT INCREASED TO 30 DBW.

WHERE ARE THE LOGS FOR THE VHF UHF CONTEST.

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting stories

** SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION takes place this coming weekend - HAVE YOU SUBMITTED YOUR REGISTRATION OR YOUR PROXY IF NOT ATTENDING?
Time is running out for registration. If you are not attending please give your proxy to a person who is attending. If you are not sure, you could give your proxy to one of the council members who are all attending the AGM. If in doubt call Vonnie on 011 675 2393 before Thursday this week. The proxy from is available on the SARL web.
Before deciding not to attend, have a look at the programme and the great events you would be missing. Go to www.sarl.org.za and follow the links from the home page.

** WHY SOME BANDS WERE NOT INCREASED TO 30 dBW
The SARL has received a number of comments and questions about the recent published Frequency Spectrum regulations. One of the questions was, why the power was not increased on all bands. The reasons is that, for instance the 10 MHz band Amateur Radio is only secondary and may not cause interference to other non-amateur stations on the band. Radio Amateurs must accept interference from other services operating on the 10 MHz band. On the 40 MHz band Radio Amateurs have a bandwidth of 10 kHz. This band is dedicated for propagation research.

The 70 MHz band and several other higher frequency bands Amateur Radio, is a secondary user. Another confusing term is co-primary. This means that Radio Amateurs share the band with other primary users, and Radio Amateurs cannot claim protection against interference and may not cause interference to other primary users.

** The new regulations are also very specific about the keeping of a logbook for contacts made on the HF bands. Section 16 and 17 of Regulation 23 lay down the details of what should be recorded. No log are required for mobile operation and for contacts on VHF and UHF. A logbook may be kept electronically

(a) the date, time and nature of each transmission, provided that the date with regard to each individual day's operation needs to be recorded only once and for the purposes of this paragraph "time of each transmission" shall mean the time that a specific station is called and the time at which the communication with such station is terminated;

(b)the full name and address of the person making the transmission, provided that the name of the licensee who regularly uses the amateur radio station needs to be recorded only once in the log book with an explicit statement that all transmissions are made by him, except where stated otherwise;

(c)the call sign of every station, provided that it need not be recorded repeatedly for calls made to the station during the course of the communication;

(d)the transmitter power that is used;

(e)the frequency band that is used, provided that it needs to be recorded in the log book only once until a change of frequency to another authorised band takes place; and

(f)the address from where the transmission takes place, provided that such address needs to be recorded only once, should the place of transmission not change.

** The closing date for the May RAE has been extended to 19th April 2015.
Please could all RAE lecturers and examiners remind students that all documents apart from the HF Assessment, as well as all fees must be received by 19th April 2015.
There are a number of candidates who have not completed all pages of the application. Please ensure that you complete all pages properly, otherwise you may not be scheduled to write the exam.

** Results of the VHF / UHF Contest held on the 21st - 22nd March 2015.
11 logs were received and 210 contacts were made. Where are the other logs?
Of the 210 contacts 55 were made on FM.

Base Station Analogue
1st ZS6CBQ Carl Minne 52 501 points
2nd ZS6NEB Niel Bierman 26 251 points
3rd ZS6BFD Koos du Plessis 11 754 points

Club / Multi Operator Field Station
1st ZS4/ZS6WT 67 370 points
2nd ZS6PTA 18 268 points

Base Station Analogue (4 hour limited)
1st ZS6UD Dave Dusseljee 5 600 points
2nd ZS6KSG Koos Greyvenstein 4 120 points

6M
1st ZS4/ZS6WT 2 972 points
2nd ZS6PTA 1 254 points

2M
1st ZS4/ZS6WT 54 192 points
2nd ZS6NEB Niel Bierman 23 136 points
3rd ZS6CBQ Carl Minne 22 308 points

70cm
1st ZS6CBQ Carl Minne 24 010 points
2nd ZS4/ZS6WT 10 206 points
3rd ZS6PTA 4 886 points

23cm
1st ZS6CBQ Carl Minne 6 183 points
2nd ZS6NEB Niel Bierman 1 197 points
3rd ZS6PTA 630 points

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low to moderate levels. Sunspot AR2320 has developed an unstable "delta-class" magnetic field that harbours energy for M-class solar flares.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 58.
The 20 to 10 metre 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 to 19 April – SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION in BLOEMFONTEIN.
18 April – World Amateur radio day.
19 April – Closing date for registration for the May RAE.

** To end this morning`s newscast, a quick recap of our main story.
Book now for the SARL National Convention. Time is running out for registration. If you are not attending please give your proxy to a person who is attending or to one of the council members who are all attending the AGM. One of the functions of the AGM is to approve the budget for the 2015 / 2016 financial year. This can be done if there is a quorum of 10% members in person, or by proxy.
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 programme may be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and also on 7082 kHz lower side-band and on 7205 kHz and 17660 kHz AM. There is also a podcast by Dick ZS6RO. A replay may be heard on Monday evening’s 18:30 local time on 3230 kHz AM. The radio transmissions on the non amateur frequency bands are sponsored by Sentech.
You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Johann du Plessis ZS6PSS, edited by Dick ZS6RO and read by ................ Thank you for listening, and from me and the entire news team, Best wishes for the week ahead, 73’s.
/EX