Apologies for the wrong date in the previous posting

SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 17 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.

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

BOOK NOW FOR THE SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM
RADIO AMATEUR EXAM NEXT THURSDAY
DONT MISS THIS FANTASTIC OFFER TO JOIN THE SARL AND
EXCITING UPCOMING CONTESTS

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting stories.
** The annual SA AMSAT Space Symposium will be held on 20 June at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria. Book your seat now to take advantage of the early bird registration fee. The fee includes refreshments and a light lunch as well as the CD with papers, presentations and other items of interest. Make space for your next journey into amateur radio.
Details and booking form on www.amsatsa.org.za
** The May Radio Amateur exam will take place on Thursday 21st of May 2015 from 19:00.
Good luck to everyone of the 146 candidates. There are also two Namibian candidates who will be writing the exam. The SARL has a memorandum of understanding with the Namibian Radio League. Thank you to all the lecturers and invigilators.

** Join the South African Radio League now at the 2015/2016 rate of only R460. You will get 14 months for the price of 12 months and you will be supporting the National Body for Amateur Radio.
The strength of any organisation lies in the number of its members. It is in every radio amateur's interest to join the SARL as it is your voice to the authorities that regulate amateur radio and the amateur frequency bands. Internationally the ITU make recommendations, but the local regulator makes the final decision. With the recent publication of the radio frequency spectrum regulations, the SARL achieved a major new allocation in the 160 metre band, increased power levels on most amateur bands and relaxation of the regulation prohibiting position of receivers capable of continuous tuning above 30 MHz. The new regulation allows persons who are members of a recognised disaster communication organisation, such as the SARL, to have such equipment. So if you are not yet a member is it now time you join. Application forms are available on www.sarl.org.za or call the office on
011 675 2393.
** Noel Hammond, ZR6DX and Graham Busse ZS6GL will be presenting an 8 week SARL@Home aimed at teaching scouts and other young persons to become radio amateurs and pass the class B examination. The course will be presented on Saturday morning from 09:00 - 12:00 starting on the 23rd of May.
During the 8 weeks, the students will take part in fun activity, they will operate on the air, build an antenna and set up and operate a field station on the lawns of the National Amateur Radio Centre.
For more details send an email to zr6dx@iafrica.com or call him on 082 490 9934

** There were no new applications for SARL membership.
The total remains the same at 1637 members and club affiliates at 38.

** You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African radio league.

** Over the weekend of 30 and 31 May, you can participate in the CQ WPX CW Contest with activity on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. The exchange is a RST report and a serial number. Find all the rules at www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

** The second SARL Digital Contest will be run on Sunday 31 May from 13:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC with PSK and RTTY activity on 80, 40 and 20 metres. The rules are on page 45 of the 2015 Contest Manual.


** The Westrand Amateur radio club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 30 May 2015 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information contact Nick ZS6NCK 082 454 1272.

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low to moderate levels. Sunspots AR2339 and AR2345 have complex magnetic configurations and may produce M- or X- class solar flares.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 94.
The 20 to 10 m bands will provide lots of DX fun, especially during the late afternoons and in the evenings.
Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

21 May - Radio Amateur Examination.
23 May - SARL@HOME.
30 May - Westrand Flea market from 12:00.
30 and 31 May - CQ WPX CW Contest.
31 May - South African Radio League Digital Contest.
6 June - KARTS and AWA open day.
20 June - SA AMSAT Symposium at the INOVATION HUB in Pretoria.

** To end this morning`s newscast, a quick recap of our main story.
** The annual SA AMSAT Space Symposium will be held on the 20th of June at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria. Book your seat now to take advantage of the early bird registration fee, and also join the South African radio league at a reduced offer. It is the right thing to do.
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 Brian Utterson ZS6AE and read by .......................................
Thank you for listening, and from me and the entire news team, Best wishes for the week ahead, 73's.
/EX