SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 05 JULY 2015

Good morning and welcome!

You are tuned to theNews Bulletin of theSouth African Radio League, read by . . . . . . . . (name, callsign and QTH).

You can listen to the South African Radio League news broadcast on Sunday mornings at 08:15 SAST in Afrikaans and at 08:30 in English on HF and many VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a relay.

A podcast is also available from the SARL web site at www.sarl.org.za.This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the SARL-website. You will find this bulletin and previous ones 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 bulletins by e-mail.


IN THE NEWS TODAY
LATEST ON RADIO ZS
ADF PROGRESS REPORT


Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items

** The July issue of Radio ZS will be available for download from the League's web site by Wednesday 8 July. In this issue, Nico, ZS6QL, talks about opportunities and possibilities, Kevin, ZS6KMD shows you how to build a simple Arduino Morse Keyer while Richard, G3CWI, tells more about operating amateur radio from hotels. Peter, ZS2ABF, tells us about his Fast Scan TV experiments on 2,4 GHz.

For the 4 metre, enthusiasts there are two antenna articles included. Pine, ZS6GST, explains in Afrikaans the workings of the VHF quarter wave antenna, and in English he discusses an Attenuator as a Mismatch Test Load. Agent Tim explains the building of the Whaddon Mk VII "Paraset" and Mike, ZS2FM, takes us to visit ALMA - the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array.

Peter, ZS2ABF, is the winner of the first Radio ZS cover competition.

** The SARL ADF Committee met during the past week and discussed various initiatives in an attempt to ease the current restrictions on the erection of antennas and supporting structures in residential areas. The committee was appointed at last week's SARL Council meeting and is chaired by Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF with Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL and Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV as committee members. The brief of the committee is to review the legal framework, a document that was prepared by legal experts under the guidance of Johann Marais ZS1JM and the financial support of radio amateurs and to develop an action plan to engage with various role players in Government on an urgent basis.

The committee also reviewed the draft of a strategic document that talks to the important role amateur radio plays in terms of disaster communication, technology development and technical education. The committee also accepted the responsibility to provide feedback on its work in the monthly SARL newsletter which is mailed to all members.

The dates for the Amateur Radio in Action symposia for the 2015 has now been finalized. It starts off on 22 August at the NARC followed on 19 September 2015 in Pretoria. The Cape Town event is on 10 October at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Bookings will open on Monday 13 July. The kit offered at the RTA is a micro controlled frequency counter. More details will soon be published on the web.

** The Council agreed that no commercial advertisements will be published on the SARL Web swop shop. Only members may post advertisements of their own surplus equipment. The rules will be published on the swop shop page as soon possible. The fees for commercial hamads are reduced to support smaller suppliers who wish to advertise their products and services on the SARL web page. The large display advertisement costs remains the same.


** The first ever ZS5 Sprint will be on the air this afternoon from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC with CW activity on 7 000 to 7 140 kHz and phone activity on 7 130 to 7 190 kHz. The exchange for KZN stations is a RS or RST report and town name or abbreviation. For non-KZN stations, it is a RS or RST report and provincial or country abbreviation.

For KZN stations the scoring is - contacts with stations in ZS5 are worth 1 point and contacts with stations in other ZS call areas or Southern African countries are worth 2 points. For non-KZN stations the scoring is - contacts with stations in ZS5 are worth 2 points and contacts with stations in own or other ZS call areas, excluding ZS5, or Southern African countries are worth 1 point.

Contacts with the Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, the Durban ARC, ZS5D, the Hibiscus Coast ARC, ZS5HAC, the Zululand ARC, ZS5ZLB, the Midlands ARC, ZS5PMB, or the Noord Natal Amateurradioklub, ZS5NAK, is worth 5 points each, only one contact per station is allowed. Log sheets must be submitted by 13 July 2015 by e-mail to harc@harc.org.za. A certificate will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the competition.

** The SARL will be taking part in the IARU Championships 11 - 12 July contest with the callsign ZS9HQ. The SARL contest team so far consists of:- Vidi ZS1EL, Roger ZS6RJ, Mike ZS6AI, Sam ZS6BRZ, Theunis ZS2EC, Chris ZS6RI, Joop ZS6JP and Geoff ZS6C .

If anyone else would like to operate, please send an email to contest@sarl.org.za


PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. Sunspot AR2376 has a complex magnetic field configuration and may produce M-class solar 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 15 metre 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.

The Diary of events

5 July - ZS5-Sprint.
6 July - Logsheets for Top Band QSO-party to contest@sarl.org.za.
11 en 12 Julie - The IARUHF Championships on all the HF bands.
22 August - ARIA Symposium at the NARC.
19 September- ARIA Symposium in Pretoria.

To end this bulletin a quick recap of our leading story: The latest edition of Radio ZS will be available on the SARL website this coming Wednesday, 8 July. Be sure to download your copy as it promises to be packed with interesting stories.

AND THAT BRINGS US TO THE END OF THIS NEWS BULLETIN.

If you have any news items of interest to amateur radio, please submit them by following the news-inbox link on the SARL webpage. News items for inclusion in the next bulletin, should reach the newsteam not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.

Join us every Sunday morning at 10:00 SAST for Amateur Radio Today, the weekly amateur magazine program. This program may be heard countrywide on VHF and UHF repeaters, on 7082 kHz lower side-band as well as on 7205 kHz and 17660 kHz AM. A podcast by Dick ZS6RO is also available. There is a replay on Monday nights at 18:30 SAST on 3230 kHz AM. The radio transmissions on the non amateur frequencies, are sponsored by Sentech.

You have listened to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League, compiled byDawie Conradie ZR6DHC,edited byDick ZS6RO and read by . . . . . . . . . . . . . (name, callsign and QTH)

Thank you for listening. Best wishes from me and the entire news team for the week ahead.

/EX