SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 12 JULY 2015
Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by
[your name, call sign and QTH]
You can tune in to 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 our country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a relay. A podcast is available from the League web site.
This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the 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 the bulletin with news of a silent key:
It is with deep regret that we must announce the passing of George Honiball, ZS6NE, on Monday 6 July. George was 88 years old. He was a member of the Magalies Amateurradioklub and on a number of occasions the chairman of the previous Tak Noord Transvaal. George was an Honorary Life Member of the South African Radio League. For many years, George was the Council appointee responsible for SARL News. He made an enormous contribution by making the weekly bulletin available in Afrikaans. George only left this post in April 2013.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Elsa, his four children, other family and friends
PAUSE
In the news today
YOUNGSTERS ON THE AIR 2015
NOVICE/ROOKIE RADIO AMATEUR PROGRAMME
and
SA AMSAT MAKES AN INVESTMENT IN SOLAR CELLS
Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.
** The South African Radio League's monthly youth net will be on the air today at 16:00 Central African Time on 7 070 kHz. All the youth are invited to join Koos Fick, ZR6KF, on the net. This is an ideal opportunity for clubs to expose young people to amateur radio. Unlicensed youth may operate a club station under the supervision of a licenced radio amateur.
** Koos Fick, ZR6KF, the South African Radio League Youth Coordinator will be travelling to Rome on 16 July to participate in the 5th Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) summer event during the week of 18 - 25 July 2015. YOTA 2015 is organised by the Italian Amateur Radio Association. The event is held every year in a different European Union (EU) country under European Union and International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 sponsorship.
This is the first time that South Africa will be participating and the first time that countries outside of Europe are taking part. During this week, teams of young radio amateurs from several countries will be participating in all kind of amateur radio activities. The YOTA event fosters collaborative learning in various aspects of amateur radio, science and electronics. This is not where things end, as the youngsters are encouraged to improve their language skills and discuss issues related to cultural awareness, which is an important part of amateur radio's ability to promote international goodwill.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish Koos all the best for the journey and an unforgettable week. We trust that you will learn a great deal, Koos, and make many new friends!
** The Novice/Rookie radio amateur programme is well underway. During the last South African Radio League Council meeting, it was decided to put together a project team to oversee the implementation of this programme. The project team consists of Riaan Greeff, ZS4PR, Frik Wolf, ZS6FZ, and Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN. The team is responsible for creating a sustainable initiative that will contribute towards the strategic intent of the League and for the successful implementation of the programme.
The objectives of the program are:
a) Developing a Welcome Pack with useful content, which will be distributed to all newly licensed amateurs;
b) Creating an Information Pack regarding the Leagues web and online hosted content;
c) The development of and amendments to existing contests to include Rookie Amateurs in a more practical manner and thereby grow the interest and ongoing interaction of new amateurs with the practical side of the hobby. New floating trophies will also be made available to award the new amateurs for their efforts and contribution;
d) The development of a practical and technical user manual aimed at providing new amateurs with technical and practical advice and projects, which will lay the foundation for the sustainable development of new amateurs.
The project plan and schedule has been finalised and the official implementation will start next week.
** SA AMSAT this week made a significant investment in the KLETSKOUS project by placing an order for solar cells with an overseas supplier. The solar cells will be used to build the first prototype solar panels for testing with the power unit.
The electrical power system (EPS) is the sub-system that provides various other systems and the payload with power, and controls the charging and conditioning of the batteries. The first prototype was tested with panels borrowed from the Denel Dynamic CubeSat project. "We are looking forward to building our own panels to meet the physical dimension requirements of the space frame, Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, said. Fritz Sutherland, ZS6FSJ, who built the prototype, which he showed at the recently held SA AMSAT Space Symposium, designed the EPS. Both Hannes Coetzee and Frik Wolff, ZS6FZ, who recently joined the project team, will build the solar panels.
The Kletskous project is funded by donations from radio amateurs. To learn more about the project and how to make your financial contribution visit www.amsatsa.org.za
** The Radio Society of Botswana and the South African Radio League have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. RSB President, Leon Smit, A25SL, and League President, Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF, signed the MoU, with the agreement of Mrs Cynthia Phase, CEO of Botswanas Bureau of Communication Regulation Authority.
The MoU allows the RSB to register as an examination centre and it enables Botswana citizens to study and write the South African RAE in Botswana.
Leon, A25SL, on behalf of the Radio Society of Botswana, thanks BOCRA and the South African Radio League for this opportunity.
** As most listeners will know, Graham Busse, ZS6GL, and Noel Hammond, ZR6DX, have been running a special Class B RAE course at NARC for young people. This course has proved to be so rewarding for both instructors and students that a plan has had to be devised to continue somehow with all the enthusiasm that had been created. After much thought, it was decided to start a club, especially for the youth. Hence, the birth of the Hammies Amateur Radio Club, ZS6ZU. The call sign was only allocated by ICASA on Friday 3 July, just in time for Sundays ZS5 Sprint. On Sunday, five youngsters took part in the Sprint. They each had a turn to call CQ contest, work stations and write up the logbook. This must surely be the first time that unlicensed RAE students participated in a contest of this nature. They did an amazing job and made 33 contacts under the supervision of instructors Noel, ZR6DX, and Graham, ZS6GL. A big thank you to all who made these contacts possible.
The Hammies Amateur Radio Club will be meeting once a month and will focus on fostering an appreciation for amateur radio amongst young people. For further information, e-mail Noel, ZR6DX, at zr6dx@iafrica.com, Graham, ZS6GL, at grahambusse@vodamail.co.za or Derek, ZS6DM, at derek.middleton@gmail.com. All young people are welcome to join.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
** More than 17 000 visitors flocked to Friedrichshafen to attend the 40th Ham Radio convention from 26 to 28 June 2015. Close to 200 exhibitors from 38 countries presented a comprehensive impression of our hobby. Several PowerPoint and synchronized-audio keynote lectures from Ham Radio 2015 are available on the Documentary Archive website at www.dokufunk.org/index.php?lang=EN. The 41st Ham Radio will take place from 24 to 26 June 2016 at the Messe, Friedrichshafen.
** Dayton Hamvention 2016. All radio amateur have a bucket list, which they would like to achieve during their amateur radio journey. One such item has to be an opportunity to attend the annual Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio USA. Unfortunately, the current state of the global economy as well as the weak Rand makes this opportunity less viable for an individual. However, if one leverages economies of scale, the affordability of such a tour becomes more within ones reach.
Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN, in conjunction with an outbound tour operator structured an affordable tour package for amateurs who, as part of a tour group, would like to attend the 2016 Hamvention to be held in Dayton from 20 to 22 May 2016. If you are interested to go on this planned tour, please contact Etienne Naude at etienne@afrigrid.com or 082 553 0542 for more detail. Listen to Amateur Radio Today and Amateur Radio-in-Aksie for more details of the planned tour.
** The Winter QRP Contest takes to the air on Saturday 18 July from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC with CW and phone activity using 5 watts or less. A station may be worked once per band per mode and there are no antenna restrictions. The first hour is limited to the 40 m band only, in the remaining two hours, contesters are free to use any HF (non-WARC) band as they see fit.
The exchange is a RS or RST report and grid locator. Please consider exchanging realistic signal reports. Please use the full 6-character grid locator, e.g. KG43eu. With DX contacts the locator information can be omitted, the RS(T) report will be accepted. Each contact counts 1 point. Each South African call area counts as a multiplier and each DXCC country worked counts as a multiplier. Station type multiplier - x 1 for Home stations; x 2 for Portable stations and x 3 for ultra light Portable field station.
Logs must be submitted by 25 July 2015 by e-mail to contest@sarl.org.za. Get the complete set of rules in the 2015 Blue Book
** Application for membership of the South African Radio League has been received from the following persons:
Cesar Alex Artieda de la Sotta, HB9DRI; John Andrew Steed, ZS1NDY; Lourens Swanepoel, ZSL1161: Rina Koopman, ZSL1162, and Abraham Frederick Mulder, ZSL1163:
Any objections to the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after the bulletin. To date 1 073 members have renewed their membership and 25 clubs have renewed their affiliation.
** In the propagation report, Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. Sunspot AR2381 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 64.
The 20 to 15 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.
And now for the diary of events
12 July the Youth Net this afternoon at 16:00 on 7 070 kHz
13 July closing date for ZS5 Sprint logs
18 July the Winter QRP Contest
18 to 25 July the 5th Youngsters on the Air Summer Camp in Italy
25 July closing date for the Winter QRP logs
25 and 26 July the RSGB Islands on the Air contest
2 August the South African Radio League HF Phone Contest
To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.
** ** The South African Radio League's monthly youth net will be on the air today at 16:00 Central African Time on 7 070 kHz. All the youth are invited to join Koos Fick, ZR6KF, on the net. This is an ideal opportunity for clubs to expose young persons to amateur radio. Unlicensed youth may operate a club station under the supervision of a licenced radio amateur.
** Clubs and individuals are invited to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave 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 programme Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 Central African Time. The programme can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and on 7 082 kHz lower side-band and on 7 205 kHz and 17 760 kHz AM. There is also a podcast available from Dick Stratford, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast can be heard on Monday evenings at 18:30 Central African Time on 3 230 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 Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, and read by
..
From the entire news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
73's and thank you for listening
/EX
