SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER 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 the country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a relay. A podcast is available from the League’s web site.

This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the League’s 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.

In the news today

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM THE SARL PRESIDENT

VHF OPERATION TO ST HELENA ISLAND ON THE CARDS

and

FOUR WEEKS TO THE PEARS NATIONAL VHF AND UHF CONTEST

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.

In his Christmas message, Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF, the President of the South African Radio League says. “The festive season is upon us once again and many of our members are shortly leaving for their Christmas holidays. From Council, the appointees and the headquarters staff, we thank all our members for their loyalty and support though the year; we wish you a happy, pleasant and restful festive season.

It has once again been a busy year for the League Council, appointees and members. I would like to thank every member who contributed to the activities of the League this year. Without you, we could not maintain the level of action that is needed.

Please allow me this opportunity to wish all the members and their families a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2016. If you are going away for the festive season, please travel safely and enjoy practicing amateur radio from your holiday QTH. Enjoy the break and come back full of enthusiasm to keep both the South African Radio League and the airwaves humming in the year to come.

** Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, at Rosh Pinah, Namibia, informed us that he was in contact with Bruce, ZD7VC, on St Helena Island. Bruce is very keen to work the west coast of Southern Africa on 144 MHz and intended to purchase a Yagi beam antenna, but wanted to know what polarisation is being used here as well as FM or SSB. ZD7VC could provide excellent Tropo Ducting DX contacts from Cape Town all along the West coast up to Namibia.

** The 2016 South African Radio League Diary of Events can be downloaded from the League website, click on SARL Diary of Events on the left hand menu.

Clubs wishing to add their club activities to the Diary of Events and provide it to Club members, can obtain the MS Publisher file from Dennis, ZS4BS, at zs4bs@netactive.co.za

** The closing date for articles for the January 2016 issue of Radio ZS is Saturday 26 December 2015. The theme for this issue is field stations and mobile operation. You can send your article to radiozs@sarl.org.za.

You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.

** On Wednesday 16 December, an interview with Jaap Lourens, ZS6SAI, and Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, was broadcast on the programme “Oggend op RSG.” If you missed the broadcast, you can download the podcast from www.rsg.co.za/images/upload/sound/klanke/20151216_OGGEND_AMATEUR_RADIO.mp3

** The PEARS National VHF/UHF contest is scheduled for 15 to 17 January 2016, which is during the period that produces the best propagation of the year, such as all three types of Tropo, including Aircraft Scatter and the unpredictable Sporadic-E. There are two sessions over a two-day period that can cover all possible propagation modes, and offer a wonderful outing for camping and field stations. The first session starts at 16:00 UTC on Friday and ends at 14:00 UTC on Saturday. The second session commences immediately after 14:00 UTC and ends at 12:00 UTC on Sunday. This is the time when there will be many VHF amateurs on the air from different divisions with good propagation conditions, making possible countrywide contacts on analogue and digital from 50 to 1 296 MHz. See the 2016 Blue Book for all the rules.

** On 15 December, British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake arrived at the International Space Station. During his six month stay he will be using the amateur radio equipment on board the ISS using the call sign GB1SS. Tim will be the first ISS crewmember to use the HAMTV fast scan digital amateur TV system.

** Between 2 and 29 September the CQ WW DX Contest Committee conducted a survey to gather feedback from participants and 5 117 responses were received from contest operators around the world. The first results are now available at http://cqww.com/blog/.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low to moderate levels. Big Sunspot AR2470 can be the source of C or M-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 provide lots DX fun, especially during the early mornings and late afternoons. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

Now for the diary of events

26 December – closing date for articles for the January 2016 Radio ZS
31 December – destroy your copy of the 2015 Blue Book
1 January – download a copy of the 2016 Blue Book
6 January – the NARC opens for business
10 January – the SARL Youth Net on 7 070 at 15:00 UTC
15 to 17 January – the PEARS National VHF and UHF Contest
23 January – Summer QRP Contest
31 January – The closing date for nomination for Council and the submission of motions for the AGM

To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.

In his Christmas message, Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF, the President of the South African Radio League says. “The festive season is upon us once again and many of our members are shortly leaving for their Christmas holidays. From Council, the appointees and the headquarters staff, we thank all our members for their loyalty and support though the year; we wish you a happy, pleasant and restful festive season.

** 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 Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by ……………..…………………

The entire news team wishes you and yours a blessed festive season

73 and 88, thank you for listening

/EX