SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2016
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 Leagues web site.
This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the Leagues 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
HAMNET WESTERN CAPE INVOLVED IN MARSHALLING THE 99ER CYCLE TOUR
REPORTS OF THE ZS1MM VHF BEACON ON 144,414 MHz
and
JOIN THE SARL NOW AT HALF PRICE
Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.
** Hamnet Western cape was involved last Saturday the 6th in marshalling the 99er Cycle Tour around the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town. The 102km race, and accompanying 64km short race, was patrolled by 12 rover operators, distributed evenly along the track. 5000 riders left Durbanville in batches from 06h00 to 07h45, on their way circuitously via the R44, direction Wellington, then Westerly towards Philadelphia, and then South-westerly down to the N7 inbound to Cape Town, before turning left back up and into Durbanville for a finish by 13h00. APRS monitored all rovers, plus the 5 ambulance or rescue vehicles, and a temporary digipeater especially set up on the farm Meerendal assisted reception in hilly terrain. There were no major injuries, though lots of riders bailed out because of punctures or the severe heat, the lunchtime temperature in Durbanville reaching 34 degrees!
Hamnet Western Cape thanks the trusty volunteers who took part, and look forward to the next event on Sunday the 14th.
** Dick Coates, ZS6BUN, reported from Nigel that he received a short meteor burst from the ZS1MM beacon at Bredasdorp on 144,414 MHz CW, which is horizontally polarized. Johan Groenewald, ZS2CX, at Knysna, about 300 km away, also confirmed that he heard a continuous beacon signal via Trop Scatter with QSB while conditions were still poor at the time. An approaching cold front to the Cape would create Tropo Ducting and considerably strengthen the signal along the southern coast, as well as extending its range to Port Elizabeth and beyond. Please send in reports and watch any changes in signal strength.
** You can join the SARL for the remaining period of the Financial year for only R240 as a full member. If you are a pensioner and over 65 years of age the rate is R140. If you join now you will be a member till 30 June 2016 when the SARL will invoice you for the next year's membership. Full details are on www.sarl.org.za and select membership in the left-hand column. For more information call Vonnie at the NARC at 011 675 2393. Join the SARL today, it is the right thing to do if amateur radio is important to you.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
** Applications for membership of the SARL have been received from the following persons:
. Waiting for Listener's callsign Marthinus Wessel Rautenbach
. ZSL1157 Tim Stirk
The following clubs have submitted applications for affiliation.
. Kimberley Amateur Radio Club
. Highway Amateur Radio club
Any objections to the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after the bulletin.
Membership of the SARL currently stands at 1624 plus 45 affiliated clubs
** The Radio ZS Editorial Committee, at its meeting on 11 February, approved a policy allowing each SARL affiliated club and Hamnet to place an advertisement of 1/4 page in Radio ZS. The content of all advertisements shall be restricted to club activities and shall not include any material of a commercial or personal nature. The location of advertisements inside the magazine is decided during the final layout process and no particular page, or position on a page, can be guaranteed. The publication of the advertisement is always subject to the availability of suitable space, to be decided at the discretion of the Editor. The policy will be published in Radio ZS and is available from the Editor at radiozs@sarl.org.za
** Following the request for articles for Radio ZS in SARL News of Sunday 7 February, the Editor would like to thank Dave, ZS1DFR, and Tim, ZS6TIM, for their articles. The article from Tim will be used in a future issue of Radio ZS. The request to Clubs about rally communications has unfortunately not had any response. The closing date for articles is Wednesday 24 February and they must be sent to radiozs@sarl.org.za.
** The Youth Sprint is a fun activity to celebrate the Youth and to promote contacts between young radio amateurs in Southern African countries. Call "CQ Youth Sprint." The Sprint takes place on Saturday 20 February from 08:00 to 10:00 UTC and the exchange is a RS report and the operator's age. It is a phone sprint on the 40-metre band, 7 063 to 7 100 and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz
Contacts between stations in the age group 25 and younger are worth 5 points; contacts between stations in the under 25 group and over 26 group is worth 2 points and contacts between stations in the age group 26 and older are worth 1 point. Logs, in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format and labelled "your call sign Youth Sprint," must be submitted by 27 February 2016 by e-mail to youthsprint@sarl.org.za. The age of the operator must be shown on the summary sheet. All the logs received will be entered into a draw for a Student membership of the South African Radio League.
Certificates will be awarded for all logs that are submitted correctly. Prizes will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the competition. All logs with more than 10 contacts will entered for a lucky draw.
** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low to moderate levels. Sunspot AR2497 has a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors enough 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 45.
The 20 to 10 m bands will provide lots DX fun.
Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Now for the diary of events
14 February the SARL National Field Day
14 February the SARL Youth Net at 15:00 UTC on 7 070 kHz
15 February closing date for the PEARS VHF/UHF logs
21 February Zululand ARC 21st Birthday luncheon
24 February closing date for articles for the March 2016 Radio ZS
27 February the West Rand ARC Flea Market
28 February The SARL Digital Contest
29 February the Leap Year Challenge
1 March closing date for AWA CW logs
To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.
** 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 program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 Central African Time. The program 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 Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN, edited by Brian Utterson, ZS6AE, and read by
.
73 and 88, thank you for listening
/EX
