SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 22 MAY 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,
SARL AGM AT SASOLBURG
AWARDS PRESENTED AT THE GALA DINNER
and
PY1MHZ IS MONITORING ZS SIGNALS ON 144,300 MHz
Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.
** The South African Radio League Annual General Meeting started at 09:45 yesterday at Be My Guest Lodge in Sasolburg. Following registration it was determined that 274 members were present in person or by proxy vote. Riaan Greeff, ZS4PR, welcomed all the members present on behalf of the Sasolburg ARC. Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF, welcome the members to the Annual General Meeting. Fritz and members of the Council presented the Leagues Annual Report.
The meeting decided to call for a special general meeting in 60 days time to look at the financial report and to elect a new council. The four motions were tabled and Motions 1 and 3 were not accepted while Motions 2 and 4 were accepted.
More about the SARL National Convention and the AGM will be reported in Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 Central African Time as well as in SARL News next Sunday.
** The following awards were presented at the 2016 South African Radio League Gala Dinner in Sasolburg last night.
Honorary Life Membership was bestowed on Frans Durand, ZS4FD
The Willie Wilson Gold Badge was awarded to Nico Van Rensburg, ZS6QL, Geoff Levy, ZS6C, Chris Burger, ZS6EZ, Noel Hammond, ZR6DX, Gary Immelman, ZS6YI, and Paul van Spronsen, ZS1V
The Jack Twine Merit Award was given to Christo Kriek, ZR6LJK, Gert Botha, ZS6GC, Jaco Le Roux, ZS6PX, Gideon Jannasch, ZS4GJA, Koos Fick, ZR6KF, and Graham Busse, ZS6GL.
The President's Award goes to Deon Coetzee, ZR1DE, and the Icom Excellence Award to the Secunda Amateur Radio Club
The following HF Contest Awards were made.
The Silent Keys Memorial Trophy SSB and the Joseph White Trophy to Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR
The Silent Keys Memorial Trophy CW, the ZS4BS Digital Trophy, the Anon Trophy, the HOS Trough and the SARL Digital Trophy to Roger Jones, ZS6RJ
The Fred Mills Trophy to Joop Hesp, ZS6JP
The Club Participation Award (Branch Participant Trophy) to the West Rand Amateur Radio Club
Only one operating award was presented.
The Radio ZS Two Metre Floating Trophy to Andre van Deventer, ZS2BK
The Hamnet Shield was awarded to Glynn Chamberlain, ZS6GLN
The Radio ZS Awards
The Gary Immelman RA Heritage Award Floating Trophy was awarded to Tim Bullock, ZS6IM
The JJ Pienaar Trophy was awarded to Vincent Harrison, ZS6BTY
The Radio ZS Shield was awarded to Kevin McDonald, ZS6KMD
The Arland Ussher Gold Pen Award for the highest marks in the two RAEs was awarded to JE La Guma, ZS1NUL, for the Class A exam and to EJ Crossby, ZU6E, for the Class B exam.
Congratulations to all the recipients
** The first multi-mode digital voice amateur radio repeater in southern Africa goes on the air in Pretoria. The repeater was constructed over the last two months and uses the latest digital voice radio software technology being developed by a team of radio amateurs worldwide. The repeater currently supports the DMR, D-Star, Fusion and D-PRS protocols used by amateurs for digital communication. It uses the internet to connect local amateurs to most of the different international digital voice networks and APRS amateur radio networks.
The repeater operates on a frequency of 438,250 MHz minus 7,6 MHz offset. The DMR ID is 655602, D-Star call sign is ZS0JPL_B and Fusion call sign is ZS0JPL. Amateurs with digital voice radios in the Pretoria area are asked to please assist with the beta testing of the repeater in order to perfect the software and remove bugs. For more information or to submit repeater system bugs, you can e-mail Johan, ZS6JPL, at the e-mail address in the SARL call book.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
** PY1MHZ is monitoring ZS signals on 144,300 MHz. Pieter, V51PJ, informed us that Marcos, PY1MHZ, has installed his 2 x 12 element LFA Yagis at Rio de Janeiro and are fixed in our direction. He is monitoring 144,300 MHz SSB and the V51PJ beacon on 144,429 MHz. The next Transatlantic transmitting two-way tests between Namibia and Brazil will start again in August 2016, because currently only cold fronts are experienced on both sides. Beacon signals exceeding 4 000 km have been recorded across the Atlantic Ocean. The distance between Brazil and South Africa is about 6 000 km and is the biggest challenge facing VHF amateurs at present. This amateur science project will stimulate amateur radio technology.
** Join Hamnet and use your hobby to be of service of others. Hamnet is an emergency communications group, made up of League members who volunteer their services and equipment to help the local, national or international community when communications are difficult or not possible. Amateur radio operators are uniquely equipped to make a communications plan with home made or jury-rigged antennas to provide message handling where needed. You can improve your experience, and impart your own experience to others by joining your regional division of Hamnet. There is a webpage on the League web site devoted to Hamnet, where the weekly bulletin is posted on Sundays after it has been transmitted during the Amateur Radio Today programme at 10:00 on Sunday mornings. Look on the SARL web site homepage for details of how you can listen to Amateur Radio Today.
Hamnet Western Cape's weekly bulletin on Wednesday evenings at 19:30 is struggling with poor HF conditions and if you wish to receive it and don't reside in the Western Cape, you can try listening on 7 110 kHz or either 3 760 or 1 845 kHz, all Lower Sideband, depending on the band conditions 5 minutes before the bulletin starts. It is also available on Echolink, by connecting to ZS1DCC-R.
Hamnet hopes that all the new licensees, who have just passed their RAE, will consider joining Hamnet, which is free to join as SARL members, to improve their skills and widen their experience.
** The theme for the July issue of Radio ZS is the youth. The editor requests all Youth Clubs and those involved with young people to submit photos and articles for this issue. The closing date for material is Tuesday 21 June 2016 and can be sent to radiozs@sarl.org.za
** The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club will be hosting their next flea market on Saturday 28 May 2016 at the Pretoria Veteran Car Club in Keuning Street, Silverton. Please take note that the starting time has been changed to 07:00 so that people who would like to attend the SA AMSAT Symposium get the chance to attend both events in Pretoria. Everyone is welcome. For any enquiries regarding the Clubs Flea Markets, please contact Almero du Pisani, ZS6LDP, on mobile number 083 938 8955 or send an e-mail to almero@up.ac.za
** The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 4 June 2016 at the clubhouse in Kroton Street, Weltevreden Park, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information, contact Johan, ZS6JVV, on mobile 082 558 5811.
** On Saturday 18 June 2016, the Highway Amateur Radio Club will be celebrating its 20th birthday with a special event at the New Germany Sports Club. The Club members will be active on the air using the club call sign, ZS5HAM, and they will be looking forward to making as many contacts with fellow amateurs on the day.
** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. All the visible sunspots are currently stable with very little chance for serious solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 35.
The 20 to 15 m bands and will provide lots DX fun with some 10 m openings possible on sunlit paths. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Now for the diary of events
23 May closing date for articles for the June 2016 issue of Radio ZS
28 May the AMSAT SA Space Symposium and the Pretoria ARC Flea Market
28 and 29 May the CQ WPX CW Contest
29 May the SARL Digital Contest
4 June the West Rand ARC Flea Market
12 June the Hammies ZS6 Sprint
17 June World QRP Day
18 June the Highway ARC 20th Birthday
21 June closing date for articles for the July issue of Radio ZS
To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.
** The South African Radio League Annual General Meeting started at 09:45 yesterday at Be My Guest Lodge in Sasolburg. Following registration it was determined that 274 members were present in person or by proxy vote. Riaan Greeff, ZS4PR, welcomed all the members present on behalf of the Sasolburg ARC. Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF, welcome the members to the Annual General Meeting. Fritz and members of the Council presented the Leagues Annual Report.
** 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
..
73 and 88, thank you for listening
/EX
