SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 10 JULY 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 may tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on Sunday mornings, at 08:15 Local Time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 Local Time in English, on HF as well as on many VHF and UHF repeaters around our country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay.

This audio bulletin may be downloaded from the League website at www.sarl.org.za where you will find this as well as previous bulletins in text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the web page. While you are there, you may sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

SARL SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

RF POLUTION FROM SOLAR PANELS

NEW SWEDISH ENTRY-LEVEL CERTIFICATE

VHF STILL ALIVE AND WELL ON MANY DIFFERENT PROPAGATION MODES

THE HIGHEST SOTA ACTIVATION IN SOUTH AFRICA TO DATE

NEW KARTS WEB SITE

HF PROPAGATION REPORT

and

UPCOMING EVENTS

** Documentation for the SGM to be held on 30 July 2016 is now available on the members section of the League web site at www.sarl.org.za. A link is provided on the Home page.

Electronic voting for the new Council is now also open and will remain open until midnight on Friday 22 July. The address for the voting system is www.sarl.org.za/Web3/CouncilElection/, where you will also find CVs for all the nominees.

** The Netherlands national amateur radio society, VERON, reports on the pollution problems caused by Solar Panels installed on homes. Electrical systems such as solar panel installations must comply with EMC (Electro Magnetic Compatibility) standards. That means that there is a limit to the electromagnetic fields (EMF) that an electrical system, such as the combination solar panel and inverter including cabling, may emit. However, a 2014 study in 14 European countries by the EMC Administrative Cooperation Working Group found this emission limit is more often than not exceeded.

Read the full story in Google English at http://tinyurl.com/VERON-Solar-Panel-Pollution

** Sweden's national society, SSA, reports that the idea of a new Entry-Level Amateur Radio certificate was well received at Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen. On their website, the SSA says that Anders Larsson, SM6CNN, presented the idea of a new, unified certification class for Beginners at an informal meeting organized by IARU Region 1. The SSA indicates the idea met with general appreciation by the participants. The Swedish Society hopes the issue will be dealt with at a future IARU Region 1 Conference.

** Altough F2 propagation on 50 MHz is now something of the past, VHF is still alive and well on many other propagation modes. For Example 13 other propagation modes can still manifest on 50 MHz, the Magic Band, during this period, which includes Tropospheric, Sporadic-E, Meteor Scatter, TEP, Aircraft Scatter, SSSP, EME etc. There are also 13 different propagation modes present on 144 MHz, the Tropo Band, which produces superior results on Tropo Scatter, Enhancement and Ducting, where the latter could cover thousands of kilometres across the sea. It also includes Aircraft Scatter, TEP, Satellite, EME etc.

All that is required is about 100 Watts of power and at least a ten element Yagi beam antenna that is horizontally polarized. FR5DN on Reunion Island has been worked with around 100 Watts or so from Port Elizabeth on Digital and SSB over a distance of almost 3250 km by ZS2ACP and ZS2BK, respectively. So there is no reason why Cape Town cannot establish contact with ZD7VC at St. Helena Island with the same power, when he becomes active on 144 MHz later this year. Give it a try as this is real amateur radio pioneering, and don't forget the countries above our northern border.

** Between 7 and 10 April 2016, Andrew, ZS2G, and Mandy, ZS2AV, climbed and activated Mafadi at 3 450 metres, the highest point in South Africa. You can read more and see the photos in the August 2016 issue of Radio ZS.

The closing date for your article for the August issue of Radio ZS is Monday 25 July 2016. Send it to radiozs@sarl.org.za

** The Winter QRP Contest is on the air from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC on Saturday 16 July 2016 with CW and phone activity using 5 watts or less. The first hour is limited to the 40 m band only, the remaining two hours the contesters are free to use any HF (non-WARC) band as they see fit.
The exchange is a RS or RST report and your grid square - collect grids for your WAGS award. Send your logs, in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format and labelled "your call sign QRP Contest", to contest@sarl.org.za by 24 July 2016.

To add to the fun, there is also a RaDAR Challenge on Saturday 16 July - it is four hours of operation in the 24-hour window of 16 July. Visit www.n4kgl.info or the RaDAR Facebook page for all the information.

** To date the South African Radio League already has 906 members for the 2016/2017 financial year. Twenty-two clubs have renewed their affiliation. Membership fees were payable on 30 June, but the database will only be cleared at the end of August. If you wish to pay in instalments, please arrange with the League office.

Applications for membership of the SARL have been received from the following persons:
ZS6SLK Shane Clark
ZSL1166 Carl du Preez
Any objections to the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.

** The Kemptonpark Amateur Radio Technical Society, ZS6KTS, has launched its new website.

We invite all amateurs to visit our site and post any technical or amateur related topic on our new Forum or post on our swop shop.

KARTS will soon launch a series of homebrew kits for the amateur or electronic DIY enthusiast. Be on the lookout for the kits on our website for more information and order procedures!

** 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 of serious solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 9.

The 20 m band will provide lots of DX fun.

Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

** Let’s look at some upcoming events:

9 and 10 July - the IARU HF Championships
10 July - the SARL Youth Net
16 July - the Winter QRP Contest
16 to 23 July - the IARU Region 1 Summer Youth Camp in Austria
24 July - the ZS2 Sprint
30 July – South Afrian Radio League Special General Meeting
30 July – Centurion Amateur Radio Club 41st Anniversary
30 and 31 July – RSGB IOTA Contest

** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item: Documentation for the SGM to be held on 30 July 2016 is now available on the members section of the League web site at www.sarl.org.za. A link is provided on the Home page.

And that brings us to the end of this bulletin

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 pod cast 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; please 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 Emile Venter, ZS6V, edited by Brian Utterson, ZS6AE, and read by ..............

From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.

/EX