SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 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.
We start the bulletin with news of a silent key.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Alf Joubert, ZS6ABA, previously a member of the SARL and the Pretoria Amateur Radio Club went silent on Monday 12 September 2016.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Alta, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news today,
THE SPRING QRP CONTEST NEXT SATURDAY
MORE NEWS ABOUT YOTA DECEMBER 2016
and
A RECORD BREAKER ON 630 METRES
Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.
** On Saturday 1 October, you can participate in the Spring QRP Contest. The contest will be run from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC with CW and phone activity on 160 to 10 metres using 5 watts or less. During the first hour, stations may only operate on 40 metres; thereafter they may use the other HF contest bands.
The exchange is an RS or RST report and your grid locator. Each QSO counts one point, but please check the rules in the 2016 Blue Book for the multipliers. Send your log and summary sheet by midnight on 9 October to contest@sarl.org.za. Remember the photo of your station in action that must be sent with your log.
** In last week's bulletin, news from the IARU Region 1 December YOTA event was announced and this week we provide more news regarding the event from a SARL perspective. From Thursday 1 December to Saturday 31 December 2016, the annual Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) event takes place and YOTA stations will attempt to make many contacts worldwide with each other. This is an excellent opportunity to get young amateurs in their teens and early 20s to talk with their counterparts on the air.
Remember that this is not a formal contest, but a way to get youngsters on the air and to let them realize that there are hundreds of other youngsters around the world that feel just the same as they do about the hobby. The main aim is to get our youngsters on the air and for them to make contact with youngsters all over the world. This is an excellent opportunity for clubs to run a demonstration at a local school or church or to gather together with our amateur friends at the club and display this great hobby to our South African youth!
The League will once again register as a Region 1 Member Society participant and obtain the special call sign ZS9YOTA that will be registered as an educational call sign for use by clubs and individuals during December. Details pertaining to bookings for the special call sign will be made available during November. For any additional information or possible questions please forward your e-mails to Koos, ZR6KF, at koosfick096@gmail.com or alternatively to Nico, ZS6QL, at zs6ql@mweb.co.za. They will provide you with much more information and will answer any questions.
** On Thursday 15 September 2016, the first two-way contact on 630 metres between Canada and Australia took place. Steve McDonald, VE7SL, in British Columbia and Roger Crofts, VK4YB, in Queensland, completed a contact on 474 kHz between 12:25 and 13:19 UTC using the JT9 digital mode. The distance covered was approximately 11 265 km. Read more about this contact in HF Happenings 722, available on the Leagues web site.
** What is wrong with the Off-Centre-Fed-Dipole? Why the 16,2 m wire antenna? Why fifty ohms? These are three questions asked and answered in the October 2016 issue of Radio ZS. The Sandringham Scout Group tells us more about their Field Day weekend. What did other Clubs do for Field Day? Send your article, in English or Afrikaans, to radiozs@sarl.org.za by Tuesday 27 September.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League
** Application for membership of the South African Radio League has been received from the following persons - Andrew Coetzee, ZS5CEY, G F Rautenbach, ZR6GR, and Ernest Thabiso, ZSL1170.
Any objections to the acceptance of these applications must reach the League Secretary by e-mail to secretary@sarl.org.za before or on Wednesday 28 September 2016. The League now has 1 445 members and 41 affiliated clubs.
** If you are interested in conducting experiments on Microwaves in the SHF and EHF spectrum then you can do it at low cost. Gallium Arsenide Gunn diode oscillators cover 10 - 200 GHz, while the Gallium Nitride Gunn oscillators operate as high as 3 Terahertz. You could construct a Gunnplexer comprising a combination of a Gunn diode microwave oscillator, a microwave diode mixer, an audio amplifier with microphone and a wideband FM receiver. With a small dish, you could make some distant FM contacts on 10 GHz (3 cm) from a high site via Line-of-Sight (LOS) or via Tropo propagation. If you would like to listen for EME signals on 10 GHz then try a DSTV dish with LNB and monitor the IF frequency.
** On Thursday 6 October, you can participate in the SARL 80 m QSO Party which will be on the air from 17:00 to 20:30 UTC. On Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October, the Antique Wireless Association will run their Valve QSO Party. More details in SARL News next Sunday.
** Provisional Results of the SARL National Field Day. The Contest Committee received sixteen logs for the Leagues National Field Day held on 10 and 11 September 2016.
Class A Field station, multi operator
1st Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, 144 360 points
2nd Welkom ARC, ZS4WRC, 115 236 points
3rd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 104 004 points
Class D Field station, single operator, QRP
1st Johannes van Zijl, ZS4DZ, 67 878 points
2nd Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, 30 132 points
Class F General stations
1st East Rand ARC, ZS6ERB, 34 020 points
2nd Barry Nugent, ZS2NF, 2 736 points
3rd Roy Walsh, ZS3RW, 1 452 points
The provisional combined results for the February and September legs of the Field Day are as follows.
Class A Field station, multi operator
1st Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, 256 080 points
2nd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 240 084 points
3rd Welkom ARC, ZS4WRC, 197 436 points
Class C Field station, single operator
1st Mitchel Mynhardt, ZS6YH, 57 120 points
Class D Field station, single operator, QRP
1st Johannes van Zijl, ZS4DZ, 122 472 points
2nd Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, 30 132 points
Class F General stations
1st East Rand ARC, ZS6ERB, 46 284 points
2nd Barry Nugent, ZS2NF, 2 736 points
3rd Roy Walsh, ZS3RW, 2 132 points
All the results are in HF Happenings 722, available on the Leagues web site under Publications.
** The East Rand ARC is holding their next Flea Market on Saturday 1 October starting at 12:00 CAT. The Flea Market will be held at the Clubhouse in Ebenezer Street, Benoni. The GPS coordinates are -26.172 / 28.283. Contact Johan Steenkamp at zs6erb@gmail.com for more information.
** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. No major solar flaring is expected. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 22. The 15 to 20 m bands will provide lots of DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Now for the diary of events
Today until midnight UTC the CQ WW RTTY Contest
1 Oct the East Rand ARC Flea Market and the Spring QRP Contest
6 Oct the SARL 80 m QSO Party
8 and 9 October the AWA Valve QSO Party
9 October - SARL Youth Net
20 October - RAE Examination
21 to 23 October Jamboree on the Air
22 October CQ Hou Koers
To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.
On Saturday 1 October, you can participate in the Spring QRP Contest. The contest will be run from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC with CW and phone activity on 160 to 10 metres using 5 watts or less. During the first hour, stations may only operate on 40 metres; thereafter they may use the other HF contest bands.
** 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
