SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 23 OCTOBER 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:
ICASA COUNCIL APPROVES MOU WITH SARL
FREQUENCY CHANGES FOR AMATEUR RADIO TODAY
CHANGE IN IARU SECRETARY
UPDATING OF CLUB INFORMATION ON THE SARL WEBSITE
VOORTREKKERS KEEP THE HAM BANDS ALIVE DURING CQ HOU KOERS 2016
SOLAR CYCLE 25 COULD BE ONE OF THE WEAKEST
HF PROPAGATION REPORT
and
UPCOMING EVENTS
** This week the Council of ICASA approved the memorandum of understanding with the SARL. The memorandum replaces a very old MOU which was outdated and had expired. The purpose of the MOU is to establish the manner in which the Authority and the SARL will interact with each other to enable them, inter alia:
* to coordinate and harmonise the issuing of amateur radio frequency spectrum licences in South Africa;
* to establish a framework to conduct the radio amateur examination (RAE); and,
* to coordinate activities with respect to matters of common interest.
In terms of the MOU, the SARL will set up a formal National Repeater and Beacon Managing Group in order to coordinate applications made for repeater and beacon station licences. A Joint Working Committee constituted by representatives of the Authority and the SARL, as nominated by the parties respectively, shall be established pursuant to this Agreement and shall function on an ongoing basis. Arrangements are now being made by ICASA's legal department for the formal signing of the MOU by SARL President and the Chairman of ICASA. The signed document will be made available on the SARL web pages. Commenting on the MOU, SARL President, Nico van Rensburg said that the signing of the MOU will be an important milestone as it formalises the relationship between ICASA and the SARL.
** On 30 October, which is the start of the new shortwave season, Sentech will change some of the frequencies for Amateur Radio Today. The Sunday transmission at 08:00 UTC will remain on 7205 kHz, while the transmission for East and Central Africa will change to 17760 kHz. The Monday transmission at 16:30 UTC will change to 4895 kHz.
** Rod Stafford, W6ROD, has retired as IARU Secretary after seven years of service in that position. The IARU Constitution provides that the member society serving as the International Secretariat, i.e. the ARRL, shall designate the Secretary. The ARRL Board of Directors has designated David Sumner, K1ZZ, to replace Rod Stafford as Secretary effective 15 October 2016.
David Sumner has served in this capacity twice previously, from 1982 to 1989 and from 1999 to 2009, while employed by the ARRL to manage its headquarters. Now retired from employment, he joins the other IARU officers and Administrative Council members in serving as a volunteer.
IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, has appointed Rod Stafford as Emergency Communications Special Advisor. In this capacity, he will represent the interests of the IARU and the global amateur radio community in the Development Sector of the ITU and will offer advice and counsel on matters relating to emergency and disaster response communications.
** This is an urgent call from the SARL secretary. The office of the SARL is currently busy with an exercise of verifying Club information as it appears on the SARL database, which is updated on the SARL website. During this exercise, it was noticed that Club information is outdated and or incomplete. In order to allow the SARL office to perform its duties as best they can, they require that information the office deals with should be correct, updated and complete. With this in mind, the SARL Council hereby requests Club secretaries and club chairmen to ensure that their Club information on the SARL website is updated. Information is important, but the correct information is necessary in order to ensure the SARL office operates effectively. This is an urgent call to ensure that all relevant stake holders put an effort in to update the necessary information on the SARL web site. Your cooperation in this regard is highly appreciated.
** The SARL received membership applications from:
ZSL1V Max George Hounsell
ZR1ALB Albert van der Waal
ZSL1170 Andre Fryer - Listeners license only
Any objections to these applications must reach the SARL secretary in writing before Wednesday the 26th of October 2016. Written objections can be send to secretary@sarl.org.za
Currently, 1484 members renewed their SARL membership and 44 clubs renewed their affiliation with the SARL.
** CQ Hou Koers is the Voortrekkers' national amateur radio communications day for SA and Namibia. The purpose of the day is to introduce modern young Voortrekkers to the advantages of our interesting technological hobby.
The Voortrekker movement celebrates its 85th birthday in 2016 and the call sign ZS85VT is used during special events.
The Voortrekkers thank every radio amateur who took the time to support the enthusiastic young people. We also thank every Voortrekker group, camp or activity that made time for amateur radio during their programme for the day or weekend.
Twenty stations participated in CQ Hou Koers 2016 on 15 October. Will you be taking part in CQ Hou Koers 2017 aNd offer your help to your local Voortrekker group or radio club?
Visit www.voortrekkers.co.za to find out more about the Voortrekker movement. Enquiries related to CQ Hou Koers may be sent to orionvoortrekkers@gmail.com
** According to NASA's long range solar forecast Cycle 25, peaking around 2022, could be one of the weakest in centuries. This could be another Maunder Minimum, which will affect HF frequencies where the MUF could drop down to the lower frequencies. Do not despair because now is the time to start exploring the VHF bands on 50, 70 and 144 MHz, which you'll find much more challenging than HF.
If you make the effort to build or acquire high gain horizontal Yagis for these bands, improve your equipment, learn about VHF propagation, then you could expect to make many long distance QSO's. For example: Tropo Enhancement on 144 MHz could provide regular 400 km contacts, while Tropo Ducting could extend the range to many thousands of kilometres, especially across the sea. On 50 MHz a distance of 2500 km could be achieved on Meteor Scatter on both analogue and digital. There are many other modes possible on this Magic Band such as Sporadic-E, but all you have to do is have the courage to experiment.
If you are interested in worldwide DX then try EME that is possible almost daily and throughout the year, and not affected by ionospheric conditions. Please note you are not going to achieve much on VHF with a vertical antenna and QRP. VHF is very challenging indeed, but also much more exciting and rewarding.
** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at very 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 5.
The 15 to 20m bands will provide lots of DX fun. There is a chance of 10m openings on north-south sunlit paths.
Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
** Lets look at some upcoming events:
29 30 October CQ WW DX SSB Contest
5 November RaDAR Challeng
5 November Pretoria Amateur Radio Club Flea Market
6 November The PEARS HF DX Contest
13 SARL Youth Net
19 November Antique Wireless Association AGM & Swopmeet
26 27 November CQ WW DX CW Contest
26 November West Rand Flea Market
** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item: This week the Council of ICASA approved the memorandum of understanding with the SARL. The memorandum replaces a very old MOU which was outdated and had expired.
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, and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
