SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 4 DECEMBER 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 AND ICASA SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

SARL DIGITAL CONTEST

TREASURER REPORT AND BUDGET

HI-TECH AMATEUR RADIO AT NARC

AND

SARL FILES COMMENTS ON TYPE APPROVAL


** Tuesday 29 November 2016 was a historic day for the South African Radio League. After many years of discussions with the Independent Communications Authority, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed. The MoU replaces a very old and outdated MoU. The delay in finalising the MoU was mainly because of the restructuring of ICASA. The MoU establishes the manner in which the Authority and the SARL will interact with each other to enable them, inter alia: to co-ordinate 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 co-ordinate activities with respect to matters of common interest. The MoU was signed by SARL President, Nico van Rensburg ZS6QL and ICASA Councillor, Peter Zimri.

** The South African Radio League Digital Contest is on the air this afternoon 13:00 to 16:00 UTC with RTTY and PSK31 activity on 80, 40 and 20 metres. PSK31 is preferred at the lower end of the specified frequencies while RTTY is preferred at the upper end of the specified frequencies. Please note that USB must be used at all times. The exchange is a RST report and a sequential serial number starting at 001. See the 2016 Blue Book for all the information.

The Ten-Metre RTTY Contest started at 00:00 this morning and ends at midnight UTC this evening. The exchange is a RST report and a consecutive serial number starting with 001, while stations in the USA and Canada will give a RST report and their state or province. Visit www.rttycontesting.com/ for the rules.

** The honorary treasurer, Shane Bailey had targeted the end of November 2016 for the release of the audited statements and budget for the financial year. However, due to the extended nature of the financial audit and subsequent findings with regard to possible fraud and diverted funds, the Council decided to postpone the release of the treasurer’s report until January 2017 in order to allow the treasurer to properly complete his work.

** Last Saturday it was hi-tech amateur radio at the National Amateur Radio Centre when Cor Rademeyer ZS6CR and Anton Janovsky ZR6AIC presented the Software Defined Radio Workshop. Known by its initials SDR, it is a software way of creating a receiver and transmitter. During the workshop which included two videos introducing the SDR concept, the two speakers created a two metre to 70cm FM repeater using a dongle and a Raspberry Pi. The workshop, presented by AMSAT SA in cooperation with the SARL was attended by 37 radio amateurs and electronic hobbyists. A follow up workshop is planned for 18 February when Cor and Anton will take delegates through the steps of creating a satellite receiver using the RTL dongle and software. The workshop registration fee will include a dongle and memory stick with the required software. Full details will become available on amsatsa.org.za in the next few weeks.
The various presentations and videos presented last Saturday, including how to build a repeater with a Raspberry Pi will be posted on www.amsatsa.org.za this weekend. You will also be able to follow the links from www.sarl.org.za.

** The SARL responded to the ICASA request for representation on the exemption from Type Approval requirements for communications equipment. The SARL document was e-mailed to ICASA on 30 November, a few days before the closing date as published in a recent Government Gazette. The document is available from the SARL home page.

** The Short-path Summer Solstice Propagation (SSSP) on 50 MHz starts in the Southern Hemisphere around 8 December and usually lasts until about 12 January. This has been observed annually by both Australian and New Zealand VHF amateurs who have often worked South America on 50 MHz SSSP. There is no reason why South African stations could not work these stations in the mornings on SSSP too around our summer solstice, or for that matter Argentina or Brazil in the late afternoons. A Japanese radio amateur Han Higasa, JE1MBJ, discovered this mode many years ago during the northern hemisphere summer solstice in June when he first heard a European TV station and then worked a number of DX stations from there on 50 MHz CW. Look for SSSP signals on the 50 MHz DX channels.

** The 2017 hard cover edition of the ARRL handbook and a softcover RSGB Communications Handbook are now available from the SA Amateur Radio Development Trust online bookstore. For details visit www.amateurradio.org.za.

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at moderate 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 11.

The 15 to 20m bands will provide lots of DX fun.

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

** Let’s look at some upcoming events:

3 - 4 December – UK/EI DX SSB Contest
4 December – SARL Digital Contest
10 – 11 December – ARRL 10m Contest
11 December – SARL Youth Net

** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item: Tuesday 29 November 2016 was a historic day for the South African Radio League. After many years of discussions with the Independent Communications Authority, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed. The MoU replaces a very old and outdated MoU.

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