SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 07 MAY 2017
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 the country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay. A podcast is available from the League’s web site.
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.
We start this bulletin with the news of a silent key:
It is with regret that we must announce the passing of Ds Frans Schultz, ZS1ACD, his key went silent on 21 April 2017. Frans was active on HF before he became ill and had regular contact with his friends in Gauteng.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
AWARDS PRESENTED AT THE SARL AWARDS DINNER LAST NIGHT
EARLY REGISTRATION FOR THE AMSAT SA SYMPOSIUM
and
TROPO SCATTER COMMUNICATIONS
Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.
** The South African Radio League AGM was held in the West Rand yesterday 6 May and there will be a report in next week’s SARL News. During the Awards Dinner held last night, the following Awards were presented to League members.
The following radio amateurs were inducted into the South African Radio League Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.
Alistair Campbell, ZS5MU (SK)
Peter Carey, ZS6JT (SK)
Bert Howes, ZS6HS (SK)
Koos en Annie van der Merwe ZS1AW and ZS1AZ (both SK)
Dennis Green, ZS4BS
Peter Hers, ZS1PHD
Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE
Harold Lund, ZS6WB
Chris Turner, ZS6GM, and
Bernie van der Walt, ZS4TX
Honorary Life Membership, the League's highest honour, was awarded to Cliff Smyth, ZS6BOX
The Willie Wilson Gold Badge was awarded to Nick Dreyer, ZS6NCK, Fritz Sutherland, ZS6SF, and Davy Smeda, ZR1FR
The Jack Twine Merit Award was awarded to Shane Bailey, ZS6W, Gert du Plessis, ZR6GRT, Cor Rademeyer, ZS6CR, and Willie Taljaard, ZS6WBT
The President's Award was handed to Chris Burger, ZS6EZ, and the Icom Excellence Award, the "premier" award of the SARL was awarded to Sam Maree, ZS1SAM
The following SARL August Contest awards were presented
The AKYAB Trophy was awarded to Woody Collet, ZS3WL
The Anon Trophy and the Silent Keys Memorial Trophy CW was awarded to Vidi La Grange, ZS1EL
The Fred Mills Trophy was awarded to Barry Nugent, ZS2NF
The HOS Trophy, the Silent Keys Memorial Trophy SSB, the ZS4BS Digital Trophy and the SARL Digital Trophy was awarded to Jan Botha, ZS4JAN
The Joseph White Trophy was awarded to Deon Frazer, ZS5DCF
The South African Women’s Radio Club Trophy was awarded to Heather Holland, ZS5YH
The SARL Youth Trophy was awarded to Mitchel Mynhardt, ZS6YH
The Club Participation Award was awarded to the Bloemfontein ARC, ZS4BFN
The "Ray Webber, ZS6RSW" VHF/UHF Trophy was awarded to Carl Minne ZS6CBQ
The following operating awards were presented
The Arthur Hemsley 2 metre Trophy was awarded to Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ
The Barney Joel Trophy was awarded to Dennis Green ZS4BS
The Bert Buckley Six metre Trophy was awarded to Paul Smit ZS6NK
The Joseph White Plaque was awarded to Carl Minne, ZS6CBQ
And the Radio ZS Two Metre Floating Trophy was awarded jointly to Dick Coates, ZS6BUN, and Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ
Then we come to the Radio ZS awards
The Gary Immelman RA Heritage Award Floating Trophy was awarded to Mike Bosch, ZS2FM
The JJ Pienaar Trophy was awarded to Brian Jones, ZS6BV
The Radio ZS Shield was awarded to Leon Uys ZR6LU
The Arland Ussher Gold Pen Award for the highest marks in the 2016 Radio Amateur Exam was awarded to
R Heenop, ZR6GRM
CJP Oertel, ZS1CJO, and
WC Venter ZS6WCX
All three archived 100% in the exam.
The Hamnet Shield was awarded to Trevor Brinch ZS1TR
A Certificate of Appreciation and a gold pen, as a token of appreciation for their dedication and involvement in monitoring the Forum, were handed to Brad Phillips, ZS5Z, Pierre van Deventer, ZS1A, Roger Conroy, ZR3RC, Vince Harrison, ZS6BTY, and Johan van Vuuren, ZS6JVV.
A Certificate of Appreciation, as a token of appreciation for their dedication in developing and promoting amateur radio as a hobby amongst our youth and in support of the South African Radio League youth development programme was handed to Marinus Brand, ZS6BM and Nic van Duffelen, ZR6AEZ.
** Do not miss out on the AMSAT SA Space symposium early booking special! Book before 10 May for the AMSAT SA Space Symposium and save on the registration fee. The symposium offers a wide variety of papers, discussion and practical demonstrations. It is packed with technology and fun. You can also win some awesome prizes for just attending. Get all the information, the programme and the booking form from www.amsatsa.org.za, or simply send an e-mail to admin@amsatsa.org.za and it will arrive in your inbox.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
** Tropo Scatter could provide almost daily contacts countrywide on VHF. Propagation via the Tropo Scatter mode is possible almost daily across most of South Africa. Tropo Scatter is not weather related, unlike Tropo Enhancement and Tropo Ducting, but is caused by dust particles, moisture and turbulence in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, Tropo Scatter communication comes at a price of running 400 up to 1 000 Watts of power with high gain horizontal Yagi beam antennae and sensitive receivers. The advantage is reliable communications daily on VHF and UHF over distances up to 1 000 km, while the disadvantage is signals of low level and deep QSB cycles.
Diversity reception and computer correction has been successfully applied to commercial and military communications to provide constant signals. The 144 and 432 MHz bands could be the most practical for radio amateurs beaming just above the horizon. It only requires a few dedicated and well-equipped amateurs to explore this type of propagation and they could also use EME equipment. Division 4 is centrally situated and could become the hub of this type of activity in South Africa.
** The results of the first leg of the SARL 80 m QSO Party held on 6 April have been released.
1st Thanie Gibson, ZS4AZ - 580 points
2nd Phillip van Tonder, ZS6PVT - 355 points
3rd Woody Collet, ZS3WL - 320 points
Congratulations to the winners and the contest committee thanks the contestants for their participation
** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels. All the visible sunspots are currently stable with nearly no chance of major solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around five. The 15 to 30 metre bands will provide lots of DX fun. With the effect of the equinox still lingering the 10 metre band may also hold some surprises on sunlit paths in the early afternoons. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
A Diary of some upcoming events:
10 May – early bird registration for the AMSAT SA Space Symposium
13 and 14 May – the AWA AM and SSB QSO Party
14 May – Mother’s Day
20 May – the radio amateur examination
21 May – the ZS3 Sprint
27 May – the East Rand Branch Flea Market
28 May – the SARL digital contest
** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news items
Numerous awards were presented at the SARL Awards Dinner held in the West Rand last night. Congratulations to all the recipients.
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 with a change in frequency from Monday 27 March 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 Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY, edited by Dennis Green, DL/ZS4BS, and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
