SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 16 JULY 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 Central African Time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 Central African 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 our bulletin with news of two silent keys
It is with deep regret that the Garden Route Amateur Radio Club announces that the key of Chris Nortier ZS1FA of Glentana, went silent on Sunday 9 July in his 81st year.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Georgie, family and many friends.
It is with deep regret that the Centurion Radio Amateur Club announces that the key of Jimmy Momberg, ZS6APS, went silent at 23:30 on Tuesday 11 July after undergoing surgery for a broken hip and cracked ribs. He suffered 4 strokes following the operation.
We extend our sincere condolences to Pam, ZS6APT, his family and many friends.
PAUSE
In the news today,
THE ZS2 SPRINT NEXT WEEKEND
ICASA LICENSING MATTERS
and
NEW FT8 MODE INCLUDED IN WSJT-X BETA RELEASE
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
NOTICE OF ZARC AGM
Please take note that the AGM of the Zululand Amateur Radio Club will take place at the Eagles Nest in Eshowe today at 12:00, followed by lunch at 12:30.
THE ZS2 SPRINT NEXT WEEKEND
The ZS2 Sprint is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Eastern Cape and radio amateurs in Southern African countries. The Sprint runs from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC on Sunday 23 July 2017. The exchange is a RS or RST report and provincial or country abbreviation. The ZS2 Sprint is a phone and CW contest on the 40 metre band using 7 000 to 7 040 kHz for CW and 7 063 to 7 100 and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz for phone.
ZS2 stations score 1 point for a QSO with a ZS2 station and 2 points for a QSO with a station in other ZS call areas or Southern African countries. All other stations score 2 points for a QSO with a ZS2 station and 1 point for a QSO with stations in their own or other ZS call areas (excluding ZS2) or Southern African countries. QSOs with the Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society, ZS2PE, and the Border Radio Club, ZS2BRC, are worth 5 points each. Only one contact per station is allowed.
Logs, in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format and labelled “your call sign ZS2 Sprint,” shall be submitted by 30 July 2017 by e-mail to thmjp200@gmail.com. DO NOT use the e-mail address in the 2017 Blue Book. A certificate will be awarded to the first, second and third places in the competition.
ICASA LICENSING MATTERS
The South African Radio League is aware of members who are having trouble in resolving their various licensing issues, especially in the case of a cancelled licence. The League is more than willing to assist members but can only do so if the following basic information in the case of cancelled licences is provided:
A copy of their communication/s with ICASA.
A copy of their latest licence.
A copy of the payment/s made subsequent to this latest licence.
A completed ICASA Application Form
A copy of their Identity Document
Proof of payment for the re-application fee, and
Original RAE results or HAREC certificate
In the case where a member has paid for a multiple year licence (2 years to 5 years) and has only received a one-year licence, the following information must be provided:
A copy of his or her communication/s with ICASA, and
A copy of the payment made for a multiple year licence.
Please forward your request for assistance, including all the documentation, to secretary@sarl.org.za. Use your call sign and licence number as a topic in the e-mail.
Please refer to the following document for comprehensive information pertaining to licensing at http://www.sarl.org.za/public/ICASA/ICASA_Docs.asp and select the document “ICASA Amateur Radio Licences General Information V2.”
A NEW HAMMIES CLUB
In the past week SARL News received notification of a new Hammies Club. Congratulations and welcome to the ZS3ZU Hammies Club serving the Northern Cape. Good luck to Pieter and his team.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
NEW FT8 MODE INCLUDED IN WSJT-X BETA RELEASE
A beta release of WSJT-X, version 1.8.0-rc1, includes a new FT8 mode, featuring a faster turnaround, and it's already showing up on the bands. According to the notes for the candidate release, FT8 offers "sensitivity down to -20 dB on the AWGN channel," and contacts four times faster than JT65 or JT9. An auto-sequencing feature offers the option to respond automatically to the first decoded reply to your CQ. The beta WSJT-X also offers a new mode for accurate frequency calibration of your radio, improved CAT radio control, and enhanced JT65, QRA64, and MSK144 decoder performance.
According to The Daily DX, on 11 July, Frank Donovan, W3LPL, reported what he called "lots of semi-rare DX activity" using the new FT8 mode. He mentioned A92AA, OY1DZ, VR2XMT, and YE2IJ on 40 metres and TR8CA and YI3WHR on 20 metres.
Thanks to The ARRL Contest Update and The Daily DX for this item
THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR EARLY RADIO AMATEURS
Our early radio amateurs were great experimenters and pioneers, they were responsible for the ITU to recognize amateur radio as an official radio service, and therefore entitled to dedicated amateur bands in the radio spectrum.
1921 - Paul F. Godley set up a temporary radio listening post in Scotland and picked up for the first-time amateur radio signals from the USA on the shorter wavelengths.
1923 - Leon Deloy, 8AB, in France and Fred Schnell, 1MO, in the USA, made the first intercontinental DX QSO on shortwaves. In the same year, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, started operation on 100 metres (3 MHz) to become the first shortwave broadcasting station in the world.
1924 - Radio amateurs were making worldwide contacts on shortwaves, and John Streeter, FO-A4Z, made the first contact between the Union of South Africa and the USA on 36 metres.
1931 - Amateurs in the USA started to experiment with phone on 5 metres (56 MHz) using super regenerative transceivers and achieved distances beyond the line-of-sight limit on these Ultra High Frequencies.
1934 - Ross A. Hull (ex VK3JU) discovered Tropo propagation in the USA over 160 km on 56 MHz, 112 MHz and 224 MHz (5, 2½ and 1¼ metres respectively), which peaked up to S9 during temperature inversions.
1937 - Bert Howes, ZS1AL (later ZS6HS) in Cape Town received the AM TV sound from Alexandra Palace, London, England on 41,5 MHz, which was confirmed by the BBC as the longest distance in the world that TV sound had ever been heard at the time.
RESULTS OF THE SARL TOP BAND QSO PARTY
From the logs received, there seems to have been quite a bit of activity but unfortunately only seven logs were received. The results are as follows:
1st Lukas Holtzhausen, ZS6LH - 221 points
2nd Ed Willers, ZS6UT - 218 points
3rd Johannes van Zijl, ZS4DZ - 212 points
Thank you for submitting your logs.
KEMPTON PARK AMATEUR RADIO TECHNICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL FLEA MARKET
The Kempton Park Amateur Radio Technical Society (KARTS) annual flea market will be taking place from 10:00 on Saturday 5 August 2017 at the Dutch Reformed Church grounds at the corner of Marabou and Grasuil Street, Birch Acres, Kempton Park. All the regular dealers will be selling new and second-hand equipment and other goodies. There are lots of space for individuals that would like to sell from their boots or they can make a table booking at no cost. Eats and drinks will be available from early morning onwards! This event promises to be a most interesting, enjoyable and memorable day. For any table bookings or any other queries, please contact the club secretary Lucia, ZS6LO, on 082 455 5363 or e-mail club@zs6kts.co.za. KARTS is looking forward to seeing you there!
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low to moderate levels. Huge sunspot AR2665 may produce some strong solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around twenty-six. The 20 and 30 m bands will provide lots of DX fun. 60 m will be the best band during day time for shorter distance, local contacts. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
Today – the Zululand ARC AGM
23 July – the ZS2 Sprint
29 and 30 July – the RSGB IOTA Contest
5 August – the KARTS annual flea market
06 August – the SARL HF phone contest
19 and 20 August – International Lighthouse Weekend
20 August – the SARL HF Digital Contest
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item
The ZS2 Sprint is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Eastern Cape and radio amateurs in Southern African countries. The Sprint runs from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC on Sunday 23 July 2017. The exchange is a RS or RST report and provincial or country abbreviation. The ZS2 Sprint is a phone and CW contest on the 40 metre band.
This 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 podcast available from Dick Stratford, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast can be heard on Monday evenings at 18:30 Central African Time on 3230 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS, edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
