SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 23 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 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.
We start the bulletin this morning with news of two silent keys.
It is with deep regret that we must announce that the key of Jan Lengton, ZS6BBK, went silent on Friday 16 June.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and many friends.
It is with deep regret that we must announce that the key of Ian Jaffray, ZS1IAJ, went silent in his 79th year. SARL News is not sure of the date of his passing.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Rose and his son and daughter.
PAUSE
In the news today:
THE ZS2 SPRINT THIS AFTERNOON
THE SARL PREMIER HF CONTEST IN AUGUST
And
RADIO AMATEURS ALREADY EXPLORED THE UNKNOWN SPECTRUM ABOVE 400 GHZ
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
ANOTHER 70 PLUS MEMBER OF THE SARL
SARL News would like to congratulate Herman 'Yank' Rothenberg, ZS6JH, who joined the SARL in 1946.
Yank provided SARL News with a photograph of the first post war joint meeting of the Johannesburg, Pretoria and East Rand Branches of the SARL held at Halfway House on Friday 27 February 1948. Yank and his wife to be appear on the photograph, but they had not yet met at that stage.
THE ZS2 SPRINT THIS AFTERNOON
The ZS2 Sprint runs from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC this afternoon and is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Eastern Cape and radio amateurs in Southern African countries. The exchange is a RS or RST report and provincial or country abbreviation. The Sprint is a phone and CW contest on the 40 meter 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.
IOTA CONTEST
The annual RSGB Islands on the Air Contest runs from 12:00 UTC on Saturday 29 July to 12:00 UTC on Sunday 30 July with phone and CW operation on 80 to 10 m. The exchange is a RS or RST report and a serial number starting from 1, plus an IOTA reference number if applicable. Find all the information at www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2017/iota2017.shtml
THE SARL PREMIER HF CONTEST IN AUGUST
August sees the running of the South African Radio League's premier contest - the SARL HF Contest. The contest is held over three Sundays from 13:00 to 16:30 UTC on each day. On Sunday 6 August, the HF Phone contest will be run, on Sunday 20 August the HF Digital contest and on Sunday 27 August, the HF CW Contest. Each contest takes place on the 20, 40 and 80 meter bands.
You can participate as a single operator single band station, a single operator all band station, a multi operator single band station or a multi operator all band. Individual competitors and club stations are encouraged to compete. In each contest, the exchange is a RS or RST report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001.
Logs must be submitted in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format and labelled "your call sign HF Phone or HF Digital or HF CW," by 13 August for the Phone contest, 27 August for the digital contest and 3 September for the CW contest. Logs must be sent to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za
There are three trophies for the phone contest and two trophies each for the digital and CW contests. There are four trophies covering all three contests, two of these trophies go to the youth and YLs participating and there is a trophy for the Club with the best participation.
Get all the information on page 34 of the 2017 SARL Blue Book.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
RADIO AMATEURS ALREADY EXPLORED THE UNKNOWN SPECTRUM ABOVE 400 GHZ
Radio Amateurs in Germany and USA were the first to pioneer communications above 400 GHz on the sub-millimetre wavelengths. The first-ever pioneering records established on these micrometre wavelengths over line-of-sight distances were done with less than 1 milliwatt. They were:
411 GHz (730 micrometres) DB6NT and DL1GIN, SSB - 50 meters
403 GHz (744 micrometres) WA1ZMS and W4WWQ, CW - 1,4 km
322 GHz (931 micrometres) WA1ZMS and W4WWQ, WBFM -1,4 km
The World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) is considering new allocations in the 275 GHz to 450 GHz spectrum with its lower atmospheric attenuation for land-mobile and fixed services. The IARU feels that we have already staked our claim, as the earlier WRC-15 has already recognized the presence of the amateur radio service operation above 275 GHz.
The top end of the microwave spectrum overlaps into the Deep Infrared spectrum, but are separated by a narrow Terahertz gap covering 300 GHz to 3000 GHz (3 THz), i.e. a wavelength from 1 - 0,1 mm (100 micrometres). It manifests very unusual characteristics, such as X-ray qualities without any dangerous radiation, detect pipes in concrete, see through walls, and it will form part of the new allocations.
RESULTS OF THE SARL NEWBY PARTY
The results from the SARL Newby Party are in. Despite poor conditions, Woody, ZS3WL, managed to work 100 stations in the allotted 3 hours. We are really looking forward to the next one in November.
1st Woody Collet, ZS3WL with 444 points
2nd J.C. le Roux, ZS1CF with 42 points
3rd Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT with 36 points
FLEA MARKET NEWS
The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club, ZS6PTA, will be hosting their next flea market on Saturday 29 July 2017 at their usual place, at the Pretoria old motor Club in Keuning Street, Silverton. The starting time is 10:00. The gates will open at 09:30 for sellers. Everyone is welcome. For any enquiries regarding the Pretoria Amateur Radio Clubs' Flea Markets, please contact Almero du Pisani, ZS6LDP on cell number 083 938 8955 or send an e-mail to almero@up.ac.za
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 on 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 are looking forward to seeing you there!
ZULULAND ARC AGM
At the AGM of the Zululand Amateur Radio Club, held on the 16th July 2017 at Eshowe, the following Committee members were re-elected to serve the members of the club for the forthcoming year:
Chairman: Warren Snyders ZS5WOZ
Vice Chairman: Gerald Scrooby ZS5GS
Treasurer: Willie Axford ZS5WI
Secretary: Dawn Snyders ZS5ME
Members: Jo Snyders ZS5PO (News Editor)
We wish them well during their term of office, and thank the outgoing members for their hard work during their term of office.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels. There are currently no sunspots visible. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around one. 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 web site spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
** Lets look at some upcoming events:
This afternoon the ZS2 Sprint
25 July closing date for the August Radio ZS
29 July the PARC Flea Market
29 30 July the RSGB IOTA Contest
5 12 August Region 1 YOTA Summer Camp
5 August the KARTS Flea Market
6 August the SARL HF Phone Contest
9 August the SARL YL Sprint
19 - 20 August the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
20 August the SARL HF Digital Contest
27 August the SARL HF CW Contest
** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The ZS2 Sprint runs from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC this afternoon and is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Eastern Cape and radio amateurs in Southern African countries.
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
