SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 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 the news of a silent key.
It is with sadness that we must announce that the key of Johan Bothma, ZS6ACE, went silent on 20 August.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news today:
SARL NATIONAL FIELD DAY NEXT WEEKEND
TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME ".RADIO" NOW AVAILABLE
and
A VHF NET HAS BEEN STARTED FROM PORT ELIZABETH ON 144,300 MHZ SSB
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
SARL NATIONAL FIELD DAY NEXT WEEKEND
The second leg of the SARL National Field Day will run from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 9 September to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 10 September with CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31 on 160 to 10 metres. Phone, CW and digital modes on a band are considered as separate bands and a station may be worked only once per band under this rule.
You and your club can participate as Class A - Field Station, Multi operator; Class B - Field Station, Multi operator, QRP. Class C - Field Station, Single Operator. Class D - Field Station, Single Operator, QRP. Class E - Ultra Light Portable or Class F - General Station. The exchange is the number of transmitters, your Field Day operating class and your Provincial abbreviation. You can give a RS or RST report, but it is not used for the score calculations.
Logs, in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format and labelled "your call sign NFD," shall be sent by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za by Sunday 17 September 2017. Please note that a photo or photos of your station in action (JPG format) MUST accompany every log entry.
Please read the complete rules for the National Field Day from page 37 of the 2017 SARL Blue Book.
THE SARL VHF/UHF CONTEST AND THE AFRICA ALL MODE INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST
The second leg of the SARL VHF/UHF Contest will run from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 16 September to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 17 September with FM, SSB, CW and digital modes from 6 metres and up to the microwaves.
The Africa All Mode International DX Contest is on the air from 12:00 UTC on Saturday 16 September to 12:00 UTC on Sunday 17 September with CW, RTTY and SSB on 160 to 10 metres.
You will find all the information on page 43 for the VHF contest and on page 14 for the Africa All Mode contest in the 2017 SARL Blue Book.
TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME ".RADIO" NOW AVAILABLE
The top-level domain (TLD) name ".radio" is now available to the radio industry and amateur radio enthusiasts and is reserved for individuals and companies with active interest in the radio sector. The .radio TLD can be used for web and e-mail addresses and will be managed by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with support from other world broadcasting unions. Visit the .radio domains registration site at www.register.radio/ to request a .radio domain.
Individuals or entities that will be accepted for the use of a .radio domain are radio broadcasting stations, Unions of Broadcasters, Internet radios, Radio Amateurs, Radio professionals (journalists, radio hosts, DJs, etc.), Radio-related companies selling radio goods and services and radio products and services.
One or more .radio domain name(s) can be requested during the launch period, which ends on 31 October 2017. The cost for individual radio amateurs is about $30, including tax. For more information, visit www.nic.radio.
THE SEPTEMBER 2017 RADIO ZS
The September 2017 issue of Radio ZS can be downloaded from the League web site. In this issue, you can read about the donation by the SARL Disaster Fund to a radio amateur in Knysna. Hans, ZS6AKV, shares the challenges of developing a linear CubeSat transponder, while Mike, ZS2FM, tells us more about the History of Amateur Radio from WW I to WW II.
What is the Future of Amateur Radio? The editor shares one of the papers from the IARU Region 1 General Conference. There are photos of the PEARS team who assisted with the Trans-Baviaans Mountain Bike Race and more in this issue.
Remember that the closing date for the Radio ZS Antenna Design Competition is 1 October 2017. Two entries have been received with two more on their way. Get your antenna design in to radiozs@sarl.org.za
You are listening to a news bulletin by the South African Radio League
A VHF NET HAS BEEN STARTED FROM PORT ELIZABETH ON 144,300 MHZ SSB
A long-distance net has been established at Port Elizabeth on Thursday evenings on 144,300 MHz SSB using horizontal polarization. This net will operate in two sessions, first beaming north and then west. The first session commences at 19:30 CAT to 20:00 CAT and covers Bethulie, Bloemfontein, Welkom and Betlehem. The second session starts at 20:00 CAT with PE beams pointing west to Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Cape Town. Leon Korkie, ZS1MM, at Bredasdorp is running a beacon on 144,410 MHz CW on this east/west VHF path that will indicate propagation.
If there is Tropo Ducting propagation present during the first session towards Bloemfontein area, then the net will continue after 20:00 CAT in the northerly direction. Rickus De Lange, ZS4A at Bethlehem has informed us that he will join the net on Thursday evenings. Terence van der Linden, ZS4VDL ex-ZS2VDL, at Bethulie is well equipped for 144 MHz operation, and he could enjoy many QSO's with Port Elizabeth over a distance of only 340 km.
Peter Tottle, ZS2ABF, at East London runs a regular net on Monday evenings on 144,300 MHz SSB with Dave Jones, ZS5DJ, at Ramsgate, which sometimes extends to Scottburgh and Durban. Port Elizabeth VHF amateurs have decided to join this net too, but they intend to come on early at 19:30 CAT and beam directly at East London for some FM tests on 144,400 MHz horizontal for beginners in this area who only owns a FM set. The PE amateurs already had the pleasure of working ZS5DJ, and will swing their beams at 20:00 CAT in the direction of Durban area. Many years ago John Kramer, ZS5J at Richards Bay logged ZS2FM in PE on 144 MHz SSB and FM over a distance of 850 km. So, this proves that a long distance VHF path does exist at times via Tropo Ducting all along the East Coast.
RESULTS OF THE SARL HF DIGITAL CONTEST
The Contest Committee received 3 logs for the SARL HF Digital Contest held on Sunday 20 August 2017. It must be said that band conditions were terrible.
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN - 102 points
2nd Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC - 38 points
3rd Dennis Green, ZS4BS - 30 points
Highest score on a single band
Jan Botha, ZS4JAN - 42 points
Club Competition
1st Bloemfontein ARC - 434 points
2nd Highway ARC - 314 points
3rd Pretoria ARC - 205 points
The full results have been published in HF Happenings 765.
The closing date for logs for the SARL HF CW Contest is midnight on Sunday 3 September. Please send them to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za.
RESULTS OF THE WINTER QRP CONTEST
Unfortunately, the contest committee only received 3 logs.
1st West Rand ARC ZS6WR
2nd Romeo Nardini, ZS6ARQ
3rd Hammies ARC, ZS6ZU
EAST RAND RADIO CLUB AGM
Notice is hereby given of the AGM of the East Rand Radio Club to be held at 13:30 for 14:00 on Saturday 30 September 2017 at the ERB Club House in 5 Ebenezer Street, Benoni. You are requested to have registered by 13:30 for the meeting. For the purposes of voting, membership status will be taken as of 23:59 on 31 August 2017. Should you be unable to attend, please request a copy of the proxy form. Any motions to be tabled at the AGM, need to be emailed to zs6erb@gmail.com by the 30 August 2017. Documentation for the AGM to follow later in the week.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low to moderate levels. Sunspot AR 2674 may produce C-class solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around twenty-four. The 15 to 30 m bands will provide lots of DX fun. There may even be some short 10 m openings. Please visit the web site spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
This weekend – the IARU Region 1 and RSGB SSB Field Day
9 and 10 September – the SARL National Field Day
16 and 17 September – the All Africa All Mode Contest and the SARL VHF/UHF Analogue/Digital Contest
16 to 23 September – the IARU Region 1 General Conference
23 and 24 September – the CQ RTTY Contest
5 October – the SARL 80 m QSO Party
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The second leg of the SARL National Field Day will run from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 9 September to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 10 September with CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31 on 160 to 10 metres. Phone, CW and digital modes on a band are considered as separate bands and a station may be worked only once per band under this rule.
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 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, edited by Dennis Green, ZS4BS, and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
