SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER 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.

Audio and text bulletins may be downloaded from the League website at www.sarl.org.za where you can also sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

In the news today,

THE OCTOBER 2017 EDITION OF RADIO ZS FOR ALL TO READ

KLETSKOUS INTEGRATION FOR BACAR FLIGHT MAKING GOOD PROGRESS

And

RADIO AMATEURS SHOULD KEEP UP WITH MODERN TIMES

Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.

THE OCTOBER 2017 EDITION OF RADIO ZS FOR ALL TO READ

The October issue of Radio ZS features various articles, pertaining to the IARU Region 1 Conference that took place in Landshut, Germany.

The SARL Council decided to make the October issue of Radio ZS freely available to the amateur fraternity including easy access to the IARU Region 1 final conference report. The links to download Radio ZS and the IARU Region 1 final conference report are available on the landing page of the SARL website at www.sarl.org.za. Enjoy the articles in this edition pertaining to the future of amateur radio, the ZS3ZU Hammies of Vanderkloof, ZS SOTA updates and what amateur radio and the South African Fauna and Flora have in common.

Your assistance in propagating the news regarding the free Radio ZS including the final Conference report amongst the radio amateur fraternity is much appreciated. We trust that everyone will enjoy the October edition of Radio ZS, gaining an understanding of the work that was done including what has been accomplished during a successful IARU Region 1 conference.

SARL ON TWITTER

The SARL is now on Twitter, look for @SARL_Amateurs to follow the League

KLETSKOUS INTEGRATION FOR BACAR FLIGHT MAKING GOOD PROGRESS

AMSATSA made good progress this week with the integration of the various modules. This week-end, the on-board computer and the transponder will be integrated into the space frame. As mentioned last week, no solar panels will be flown, and Kletskous will be powered by a battery. This is a precautionary measure as solar panels are expensive and could be severely damaged on the landing. BACAR is scheduled to be launched at 09:00 from an airfield near Secunda. The transponder frequencies are as follows: Uplink 435,135 - 435,165 MHz with the downlink on 145,850 - 145,880 MHz.

Kletskous is a crowd funded project. Please become part of the project by donating to the Kletskous fund. Details and regular updates can be found on www.amsatsa.org.za. All donors are acknowledged on the website.

SDR WORKSHOP IN CAPE TOWN

AMSAT SA will be holding a SDR workshop in Cape Town at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Bellville campus on Saturday 4 November 2017. Booking for this event will open today. For details and a booking form visit www.amsatsa.org.za. The programme features a description of the software employed together with a walk through of the installation process on a PC or a laptop. Applications, such as general signal reception and the download and display of weather satellite data on the PC will be discussed.

A VHF dongle and a memory stick with software can be ordered on the booking form. All orders will only be available at the workshop and no delivery by post is available. The closing date for bookings and payment is 27 October 2017.

The SDR workshop in Johannesburg will be held on 18 November at the National Amateur Radio Centre. Full details will be available during next week. Both workshops are presented by AMSAT SA in cooperation with the South African Radio League. Members of both organisation will enjoy member discounts.

BEACON NEWS

The Beaconeers have added numerous spots to the WSPR database for the 5 MHz propagation report which will be presented to ICASA later this year. Copies of the final report will be made available to all the SARL members. Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, wants to thank each and every Amateur that set up a listening station or a WSPR Beacon on 60 meters during this period. Anyone interested in becoming a Beaconeer can contact Leon Uys, ZR6LU, on 082 573 5580.

You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.

RADIO AMATEURS SHOULD KEEP UP WITH MODERN TIMES

Radio amateurs made their mark in history when they discovered worldwide HF communications while using radiotelegraphy, which is the correct term for CW. Ten years later they discovered VHF propagation beyond the line-of-sight to the surprise of the radio experts. Our early radio amateurs were true experimenters, researchers and pioneers and they advanced amateur radio technology in their time. Today many of our modern breed of radio amateurs are no longer interested in experimenting but only having fun with a radio hobby. Many shortwave broadcasting stations have closed and commercial stations relocated to the satellite frequencies on SHF where DSTV is well established. This includes the maritime mobile service that used many HF bands and radiotelegraphy on their sea lanes, until they also moved to satellite and now communicates via voice and digital. It is the VHF, UHF and SHF spectrum that is now in great demand by the commercial radio world.

All the above does not mean that radio amateurs should abandon HF or CW, but they should rather try and keep up with radio developments and increase their knowledge of the VHF spectrum and the frequencies above, where the future of radio lies including the digital communications. The IARU is already concerned about the lack of interest in amateur radio by the younger generations and if it stops growing then its survival is doubtful. The younger generations are very computer literate and their interests are a lot different than the old-timers of yesteryear and the RAE should reflect it. Amateur radio service needs a Renaissance, the first step is to break away from this hobby attitude and to realize that it is an amateur radio science with which to experiment, research and pioneer. Secondly, the amateur radio service should broaden its field and include radio astronomy for future space communications, which currently can cover a communication distance of more than 21 billion kilometres from Earth. A wider radio field enhanced by the latest radio technology will be more exciting, attractive and have a far greater appeal to the new generations with their open and inquiring minds. They will become fully exposed to the new era of space travel within the next decade and this could extend the lifespan of amateur radio service for another 100 years.

RESULTS OF THE SARL NATIONAL FIELD DAY

The contest committee received 12 logs for the second leg of the SARL National Field Day run over the weekend of 9 and 10 September.

Class A – Field Station, Multi operator
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR – 138 000 points
2nd Highway ARC, ZS5HAM – 95 280 points
3rd Sandton ARC, ZS6STN – 34 326 points

Class D – Field Station, Single Operator, QRP
1st Johan van Zijl, ZS4DZ – 37 260 points
2nd Geoff Lotz, ZR6XZ/1 – 32 256 points

Class E – Ultra Light Portable
1st Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE – 90 points

Class F- General Stations
1st Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT – 18 108 points
2nd Port Elizabeth ARS, ZS2PE – 5 724 points
3rd Roy Walsh, ZS3RW – 1 020 points

The Combined Results for the 2017 National Field Day

Class A – Field Station, Multi operator
1st Highway ARC, ZS5HAM – 251 160 points
2nd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR – 200 316 points
3rd Welkom Radio Club, ZS4WRC – 79 200 points

Class C – Field Station, Single Operator
1st Hugo Ras, ZS2HR – 960 points
2nd Lucas Swart, ZS6ACT – 600 points
3rd Magda Swart, ZS6MMS – 450 points

Class D – Field Station, Single Operator, QRP
1st Johan van Zijl, ZS4DZ – 73 404 points
2nd Geoff Lotz, ZR6XZ/1 – 64 080 points
3rd Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ – 4 320 points

Class E – Ultra Light Portable
1st Dennis Green, ZS4BS – 8 748 points
2nd Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE –6 210 points

Class F- General Stations
1st Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT – 47 568 points
2nd Port Elizabeth ARS, ZS2PE – 5 724 points
3rd Roy Walsh, ZS3RW – 2 760 points

The full results can be found in HF Happenings 767 which is available for download from the League website.

NEW ERB COMMITTEE

At the East Rand Branch AGM held on Saturday 30 September, the following members were elected to serve on the committee:

Chairman: Willem van der Merwe, ZS6WIM
Vice Chairman: Judy Pretorius, ZS6JDY
Treasurer: Connel Paul, ZS6CNP
Secretary: Linda Lessing, ZS6LML
Liaison Officer: Shane Bailey, ZS6W

On behalf of the ERB we would also like to thank the President of the SARL Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, for attending the ERB AGM.

NEW PARC COMMITTEE

The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club held its 87th AGM on Saturday the 23rd of September at the Pretoria Old Motor Club venue. The following committee members were elected

Chairman: Graham Reid, ZS6GJR
Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Rallies: Johan du Bruyn, ZS6JHB
Secretary: Irene Myburgh, ZS6IEA
RAE: Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN, Louis de Wet ZS6SK and Johan Minter ZS6LED; Repeaters: Pieter Myburgh, ZS6PAM (Co-opted); Social and Contests: Whitty Joubert, ZS6JJJ; Flea Markets: Almero Du Pesani, ZS6LDP (Co-Opted); Youth Development: Nick Louw, ZS6NWL; PARC News Bulletin Co-Ordinator and SARL Liaison: Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN

We would like to thank Andre van Tonder, and Pieter Fourie who stepped down as committee members for their contribution over the past years and wish them well for the future.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels. None of the visible sunspots pose a threat for strong solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around seven. The 15 to 30 m bands will provide lots of DX fun with some 10 m openings also possible. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:

Today – the AWA SSB QSO Party
20 to 22 October – Jamboree on the Air
21 October – the Radio Amateur Examination, CQ Hou Koers and the Kletskous/BACAR flight
28 and 29 October – the CQ WW DX SSB Contest
4 November – SDR Workshop in Cape Town
18 November – SDR Workshop at the NARC

To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:

The SARL Council decided to make the October issue of Radio ZS freely available to the amateur fraternity including easy access to the IARU Region 1 final conference report. The links to download Radio ZS and the IARU Region 1 final conference report are available on the landing page of the SARL website at www.sarl.org.za. Enjoy the articles in this edition pertaining to the future of amateur radio, the ZS3ZU Hammies of Vanderkloof, ZS SOTA updates and what amateur radio and the South African Fauna and Flora have in common.

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/3, edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR and read by ..............

From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.

/EX