SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 29 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:
SPECIAL EVENT CALL SIGN FROM THE NORTHERN CAPE
FIRST ZS EME RECORD ON 10 GHz (3 cm WAVELENGTH)
and
RaDAR CHALLENGE NEXT SATURDAY
Stay tuned for a packed bulletin and more information on these and other interesting news items.
SPECIAL EVENT CALL SIGN FROM THE NORTHERN CAPE
From 1 to 30 November, the Bo-Karoo Amateur Radio Club will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the commissioning of the Vanderkloof Dam with the special call sign ZS40VDK – QSL via the operator’s instructions. As part of these celebrations, the Club is hosting the ZS40VDK Bash at the Sandgat Resort just outside the town of Vanderkloof on Saturday 18 November. The Bash includes the Club AGM, a potjieskos competition and a dance.
The Vanderkloof Dam (originally the PK Le Roux Dam) is situated approximately 130 km downstream from the Gariep Dam and is fed by the Orange River, South Africa's largest river. The dam was commissioned in 1977. Vanderkloof Dam is the second-largest dam in South Africa (in volume) and has the highest dam wall in the country at 108 metres.
FIRST ZS EME RECORD ON 10 GHz (3 cm WAVELENGTH
On 22 October 2017 at 15:46 UTC, Alex Artieda, ZS6EME, recorded the first-ever Digital EME QSO with HB9Q on 10 GHz. This is the first Microwave EME QSO on such a high band from South Africa and operating the new digital mode QRA64D, while using only 50 Watts at the feed of his 1,5 metre dish. On 23 October Alex completed 10 more EME QSOs on 10 GHz. Finally, on 24 October at 11:56 UTC, he was able to make the first-ever Digital EME QSO on 5,7 GHz (6 cm) in the RSA with PA3DZL and on the same day he completed 7 more QSOs on 5.7 GHz. Hearty congratulations to Alex for his fantastic achievements and putting South Africa back on the world Microwave map.
NEW VENUE FOR CAPE TOWN SDR WORKSHOP
Listeners are reminded that the SDR Workshop to be held in Cape Town on Saturday 4 November will take place at the Oakdale Club, at 80A Bloemhof Road in Bellville. Coffee will be served and after the workshop the restaurant and bar facilities will be available for lunch.
5 BAND DXCC FOR ZS2ACP
The Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society (PEARS) would like to congratulate Andre Botes, ZS2ACP on his 5-band DXCC. Andre received his certificate confirming 2-way communication with 100 or more entities on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres.
Well done Andre!
THANK YOU TO ZS1YT
The President and Council of the League thanks Rassie Erasmus, ZS1YT, for his work as SARL Secretary since the 2017 AGM. Following an arrangement made at the AGM, Rassie took on the portfolio of League Secretary until Dennis, ZS4BS, had completed his term of office as Region 1 Secretary. From Monday 30 October, Dennis, ZS4BS will be the SARL Secretary and he can be contacted via secretary@sarl.org.za
NEWS FROM HAMNET GAUTENG SOUTH
This weekend, Hamnet Gauteng South is doing all the information handling for the Carnival City Cycle Race, yesterday for the mountain bike race and today for the road race.
As a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO), Hamnet Gauteng South have secured a stand at the South African Emergency Services Institute (SAESI) show from 1 to 3 November at the Nasrec Expo Centre, please visit the show and support us. This is a 36-square meter stand large enough to host HGS’s forward control unit.
Hamnet Gauteng South will also be assisting with the Tshwane Classic Race on Sunday 5 November. If you would like to participate in any of these events, please contact Glynn, ZS6GLN, on 072 119 0559 or Leon, ZS6LMG, on 082 440 7733
THE NOVEMBER RADIO ZS
The November 2017 issue of Radio ZS will be available for download from Tuesday 31 October. In this issue there is a report on the 2017 Jamboree-on-the-Air and the CQ Hou Koers events. Cameron, ZS6CYE, tells us about the 2017 Youngsters-on-the-Air Summer Camp held at Gilwell Park in August.
John, ZS6JON, provided an article about the recent EME DXpedition to Swaziland and Christo, ZR6LJK, tells as all about the BACAR 5 mission on 21 October. Stalwart Mike, ZS2FM, continues the series on amateur radio history between the two world wars and tells us more about the world above 6 metres.
2018 SARL BLUE BOOK
The Contest team requests contest sponsors to check the dates for their 2018 contests as well as the relevant log format required and e-mail addresses for log submissions. Please confirm these details by midnight on Tuesday 31 October to contest@sarl.org.za.
You are listening to a news Bulletin of the South African Amateur Radio League.
TRADITIONAL ASPECTS OF AMATEUR RADIO MAY NOT BE ATTRACTIVE TO NEWCOMERS
An ARRL news item covered the address of the IARU President Tim Elam, VE6SH/G4HUA, at the recent IARU Region 1 meeting held in Landshut, Germany, where he made the following statement. He welcomed the attendees urging them to reflect upon what will attract the majority of young people into amateur radio and what our mutual expectations should be. Tim Elam said his personal observation is that, while some younger people are interested in the more traditional aspects of amateur radio, many are only interested in amateur radio as an adjunct to other possibly unrelated interests. He applauded the excellent work that has been undertaken in this region through the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) program.
Tim said that our ambition should be to embrace these individuals in their activities and accept that some of the more traditional aspects of the hobby will hold little interest to them and indeed may no longer be relevant. That is not to say that some are not enthused with what we all hold as the core of our hobby, such as contesting or operating generally. He fears, though, that we need to look at what will attract the new generations to Amateur Radio and make sure we promote Amateur Radio as meeting their needs, rather than promoting the historical view of what Amateur Radio has to offer.
THE RaDAR CHALLENGE NEXT SATURDAY
The last RaDAR Challenge for 2017 takes place on Saturday 4 November with CW, SSB, AM, FM or any legal digital mode on all amateur bands including cross band contacts via amateur radio satellites. QSOs via terrestrial FM repeaters should preferably not be used for the challenge. The Challenge runs over twenty-four hours giving equal opportunity to the international community of RaDAR operators. RaDAR operators can define their own operating time schedule as it is up to everyone to plan his or her maximum, single period, four-hour operation.
The RaDAR Challenge is a unique event aimed at promoting the use of Rapidly Deployable Amateur Radio stations. Categories may be changed at any time during the challenge. The points system is so structured as to encourage portable RaDAR operations especially moveable RaDAR stations. RaDAR operators are encouraged to be self-sufficient during each challenge, with not only power supply and communications equipment but food, water, protective clothing and shelter, not forgetting the first aid kit.
Read the complete rules from page 27 in the 2017 SARL Blue Book.
SPECIAL DISCOUNT ON BOOKS FOR SARL MEMBERS
Have you visited www.amateurradio.org.za to look at the list of the many different ARRL books available to SARL members at discounted prices? Do so today and spoil yourself with a new amateur radio book.
NEW FREQUENCY FOR AMATEUR RADIO TODAY
Listeners are reminded that the frequency of the Monday 18.30 Central African Time transmission of Amateur Radio Today will change from Monday 30 October 2017 to 4 895 kHz. The transmissions on Sundays at 10:00 will remain 7205 and 17 760 kHz. Reception reports are always welcome and should be sent via e-mail to artoday@sarl.co.za.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels. The two sunspots that are currently visible are inactive and poses very little thread for strong solar flaring. 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:
31 October – 2018 contest information to contest@sarl.org.za
1 to 3 November - Hamnet Gauteng South at the SAESI Show at the Nasrec Expo Centre
04 November – the RADAR Challenge and the Cape Town SDR Workshop
05 November – the PEARS HF DX contest and Hamnet Gauteng South at the Tshwane Classic Race
18 November – the Antique Wireless Association Museum Open Day, Flea market and AGM, also on 18 November, the Bo Karoo ARC AGM and ZS40VDK Bash
25 November – the SARL Newbie QSO Party.
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item
The Bo-Karoo Amateur Radio Club will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the commissioning of the Vanderkloof Dam from 1 to 30 November with the special call sign ZS40VDK – QSL via the operator’s instructions. As part of these celebrations, the Club is hosting the ZS40VDK Bash at the Sandgat resort just outside the town of Vanderkloof on Saturday 18 November. The Bash includes the Club AGM, a potjieskos competition and a dance.
This concludes our bulletin for this morning.
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 program, 'Amateur Radio Today' at 10:00 Central African Time. The program 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 4 895 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 and read by ..............................
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
