SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2018
Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ................ [your name, call sign and QTH]
The South African Radio League broadcasts a news bulletin each Sunday in Afrikaans as well as English, at 08:15 and 08:30 Central African Time respectively, on HF as well as on various VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. The bulletin is relayed via Echolink by ZS6JPL. A podcast is available on the League website.
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.
We start this bulletin with news of a Silent Key
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Ron Caldecott, ZS6BHH, went silent on Wednesday 14 March 2018. Ron was nearly 94 years old. He was an Honorary Life Member of the SARL as well as the West Rand Amateur Radio Club.
We extend our sincere condolences to his daughter Jenny, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news today:
THE SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING CANCELLED, THE AGM CONTINUES
THE ZS6OTL CLUB FROM MIDDELBURG TO RUN A FIELD STATION AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION
and
80 YOUNG RADIO AMATEURS FROM 34 COUNTRIES TO ATTEND THE SUMMER YOTA IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING CANCELLED, THE AGM CONTINUES
The Council hereby notifies Members that the Special General Meeting has been cancelled. The request for the SGM was received, as per Rule 12.1.4, with 22 signatories. The SARL Secretary determined that one of the signatories is not a member of the League. The request was corrected and re-submitted.
On 6 March and on 13 March 2018, the Secretary received e-mails from two of the signatories stating that they are withdrawing their support for this request. At present there are 19 signatories which is less than what is required by the Rule. The Council, at its Skype meeting on 13 March 2018, discussed the matter and obtained legal advice before making its decision that the request no longer conforms to Rule 12.1.4 and that the SGM is therefore cancelled.
The 2018 SARL AGM will now start at 09:00 on Saturday 14 April 2018.
THE ZS6OTL CLUB FROM MIDDELBURG TO RUN A FIELD STATION AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION
On Saturday 14 April, during the SARL National Convention, The ZS6OTL Club from Middelburg is planning a field station which will be situated at the entrance of the Lapa at the Farm Inn. The reason for the field station is to introduce Amateur Radio to the public. Charl, ZS6LAM, will put up a 20-metre mast from where the station will be operating. During the day ZSOTL will also sell tickets for a raffle for an Icom IC-2300 that can be won. The draw will take place during ZS6OTL's Annual General meeting that will take place during April/May. The winner will be contacted accordingly.
ANTENNA ISSUES WITH VINCE HARRISON AT THE NEXT SDR WORKSHOP POSTPONED.
Several factors have necessitated the postponement of the SDR workshop about antennas to use for the noise monitoring Project. The new date is 5 May 2018 after the SARL National Convention and the many public holidays. At the SARL National convention on 14 April you will be able to learn more about the SARL RF Noise Monitoring project, SDR and other technologies which will be displayed and demonstrated at the joint AMSATSA and SARL Stand.
THE 2018 AMSAT SA SPACE SYMPOSIUM
Early bird bookings for the AMSATSA Space Symposium to be held on 19 May at the innovation Hub in Pretoria is now open. Visit www.amsatsa.org.za and take advantage of the early bird booking.
80 YOUNG RADIO AMATEURS FROM 34 COUNTRIES TO ATTEND THE SUMMER YOTA EVENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
The SARL will be hosting 80 young radio amateurs between 16 and 25 years old, representing 34 countries, at the 2018 YOTA summer event to be held in Gauteng from the 8 to 15 August. This is a first for Africa and a first for South Africa to host this major youth amateur radio event. Participants are joining the camp from many European, near East and African countries.
YOTA is the acronym for "Youngsters on the Air" and has the objective of drawing together young licensed radio amateurs to learn new radio communication skills, discuss and share ideas about amateur radio and its future. "This event is a unique opportunity for introducing young people to technical careers in science and technology and an investment prospect for industry to help shape the future of technology training", SARL President Nico van Rensburg said.
The participants will be exposed to building a transceiver, creating a BACARSat to fly on a high-altitude balloon, learn about each other's cultures and focus on how to take amateur radio forward in their own country.
Your financial support is needed to make this the greatest ever YOTA event. You are invited to invest in the youth and the future of amateur radio. Make your contribution today. Pay your contribution into the SARL account or make use of PayPal. For more details and to download a prospectus visit www.zs9yota.co.za. IARU Region 1 is a major financial contributor to the YOTA event.
You are listening to a news Bulletin of the South African Amateur Radio League.
DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE MARCH RADIO ZS
Council had decided that the March 2018 issue of Radio ZS is available to all radio amateurs to download. Click on the link on the front page of the Leagues web site and enjoy the magazine.
ZS5ZLB TO ACTIVATE WORLD WIDE FLORA AND FAUNA ZSFF-0102
The Zululand Amateur Radio Club, ZS5ZLB, will be activating ZSFF-0102 - Dlinza Forest Nature Reserve - in Eshowe, Zululand on 25 March 2018 from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC. They will be using the preferred frequency of 7.145 (or thereabout), conditions permitting. All QSOs will be confirmed by a QSL card.
AMATEUR RADIO SAVES LIFE
While being in conversation with friends in New York and Germany, Lothar Froehlich, HK3JCL (also DK8LRF) heard a cry for help and recognised the voice of a friend in Germany. This wheelchair-dependent friend lay immobilised in his home and used his switched-on and VOX operated transceiver to call for help, which arrived via Lothar in Colombia and another German amateur in Hamburg, who alerted the local police to the situation. Read more at http://ov-erding.de/
THE RADIO SPECTRUM ABOVE VHF IS WHERE THE FUTURE LIES FOR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
Radio communications started off on long and medium wavelengths, first on Maritime Mobile spark transmissions and years later followed by AM Broadcasting. After radio amateurs discovered Shortwave DX communications the commercial world rushed down to Shortwaves too to make their worldwide transmissions. In time commercial stations realized that they needed more bandwidth to operate their TV stations and FM Broadcasting stations, which was then available on VHF.
With the advent of commercial satellite operation, DSTV became possible on the Ku Microwave bands. But for a small group, most radio amateurs were reluctant to explore these higher frequencies except for repeater operation on VHF. Fortunately, there were several overseas amateurs who ventured to experiment on the microwave bands even as high as the Terahertz spectrum. What has now become clear is that DX can be worked almost daily on EME when the moon is visible, using small portable dishes, low power and digital on microwave frequencies, which could be a boon for townhouse EME operation.
PROPAGATION REPORT.
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at very low levels. There are currently no sunspots visible and no flaring activity is expected. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around one. The 15 to 30 metre bands will provide lots of DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
19 March - the closing date for VHF/UHF Analogue contest logs
20 March - Autumn Equinox and the International Day of Happiness
21 March Human Rights Day
24 25 March the CQ WPX SSB Contest
26 March the closing date for articles for the April Radio ZS
28 March Provincial schools close
30 March Good Friday/Pesach
02 April Family Day
5 April the SARL 80 m QSO Party
7 April the RaDAR Challenge
7 to 8 April the SARL VHF/UHF Digital Competition
13 to 15 April the SARL National Convention in Pretoria
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The Council hereby notifies Members that the Special General Meeting has been cancelled. The request for the SGM was received, as per Rule 12.1.4, with 22 signatories. The SARL Secretary determined that one of the signatories is not a member of the League. The request was corrected and re-submitted.
The 2018 SARL AGM will now start at 09:00 on Saturday 14 April 2018.
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 Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY, edited by Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
