SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 6 MAY 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 the news with news of a silent key.
It is with deep regret that the Potchefstroom ARC announces that the key of Chris Viljoen, ZS6BYQ went silent after suffering a heart attack.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Daleen and two sons Stephan and Yzelle, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION SSB VALVE QSO PARTY THIS AFTERNOON
THE ROYAL WEDDING ON 19 MAY AND THE FIRST USE OF THE GR9 PREFIX
and
UNEXPECTED OPENING TO REUNION ISLAND
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION SSB VALVE QSO PARTY THIS AFTERNOON
The AWA SSB Valve QSO Party will run from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC this afternoon with activity on 40 metres between 7 063 and 7 100 kHz and on 80 metres between 3 603 and 3650 kHz. The exchange is your call sign, a RS report, a consecutive serial number starting at 001 and the type of radio used, e.g. HT37 Tx. Log sheets must be submitted by 25 May by e-mail to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za or by mail to the Antique Wireless Association of Southern Africa, PO Box 12320, Benoryn, 1504. Certificates will be awarded to the first three places in each category (AM/SSB). Please consult the 2018 SARL Contest Manual for all the information.
THE ROYAL WEDDING ON 19 MAY AND THE FIRST USE OF THE GR9 PREFIX
Ofcom has issued the Special Event Call sign GR9RW to be used from 19 to 23 May inclusive and we believe it may be the first time that the 'GR9' prefix has ever been active. The special call sign GR9RW will be active for five days in May to mark the occasion of the Royal Wedding between HRH Prince Harry and Ms. Megan Markle is due to take place on 19 May 2018 at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in England. This commemorative amateur radio station will be operated by members of the Cray Valley Radio Society from their shack in Eltham, south-east London, UK.
GR9RW will primarily use SSB and CW and additionally FM on the VHF and UHF bands. Two HF stations and one VHF station will be active and will cover all bands from 80 m to 70 cm. A very special QSL card will be sent on request and cards can also be requested via OQRS. Please see the club's web site www.cvrs.org for further detail and look on the QRZ page for GR9RW for details of the station and how to obtain the special QSL card. Up to date information will also be posted on the Cray Valley Radio Society Twitter feed @G3RCV.
For further information about the Royal Wedding itself please look at www.royal.uk/royal-wedding-2018
Thanks to Richard Perzyna, G8ITB for this item
GREAT ATTENDANCE PRIZES TO BE WON AT THE AMSATSA SPACE SYMPOSIUM
If you cannot attend Hamvention 2018 or the Royal Wedding on 19 May, then register now for the AMSATSA Space symposium to be held at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria on Saturday 19 May 2018. Exiting papers and demonstrations will be presented. There are also some great attendance prizes to be won. Sam's Radios has donated a Diamond X-5000 2 m/70 cm/23 cm Base Station Antenna, a UHF Power Amp 1 - 6 Watts in and 10 - 25 Watts out as well as an MFJ-914 Auto Tuner Extender. Avnet has donated four PIC32MM Curiosity Development boards.
To check out the programme and other prizes and to register, point your browser to www.amsatsa.org.za. The Innovation hub is situated along the N1 to Polokwane, opposite the CSIR, a short, easy journey from just about anywhere in the greater Johannesburg/Pretoria environs.
HAMVENTION 2018
Hamvention 2018 will be held from 18 to 20 May at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Centre in Xenia, Ohio and is the largest annual Amateur Radio gathering in the US. The ARRL Expo will serve as the hub for ARRL activities, booths and program representatives. Hamvention's theme this year is "Amateur Radio... Serving the Community." The ARRL will reflect that spirit by sponsoring four forums on Friday and Saturday that will comprise a Public Service Communications track.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
UNEXPECTED OPENING TO REUNION ISLAND
Hugo van Zyl, ZS5HV, reported from Scottburgh that on 26 April 2018, he detected an unexpected opening to Reunion Island. He hooked up with Philippe, FR5DN on 144,300 MHz JT65b with Philippe transmitting every fourth sequence. Try and be around during the next opening to Reunion Island, which could happen anytime. SSB on 144 MHz to Reunion Island has been worked from the coast of Natal around 2 700 km and as far south as about 3 200 km to East London
A FOREIGN STATE IS GETTING INTERESTED IN VHF
We have a South African amateur working in foreign country and he is pushing VHF. Then the good news came hot off the Press, Kyrgyzstan will get its 2 m and 70 cm licences soon. This new amateur is Charles Kelley, ZS6AJZ and he lives in Kyrgyzstan. His new call sign could be EX0CK. The officials collected his application on Thursday and it is expected that licences will be issued by 7 May 2018. His old call sign was EX0/ZS6AJZ, now he is being issued with a local call sign.
Charles informed Pieter, V51PJ that the government is busy finalising the licencing of the amateurs there. With the enthusiasm of us on VHF and above, he got interested in VHF and UHF too. The seed planted in him now spreads to a country that never had VHF privileges available for amateurs before. So yes, the dream for Africa is not impossible. We must just stay positive and active.
Africa has lots of thunderstorms and rain, which make it perfect for backscatter, lightning scatter and rain scatter as well as super seasons of Sporadic-E and Meteor Scatter. But how to get their interest? Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, says he has friends in the communication department in Namibia that have personal contact with the people in the communication departments in African States. They regularly get together and discuss ITU regulations for Africa. Pieter will contact them this coming week and see what they can come up with. This is where it must start. Because the ITU gave frequencies for amateurs, but some countries do not issue licences because no one has asked for the frequencies to use as an amateur. They only stick to HF!
RESULTS OF THE AUTUMN QRP CONTEST
The results of the Autumn QRP Contest held on 21 April have been released. 6 logs and 1 check log were received.
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR - 876 points
2nd Mike Boatwright, ZS5MAB - 294 points
3rd Johannes van Zijl, ZS4DZ - 102 points
4th Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY - 48 points
5th Dennis Green, ZS4BS - 36 points
6th Dave Smith, ZS6AZP - 30 points
Congratulations to the West Rand ARC
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at very low levels. There have been no sunspots visible for approximately 60% of 2018. 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 m bands may provide lots of DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
The diary of events
This afternoon the AWA Valve SSB QSO Party
8 May Remembrance Day for World War 2
10 May Ascension Day
13 May Mothers Day
16 May start of Ramadan
18 to 20 May the Hamvention 2018 at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Centre in Xenia, Ohio
19 May the AMSATSA Space Symposium and the Royal Wedding
20 May the ZS3 Sprint
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The AWA SSB Valve QSO Party will run from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC this afternoon with activity on 40 metres between 7 063 and 7 100 kHz and on 80 metres between 3 603 and 3650 kHz. The exchange is your call sign, a RS report, a consecutive serial number starting at 001 and the type of radio used, e.g. HT37 Tx.
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 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS/3, and read by ........................................
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
