SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 27 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]
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 ZS6JPL 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.
We begin the bulletin this morning with news of a silent key.
It is with deep regret that it must be announced that the key of P G Pretorius ZS6PPE went silent on 14 May 2018 after being admitted to the Knysna Hospital.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family, Louis, ZS2EN and Louise Jordaan, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
SOUTH AFRICA GETS 100 kHz ON 60 METRES
THE JUNE RADIO ZS
and
XENIA ENJOYS A SECOND, MORE SUCCESSFUL YEAR PLAYING HOST TO "DAYTON"
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
SOUTH AFRICA GETS 100 kHz ON 60 METRES
On Friday 25 May, ICASA published the National Radio Frequency Plan 2018 in which amateur radio was allocated 100 kHz on a shared basis in the 60 metre band as well as channel 5 290 kHz for the 5 MHz propagation research project. The National Radio Frequency Plan 2018 is a nearly 300-page document which covers the entire radio frequency spectrum. The plan is in Government Gazette 41650 which will from next week be available from the Government Printer's website under general notice 266. The SARL will carefully consider all the amateur allocations and ensure that a band plan is in place.
The spectrum 5 350 to 5 450 kHz is now available to all licensed radio amateurs on a shared non-interference basis, the Council is working on the 60 m band plan using Recommendation LA17_C4_REC_02 from the 2017 Region 1 General Conference as basis. Council will publish the band plan as soon as possible and then operation on 60 metres can start.
In addition, the channel 5 290 kHz has been allocated for WSPR beacons deployed in the SARL Propagation Research project and members can continue to use this frequency. Due to licensing issues the SARL has kept low key on the 5 290 kHz beacon project. "We now can go full steam ahead", Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, the SARL Regulatory Manager said. "There are no longer any restrictions and no application for use of the 60-metre band is required."
Commenting on the 100 kHz 60 metre allocation, SARL President, Nico van Rensburg ZS6QL said that the SARL has worked on this for a long time. "Clearly our persistent interaction with ICASA has paid dividends. This is however not the end of the road as in the new band plan power on 5 MHz is restricted to the WRC-15 agreement of 15 watts e.i.r.p
Continue to use 5 290 for WSPR and await the announcement of the 60 m band plan before operating on the new allocation. Stay tuned to SARL News for updates and more information as the SARL unpacks the plan.
UPDATES TO THE VHF/UHF RECORD TABLE
Paul Smit, ZS6NK has worked through the VHF/UHF Record Table and updates have been made and the document is available from the League web site. There is a section titled “Incomplete Data” and you are asked to assist Paul in filling in the missing information. You can contact Paul at zssixnk@gmail.com.
THE JUNE RADIO ZS
The Editor of Radio ZS would like to publish the June 2018 issue in the coming week, but his supply of articles has dried up! Thank you to the Zululand ARC, Patrick, ZS3PS, Pieter, V51PJ and Richard, ZS6RKE for the articles they submitted and to Karl, ZS1KC for the photos submitted.
Do you have an article or articles that can be published in Radio ZS? They can be English or Afrikaans. I know Editors of Club Magazines are also struggling for material, but Mr Editor, maybe you have something to share.
Please send your contribution in MS Word or OpenOffice with photos and graphics separately to radiozs@sarl.org.za. Please keep photos to 1 MB.
XENIA ENJOYS A SECOND, MORE SUCCESSFUL YEAR PLAYING HOST TO "DAYTON"
Hamvention® 2018 returned to the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Centre in Xenia, Ohio, for a second year, earning high marks for attendance, the debut of many new Amateur Radio transceivers and tasty food.
"Other than the rain showers Friday and Saturday, the event seemed to go very smoothly," said QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, who has been on hand for many past Hamventions. "Many attendees, great food and a spacious layout that made it easy to get around. It is a much better venue than Hara," he added. Others who commented on the Hamvention Facebook page agreed, although some complained that the flea market area was too small, still muddy and not as well attended as in past years, when the flea market was Dayton Hamvention. Many credited the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) for putting on a great show while still addressing needed improvements.
You are listening to a news Bulletin of the South African Amateur Radio League.
HAMVENTION 2018 continued
Young attendees seemed to be in greater evidence this year, including teams of students interested in combining Amateur Radio with robotics. For example, the First Robotics competition teams were on hand to demonstrate their creations. The Yasme Foundation-sponsored "Ham Radio 2.0 -- Innovation and Discovery" area was a big hit, Yasme Foundation President Ward Silver, N0AX, said. "Subjects ranged from high-bandwidth satellite designs to Summits on the Air (SOTA), HamSCI's 2017 Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) research and QSLs." Silver said the goal was to help diverse groups meet and interact. Researcher Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, who staffed the HamSCI booth, reported "a tremendous response."
Koos Fick, ZR6KF, of South Africa and Florian Zwingl, OE3FTA, of Austria represented the IARU Region 1 group Youngsters on the Air (YOTA), promoting YOTA in IARU Region 2 (the Americas). The YOTA "Summer Camp" will be held in August in South Africa - when it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
(Thanks to the ARRL Letter for this item)
FOOTBALL WORLD CUP RADIO MARATHON
Many special call signs from countries participating in the Football World Cup tournament in Russia, as well as from other FIFA member countries that did not qualify for the finals, will be active between 1 June and 15 July. The call signs have either ‘FIFA’ or ‘FWC’ as suffix. The list of call signs can be found on the front page of the League web site. Complete information will be published on http://fwc18.hamlogs.net/.
WEST RAND FLEA MARKET
The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 2 June 2018 at their Clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevreden Park, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. Bring your surplus and support the vendor on the day. For more information, contact Phillip, ZS6PVT on 083 267 3835.
THE OTL ARC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
On 5 May 2018, ZS6OTL held its Annual General Meeting. The following members were elected as committee members for 2018.
Chairman: De Wet Strydom, ZRSDWS
Secretary and Treasurer: Yvonne Jansen van Rensburg, ZS6BSH.
Technical Team: Langes du Plessis, ZR6BDZ, Jacques Swanepoel, ZS6WDL and De Wet Strydom, ZRSDWS
RAE and PR: Dawid Jansen van Rensburg, ZS6VS
Field station Co-ordinator: Anton Keyter, ZS6LAM.
Our thanks to the committee of 2017.
Congratulations to Anton Keyter, ZS6LAM who won the Icom IC-2300 radio.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels. Currently there are three, stable sunspots visible. 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.
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
2 June – West Rand Flea Market
10 June – the Hammies Sprint and the Comrades Marathon
16 June – Youth Day and the East Rand Club Flea Market
17 June – Father’s Day and World QRP Day
21 to 25 June – the SARL Top Band QSO Party
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
On Friday 25 May ICASA published the National Radio Frequency Plan 2018 in which amateur radio was allocated 100 kHz on a shared basis in the 60 metre band as well as channel 5 290 kHz for the 5 MHz propagation research project. The spectrum 5 350 to 5 450 kHz is now available to all licensed radio amateurs on a shared non-interference basis, the Council is working on the 60 m band plan using Recommendation LA17_C4_REC_02 from the 2017 Region 1 General Conference as basis. Council will publish the band plan as soon as possible and then operation on 60 metres can start.
In addition, the channel 5 290 kHz has been allocated for WSPR beacons deployed in the SARL Propagation Research project and members can continue to use this frequency.
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, edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
