SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 5 AUGUST 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.
In the news, today:
YOUNGSTERS ON THE AIR 2018 KICKS OFF ON WEDNESDAY 8 AUGUST 2018 IN GAUTENG
THE SARL HF PHONE CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
and
THE SARL YL SPRINT ON 9 AUGUST
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
YOUNGSTERS ON THE AIR 2018 KICKS OFF ON WEDNESDAY 8 AUGUST 2018 IN GAUTENG
28 teams from various countries in IARU Region 1 as well as one young radio amateur from Region 2 will be arriving in South Africa for the start of YOTA 2018 on Wednesday 8 August. The event will end on Wednesday 15 August with everybody leaving during the course of the day. The young people will be discussing and sharing ideas about amateur radio, learning new skills and of course making new friends.
The programme planned for this fun filled week in South Africa will not just focus on teaching individual skills but look at empowering the group to become mentors in their own countries. The participants will be building a radio kit, they will be introduced to SDR, build model CubeSats that will be launched into near-space, participate in the launching and tracking of a high-altitude balloon carrying various other radio equipment onboard and learn more about Rapidly Deployable Amateur Radio and working amateur satellites. In addition to the amateur radio activities, the programme for the week includes an excursion to a game reserve to experience the African wild life and South African countryside.
The ZS9YOTA special event radio station will be on the air from 8 to 15 August on 160 to 10 meters and operated by the young people. The QSL information will be posted to the ZS9YOTA QRZ.com page.
Thank you to those radio amateurs who have already contributed to the future of amateur radio by donating to YOTA 2018. We welcome any contributions which can be made via PayPal on the webpage www.zs9yota.co.za or an EFT to the SARL account with your call sign and YOTA as reference.
THE SARL HF PHONE CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
The SARL HF Phone Contest will be run from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC this afternoon with activity between 14 125 and 14 300 kHz; 7 063 and 7 100; 7 130 and 7 200 kHz; 3 603 and 3 650 and 3 700 and 3 800 kHz. The exchange is a RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001. Each QSO counts 1 point and you can claim points for each area worked on each band as well as stations worked on all three bands. Logs in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format with a summary sheet labelled "my call sign HF Phone" should be submitted by 13 August 2018 by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. Please read the rules in the 2018 SARL Blue Book before the contest.
THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE AND LIGHTSHIP WEEKEND
The ILLW takes place over the weekend of 18 and 19 August and it is not a contest. According to the entry list on https://illw.net/index.php, Namibia has two lighthouses registered and South Africa has thirteen lighthouses registered for the event. Look out for the Pelican Point Lighthouse at Walvis Bay (NA0003) activated by V51NAM and the Swakopmund Lighthouse (NA0001) activated by V51WW.
Starting on the West Coast, the North Head Lighthouse (ZA0029) will be activated by ZS3VDK and the South Head Lighthouse (ZA0031) will be activated by ZS3ZU. Both these lighthouses are at Saldanha Bay. The Robben Island Lighthouse (ZA0008) will be activated by the ZS9V team from 17 to 20 August. Robben Island is also IOTA AF-064 and ZSFF-0322. For the 21st year in a row, the Cape Town ARC will be activating the Green Point Lighthouse with ZS1CT.
The False Bay Amateur Radio Club will activate the Slangkop Lighthouse (ZA0015) using ZS1FRC. ZS1EZ and friends will be activating the New and Old Cape Point Lighthouses (ZA0013 and 14). The Cape Radio Group will be at the Cape Hangklip Lighthouse (ZA0010) as ZS1CRG. The Overberg ARC, ZS1OAR will activate the Danger Point Lighthouse (ZA0005). Celebrating their 70th birthday, the Boland ARC will activate the L'Agulhas Lighthouse (ZA0011) with ZS70BAK.
In the Eastern Cape, the Cape Recife Lighthouse south of Port Elizabeth (ZA0022) will be activated by ZS2ABZ and the Donkin Reserve Lighthouse in Port Elizabeth will be activated by ZS2PE. In Kwazulu-Natal the Highway ARC will be activating the Green Point Lighthouse (ZA0018) as ZS5HAM and the Durban ARC will be at the Cooper Lighthouse (ZA0004) as ZS5D.
There is still time to register a lighthouse and take part in this event. What about the Umhlanga Lighthouse north of Durban?
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
THE SARL YL SPRINT ON 9 AUGUST
The 2018 SARL YL Sprint will take place on Thursday 9 August, National Women's Day. Following a request in 2017, the time of the Sprint has been moved to the afternoon and will run from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC. Phone activity takes place between 7 063 and 7 100 and 7 130 and 7 200 kHz, the exchange is a RS report and YL or OM.
A QSO between YL stations is worth 5 points, while a QSO between YL and OM stations are worth 3 points and a QSO between OM stations are worth 1 point. Logs in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format with a summary sheet labelled "my call sign YL Sprint," shall be submitted by 16 August 2018 by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za.
CONTEST RESULTS
Three logs and a check log were received for the Winter QRP Contest held on 21 July 2018.
1st the West Rand ARC, ZS6WR
2nd the Cape Radio Group, ZS1CRG
3rd Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE
And the check log from Mike Boatwright, ZS5MAB
Sixteen logs were received for the ZS2 Sprint held on 22 July 2018. Thanks for everyone participating and the certificates will be sent in due course.
1st Max Rossi, ZS5MAX - 73 Points
2nd Deon Fraser, ZS5DCF - 67 Points
3rd Jan Botha, ZS4JAN - 60 Points
4th Woody Collet, ZS3WL - 59 Points
Congratulations to the winners!
CAPE TOWN ARC AGM
The Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre held its 72nd AGM on 28 August and 46 members attended the AGM. The new committee is:
Chairman - Rob Bareham, ZS1SA
Vice Chairman - Noel Futter, ZS1FW
Anne Bareham Secretary/Communications/Newsletter Editor
Treasurer - Danny Blankenberg, ZS1BL
Bulletin Manager -Tony Kahn, ZS1TK
Meeting Logistics - Paul Kennedy, ZS1PXK
Asset Manager - Peter Cloete, ZS1PGC
WCRWG Representative/Clubhouse Security - Paul Johnson, ZS1S
Lighthouse Manager/Club House Maintenance - John Ward, ZS1EQ
Club Meeting Reporter/Photographer/SOTA/Field Day/Youth Induction - Chris Gozzard, ZS1CDG
Web Site/Blogspot - Nick Curwell, ZS1ZD - Co-opted Member
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. Currently there is only a single, small sunspot visible with no threat of solar flaring. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around one. The 20 and 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:
This afternoon the SARL HF Phone Contest
9 August SA National Womens Day and the SARL YL Sprint
12 August International Youth Day
13 August the closing date for SARL HF Phone logs
16 August the closing date for YL Sprint logs
18 and 19 August the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW) and the Pretoria ARC providing rally communications at the Bronkorstspruit HMC
19 August the SARL HF Digital Competition and World Humanitarian Day
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The SARL HF Phone Contest will be run from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC this afternoon. The exchange is a RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001. Each QSO counts 1 point and you can claim points for each area worked on each band as well as stations worked on all three bands. Please read the rules in the 2018 SARL Blue Book before the contest.
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 Emile Venter, ZS6V, edited by Dennis Green, ZS4BS and read by
................
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
