SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER 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 begin this news bulletin with news of two silent keys:
It is with deep regret that we announce that Melvin Rautenbach, ex ZS1MK, was lost at sea on the 27 September 2018 while participating in the Mossel Bay Race from Simonstown to Mossel Bay. Off Quoin Point, his yacht "Silver Girl" was hit by a huge wave and Melvin went overboard, breaking the tiller of the boat in the process. Despite an intensive search he was not found, his remains have still not been recovered.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Shama, family and friends.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Gordon Prentice, ZR6RA went silent on Monday 19 November after losing the battle against cancer. Gordon had been an amateur since the late 1970s.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Tanya, his sons Scott and Dylan, grandchildren, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
IARU REGION 1 - DECEMBER YOTA MONTH ACTIVITY
AMATEUR RADIO ISSUES UNDER DISCUSSION IN GENEVA IN ADVANCE OF WRC-19
and
DECEMBER RADIO ZS REQUEST FOR ARTICLES
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
DID YOU MAKE USE OF THE BLACK FRIDAY MEMBERSHIP OFFER?
Did you make use of the Black Friday offer of R99 for membership until 30 June 2019? Thank you. Please ensure that you submit the membership application form to the SARL Office as well. It must be sent to admin@sarl.org.za.
IARU REGION 1 - DECEMBER YOTA MONTH ACTIVITY
December is Youngsters on the Air Month in IARU Region 1 when young radio amateurs and prospective young amateurs get on the air from stations throughout the Region using call signs bearing YOTA suffixes. The idea is to demonstrate Amateur Radio to the younger generation and to encourage young people to become licensed and active on the air. The December YOTA Month activity is not a competition; it's all about having fun!
The SARL has registered the special callsign ZS9YOTA on the IARU Region 1 website as an educational call sign for use by clubs and individuals during December 2018. An activity schedule including all related information to reserve a slot and use the ZS9YOTA callsign will be on the SARL website early next week. Look out for the information on the webpage next week, and we will look forward to hearing our younger generation active on the air during the whole of December!
AMATEUR RADIO ISSUES UNDER DISCUSSION IN GENEVA IN ADVANCE OF WRC-19
As part of the run up to World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19), three International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Study Group 5 (SG 5) Working Groups have been meeting this week in Geneva. ITU-R Study Groups develop the technical bases for decisions taken at WRCs and develop global standards, reports, and handbooks on radiocommunication matters.
Working Group 5A-1 (WG 5A-1), chaired by Dale Hughes, VK1DSH, is responsible for Amateur Radio issues. Its primary task is to develop a technical report to support the work for WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.1, considering an allocation of 50 - 54 MHz to the Amateur Service in ITU Region 1 (Europe and Africa) that would be in line with the 6-metre band in Regions 2 and 3. Other services, including broadcasters, utilize the 50 - 54 MHz band in Region 1. The work is in response to WRC-15 Resolution 658 to study spectrum needs in Region 1 for the Amateur Service in the 50 - 54 MHz band, and to study sharing among the Amateur Service, and the mobile, fixed, radiolocation, and broadcasting services, in order to ensure protection of these services.
In addition to WG 5A-1 Chairman Dale Hughes, the larger Working Party 5A includes IARU Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR; IARU Representative Dave Court, EI3IO; CEPT Coordinator Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, ARRL Representative Jonathan Siverling, WB3ERA, DARC representatives Ulrich Mueller, DK4VW, and Bernd Mischlewski, DF2ZC and JARL representative Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP.
While much of the work of WP 5A, and of Working Group 5A-1 in particular, has been on the working document covering Amateur Service spectrum needs and sharing studies with incumbent services in the 50 - 54 MHz band, WG 5A-1 also completed a liaison statement to Working Party 1A (spectrum engineering techniques) and Working Party 3L (ionospheric propagation and radio noise) highlighting Amateur Radio concerns with respect to Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems. The primary unease involves spurious and harmonic emissions -- which require additional study, attenuation due to walls and building penetration levels, and separation distance between WPT devices and Amateur Radio antennas. Fears have been expressed that WPT charging for electric vehicles might cause substantial interference on the amateur bands.
An ITU Conference Preparatory Meeting for WRC-19 is set for 18 to 28 February 2019 in Geneva. WRC-19 will take place from 28 October to 22 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
(IARU Region 1)
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
DECEMBER RADIO ZS
The editor is busy preparing the December issue of Radio ZS and has extended the closing date to Tuesday 27 November. Where are the JOTA and CQ Hou Koers articles? What projects are your Clubs busy with? What about satellite news, any microwave activity, antenna building, homebrew projects, Raspberry Pi or Arduino activity, beacons, etc? Send them all to radiozs@sarl.org.za. Radio ZS will be available for download by 30 November 2018.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
The League has, by Thursday 22 November, received applications for membership from Frans du Rand ZS6BPP; Hennie Esterhuizen ZS6HDE and Gerhard Gericke ZSL1193. Any objections to these membership applications must reach the League Secretary before the Wednesday following the bulletin. Please send your objections to secretary@sarl.org.za
AWA AGM 2018
At the AGM of the Antique Wireless Association held on Saturday 10 November at the SAIEE in Observatory, as per the AWA Constitution, the existing committee will serve another year. They are:
President: John Watson, ZS1WJ
Vice President: Renato Bordin, ZS6REN
Technical Advisor: Rad Handfield-Jones, ZS6RAD
Secretary/PRO: Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY
Historian: Oliver Gerondianos, ZS6OG
Members: Jaques Scholtz, ZS6JPS and Don Radford, ZS5DR for KZN.
The AGM was well attended, and an enjoyable day at the museum and braai afterwards was enjoyed by all.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. Currently there are no 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:
Until midnight UTC this evening – the CQ WW DX CW Contest.
27 November – articles for Radio ZS to radiozs@sarl.org.za.
1 December – the start of the IARU Region 1 – December YOTA Month.
8 and 9 December – the ARRL 10 m Contest.
12 December – all provincial schools close.
16 Dec – the Day of Reconciliation.
17 Dec – Public Holiday.
25 Dec – Christmas Day.
26 Dec – Day of Goodwill.
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
DID YOU MAKE USE OF THE BLACK FRIDAY MEMBERSHIP OFFER?
Did you make use of the Black Friday offer of R99 for SARL membership until 30 June 2019? Thank you. Please ensure that you submit the membership application form to the SARL Office as well, it must be sent to admin@sarl.org.za.
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
