SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 2 DECEMBER 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 on 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 the bulletin with news of three silent keys.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the keys of Harry Lautenbach, ZS6LT, Fred Scheepers, ex-ZS1FCS and Dior Dreyer-Juselius, ZS6DJD went silent in the past week.
Harry passed away on Saturday night 24 November 2018.
Fred passed away early on Sunday 25 November. He was involved in the Oakdale Amateur Radio Club for a long time and also served as a SARL Councillor. In 2011, he received the Jack Twine Award and in 2014, the Willy Wilson award.
Dior passed away on Friday 30 November following complications after surgery.
We extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of these three radio amateurs.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
THE YOTA 2018 DECEMBER ACTIVITY HAS STARTED
THE SARL AND ICASA MET TO DISCUSS REGULATORY ISSUES IMPACTING ON AMATEUR RADIO
and
THE ARRL 10 METRE CONTEST NEXT WEEKEND
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
IARU REGION 1 - DECEMBER 2018 YOTA MONTH
December is YOTA Month when several youngsters from IARU Region 1 Member Countries will become active on the air with YOTA as suffix in the call signs. From Saturday 1 December to Monday 31 December 2018, young amateurs in their teens and early 20s will attempt to make many contacts worldwide with each other during this international event. This event is aimed at our young generation and is a golden opportunity for clubs to get youngsters who are interested in or want to find out more about Amateur Radio on the air.
It is not a formal contest, but a way to get our current young amateurs on the air contacting hundreds of other youngsters around the world. The SARL has registered a special call sign ZS9YOTA on the IARU Region 1 website as an educational call sign for use by clubs and individuals during December. To reserve a slot to use the ZS9YOTA callsign on a daily basis or for information please contact Noel, ZR6DX via e-mail at zr6dx@iafrica.com or alternatively to Nico, ZS6QL at zs6ql@mweb.co.za. The schedule and applicable rules will be available on the SARL website.
All radio amateurs are welcome to enjoy a QSO with the youngsters, be aware that some of them are new to the radio hobby, while others are more experienced. Looking forward to hearing our younger generation on the air during December!
THE SARL AND ICASA MET TO DISCUSS REGULATORY ISSUES IMPACTING ON AMATEUR RADIO
The ICASA/SARL Liaison committee met last week to discuss various regulatory issues affecting Amateur Radio.
Revisiting the agreement that home built amateur radio equipment does not require type approval, ICASA confirmed that all the regions have been informed of this agreement. The entire process of type approval affecting all equipment that utilises the radio frequency spectrum or has an effect on it, is being reviewed, which is a two-year process. "This will not affect homebrew amateur radio equipment for own use", SARL president Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL said. "The SARL encourages radio amateurs to keep developing their hobby through homebrew".
The problem of commercial VHF equipment, recently type approved, resulting in unauthorised use of amateur frequencies was tabled. ICASA acknowledged that they are aware of the issue. The SARL has now also formally filed an official complaint.
Dealing with interference on amateur frequencies, ICASA has agreed to supply the SARL with details of the Regional Managers who are dealing with radio interference. The SARL will over the next few weeks develop a guideline on how interference should be reported. This will be available on the SARL web pages upon completion.
The new ICASA IT system, now going through its beta testing phase, will become operational on 1 April 2019. The system will administratively impact on applications to write the Radio Amateur Examination. ICASA is setting up a workshop for the Liaison Committee and the SARL RAE Manager to engage the new system so that timely new guidelines for applicants can be developed.
The reception of weather satellite pictures and the licensing of equipment has been a grey area. The ICASA ruling is that Radio Amateurs wishing to set-up and own equipment to receive signals in 137 MHz band must apply for a separate satellite receiving licence as it is not covered under their amateur radio license. Non-licenced persons must in addition also apply for a radio receiving license. The standard ICASA frequency spectrum license application form should be used. It is available for download from the SARL web.
ICASA confirmed that the current radio frequency spectrum regulations are still in force. The SARL pointed out that there is a discrepancy on the 1,8 MHZ frequency band between the current regulations and the Frequency Spectrum Band plan which was approved by cabinet and gazetted earlier this year. ICASA said they will look into this. They also confirmed that the new regulations will first go through a public consultation process. It was also confirmed that South African Radio Amateurs have full access to the 5 MHz band namely 5 350 5 450 kHz and the channel 5 290 kHz for propagation studies, and that this will be incorporated in the new regulations.
On the topic of reciprocal licencing, ICASA confirmed that CRASA had accepted the proposal to join the CEPT TR61-01 scheme which allows licenced radio amateurs to operate in SADC countries for a period of up to three months without the need to apply for a licence. This final process to ensure that all SADC administrations have communicated this through their structures may take some time. The SARL will monitor the developments and advise radio amateurs of progress.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
THE DECEMBER 2018 RADIO ZS
The December 2018 issue of Radio ZS is available for download from the League website. In this issue you can read about the FM VHF contacts between amateurs in ZS1 and ZS3 and an amateur on St Helena Island. Henry, ZS1AAZ encourages you to explore Arduino and the next article shows you how to use Arduino to build a Morse code gadget for children.
Deon, ZR1DE explains the intricacies of repeaters, while in the Museum Piece you can read about Hedy Lamarr and Spread Spectrum communication. There is also an index of the 2018 issues of Radio ZS.
TWO NEW SOTA ASSOCIATIONS
From 1 December 2018, Namibia with 2 719 summits and the Prince Edward and Marion Islands with 2 summits have joined the SOTA programme.
2019 DRAFT SARL BLUE BOOK
The Contest Manual (Blue Book) has been uploaded to the League website. The contest organisers, please check all the details and notify Geoff, ZS6C at contest@sarl.org.za by 10 December 2018 of any comments or changes.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
The League has received applications for membership from Colin Schroder, ZR2CRS and Stewart da Costa Pereira, ZR6DCP. The Black Friday membership offer was taken up by 31 radio amateurs. They are Alec Hodgkinson, G3JLL/ZS6BMU; Walter Winkler-Pleimer, OE5WWM; David Hartzenberg, ZS1BCE; John Ward, ZS1EQ; Andrι Fransman, ZS1F; Pierre Tromp, ZS1HF; Louise Tromp, ZS1ONI; Trevor Brinch, ZS1TR; Dave Higgs, ZS2DH; Johan van Vuuren, ZS2JV; Michael Gooden, ZS2MG; Andrew Prideaux, ZS2PA; Bryan King, ZS2SS; Charl Joubert, ZS3CG; Louis Veldkamp, ZR4DJL; Gideon Jannasch, ZS4GJA; Christopher Williams, ZS5CGW; Justin Wright, ZS5JW; Kimentha Nair, ZS5KIM; Conrad Scheepers, ZS6CSV; Gerry Pieterse, ZS6GER; Gary Schoombie, ZS6HG; Goosen Thompson, ZS6HPG; Kevin Turner, ZS6KAT; Anre Kehlert, ZS6KZA; Mervyn Schmidt, ZS6MES; Jimmy Struthers, ZS6OX; Casper Badenhorst, ZS6RA; Rex Pattison, ZS6REX; Hendrik Rudman, ZS6RHL and Selwyn Losinsky, ZS6SEL. 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
THE 2018 ARRL 10 METRE CONTEST NEXT WEEKEND
The object is for Amateurs worldwide to exchange QSO information with as many stations as possible on the 10 metre band using phone and CW. The contest takes place from 00:00 UTC on Saturday 8 December and ends at 23:59 UTC on Sunday 9 December 2018. The contest exchange for stations in the USA, Canada and Mexico is a RS or RST report and their state or province, for DX stations it is a RS or RST report and a sequential serial number starting with 001. Maritime mobile stations send a RS or RST report and the ITU Region (R1, R2 or R3). All logs generated by computer must be in Cabrillo format and a hand-written paper log is an acceptable submission. All entries must be uploaded to http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org/ or postmarked by 23:59 UTC 16 December 2018. Get the full set of rules at www.arrl.org/10-meter and read the rules before the contest!
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 some DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
3 December International Day for People with Disabilities.
8 and 9 December the ARRL 10 metre contest.
10 December comments on the 2019 Blu Book to contest@sarl.org.za.
12 December all provincial schools close.
15 December - Proposal for papers and presentations for the February 2019 VHF/UHF Workshop to vhfnews@sarl.org.za.
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:
December is YOTA Month when several youngsters from IARU Region 1 Member Countries will become active on the air with YOTA as suffix in the call signs. From Saturday 1 December to Monday 31 December 2018, young amateurs in their teens and early 20s will attempt to make many contacts worldwide with each other during this international event.
To reserve a slot to use the ZS9YOTA callsign on a daily basis or for information please contact Noel, ZR6DX via e-mail at zr6dx@iafrica.com or alternatively to Nico, ZS6QL at zs6ql@mweb.co.za. The schedule and applicable rules will be available on the SARL website.
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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS, edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
