SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 23 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.
In the news, today:
SARL PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON
ARRL'S LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD TOPS 1 BILLION QSO RECORDS
and
NO 5 MHZ ENDORSEMENT FOR WORKED ALL CONTINENTS
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
SARL PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON
"The December 2018 holiday break is almost here and South Africans around the country are preparing for the Festive Season. Many of our members will celebrate Christmas while others will enjoy a holiday period with friends and family.
"As we prepare for a well-deserved break and joyous holiday season, we have a habit of reflecting on the year that has passed. With the focus on the youth, the SARL has experienced a momentous year in terms of having successfully hosted the prestigious annual IARU YOTA 2018 Summer Camp, a first for South Africa and Africa. In addition to this, we are experiencing some growth in our membership numbers after a successful AGM earlier in the year, and the popular combined SARL/AMSAT SA workshops held to date contributed tremendously in starting various new projects. Our members have done their part and we noted that activities within many aspects of our beloved hobby are expanding, with growing interest in CW, Satellite activities, V/UHF communication, and BACAR flights, to name but a few.
"The holiday season provides for opportunities to enjoy amateur radio activity. Remember to maintain a healthy balance between family and time spent with the hobby. On a similar note, I would like to encourage you to spare a thought for, and reach out to, the lonely, to those with no family or friends close by and who may not be experiencing the Festive Season as a joyful time. Why not reach out to them in some way – is this not what Christmas is all about?
"I would like to take this opportunity sincerely to thank our dedicated team of volunteers, members and affiliated clubs for journeying with us during 2018. Your hard work, participation and support ensured that we were able to live, laugh, grow, experiment, operate and learn together for another year. Drive safely wherever you travel, be vigilant, and remember the dangers to which we are all exposed every day, do not take holidays!
"Wishing you and your families the very best and warmest of Season’s Greetings before this old year is through. May you experience an enjoyable holiday season and a New Year filled with peace, joy and success."
THE JANUARY 2019 RADIOZS
The closing date for your Radio ZS article is Wednesday 26 December and the editor will have the magazine ready for download by 31 December. Thank you to Eddie Leighton who read the request in the December Radio ZS and will be providing a monthly RaDAR column. What about the VHFers, and the Satelliters and SOTA enthusiasts? Send your article to radiozs@sarl.org.za.
THE 2019 SARL CONTEST MANUAL AND THE DIARY OF EVENTS
The 2019 SARL Contest Manual and the 2019 Diary of Events are both available for download from the League web site. As mention in SARL News last Sunday, changes have been made to certain contests and two new contests have been added.
The Diary of Events contains information about unmanned devices, the DXCC list and the HF and the VHF/UHF and higher band plans. Download a copy today.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
ARRL'S LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD TOPS 1 BILLION QSO RECORDS
As of 19 December, more than 1 billion contact records have been entered into ARRL's Logbook of The World (LoTW) system. And, while 1 billion QSO records represents a significant milestone, a more important statistic may be the nearly 187 million contacts confirmed via LoTW over its 15-year history. The one billionth record was uploaded by 7X3WPL, the Sahara DX Radio Club, at 23:32 UTC for a 20 metre SSB contact with Davide Cler, IW1DQS, that took place on 28 December 2016. The upload resulted in a match (QSL).
LoTW debuted in 2003 after a lot of behind-the-scenes planning and development. Initially, LoTW got off to a slow start. While user numbers gradually grew to about 5,000, a lot of hams didn't fully understand what LoTW was or how it worked and opening an account could be cumbersome. LoTW continued with few major changes until October 2011, when a perfect storm struck - a large ingestion of logs after the CQ World Wide DX Contest and a freak snowstorm that knocked out power for more than a week in most places. The disaster was a blessing in disguise, though, because it revealed weaknesses in the LoTW software and hardware; which have since been corrected. Now, ARRL is looking at the development of LoTW 2.0, Field Services and Radiosport Department Manager Norm Fusaro, W3IZ said. "Over the years, we have added more awards that can be applied for using LoTW QSL credits: VUCC, Triple Play and two CQ awards - WPX and WAZ."
Today, LoTW boasts some 112 000 users in all 340 DXCC entities, and 75% of all DXCC applications are filed via LoTW.
NO 5 MHZ ENDORSEMENT FOR WORKED ALL CONTINENTS
The IARU, which sponsors the Worked All Continents award, has made clear that it does not sponsor a 5 MHz (60 metres) endorsement. "All IARU member-societies please note: the IARU Worked All Continents award is not available with an endorsement for 5 MHz," an IARU announcement from IARU Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, said. "The only band endorsements currently available are for 160, 80, 6 and 2 metres as well as 70 and 23 cm." The question arose after an individual displaying a purported IARU WAC 5 MHz Award certificate on QRZ.com said other IARU member-societies have been issuing WAC certificates bearing a 5 MHz endorsement under IARU auspices. Ordinarily, an ARRL member would apply for the award through the League, but this individual's membership had lapsed; he apparently looked elsewhere. ARRL told the individual that the award, displayed over Dave Sumner's signature, "does not match the awards we issue from ARRL, nor can we find any application that was submitted for such an award." ARRL issues no specific awards for 60 metres. Dave Sumner did say that WAC endorsements for 135.7 kHz and 472 kHz would be available shortly, however.
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
25 December – Christmas Day.
26 December – Family Day and the closing date for articles for the January Radio ZS.
31 December – End of the YOTA 2018 month, the 2018 CQ DX Marathon and the ARRL International Grid Chase.
1 January – New Year’s Day and the start of the 2019 CQ DX Marathon, the ARRL Straight Key Night and the Green Keys Night.
5 January – the Pretoria ARC Flea Market.
5 and 6 January – the ARRL RTTY/FT8 Roundup.
9 January – all provincial schools re-open.
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
"The holiday season provides for opportunities to enjoy amateur radio activity. Remember to maintain a healthy balance between family and time spent with the hobby. On a similar note, I would like to encourage you to spare a thought and reach out to the lonely, to those with no family or friends close by and who may not be experiencing the Festive Season as a joyful time. Why not reach out to them in some way – is this not what Christmas is all about?
"Wishing you and your families the very best and warmest of Season’s Greetings before this old year is through. May you experience an enjoyable holiday season and a New Year filled with peace, joy and success."
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/6, edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR and read by ..............
From the news team, Seasons Greetings and best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
