SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 24 MARCH 2019
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:
CAN THE WESTERN CAPE SET A NEW RECORD?
SENTECH TO CLOSE BLOEMENDAL SHORTWAVE STATION
and
THE 3Y0I DXPEDITION TEAM HAS DEPARTED FOR BOUVET ISLAND (AT LAST)
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
CAN THE WESTERN CAPE SET A NEW RECORD?
Can the record set by the 2018 AGM in Pretoria be improved on in 2019 by Stellenbosch? Can the Western Cape set a new attendance record for the AGM? The AGM attendance in 2018 was 351 members made up of 244 proxies and 107 members present. This was the second highest attendance figure since 2005. Fill in and submit your registration form or fill in a proxy form. Both are available on the front page of the League web site. Go on, we dare you!
In Rule 10.1 and 11.1 of the Rules of the SARL, you will find information about the AGM. Rule 6.3 of the Constitution and Rule 11.7 of the Rules tell us that a 15% quorum is required to change the Constitution and Rules and that a 10% quorum is required to transact other business at an AGM. If, after the registration on the morning of the AGM, the number of attendees in person and proxies is less than ten percent of the total number of League members entitled to vote, we do not have an AGM, but rather a gathering of League members.
Why do we need a quorum of not less than ten percent of the total number of League members entitled to vote? Because the Annual General Meeting must approve or otherwise amend the minutes of any previous general meeting; receive the annual report of the Council; receive and consider the audited account of income and expenditure and balance sheet of the League as at the end of the financial year and the auditors report if any, together with unaudited interim accounts of income and expenditure and balance sheet as at 31st December; receive a budget for the ensuing year; elect an auditor for the ensuing year and adopt the subscriptions for the following year and to consider any intra vires motion of which due notice shall have been given.
If there is no quorum present, there is no meeting and the above points cannot be transacted. So, it is of utmost importance that you as a League Member attend the AGM in person or provide your proxy vote to a member who is attending.
THE SARL AWARDS DINNER
The venue for the 2019 SARL Awards Dinner is the Devonvale Golf Estate in Bottelary Road in Stellenbosch. The guest speaker will be Sias Mostert, the chairman of the SCS Aerospace Group. There are still 19 seats available for the Awards Dinner, use the same registration form as for the AGM and book a seat for the Dinner.
UNLOCKING AMATEUR RADIO TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM ANOTHER EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED
The SARL Unlocking Amateur Radio Technology Symposium will be presented in Stellenbosch on Friday 12 April starting at 13:00 CAT. If you would like to take your amateur radio experience to a higher level, then this is another event not to be missed. Only 50 seats are available to SARL members at the discounted price of R250. After the first 50 seats have been booked more seats will be available at R700 each. Non-members do not qualify for the discounted rate but can register at R700.
Some of the subjects included in the programme are: the VHF reverse repeater beacon network, WSPR operation and how this development progressed to FT8, the West Coast propagation phenomena, Software Defined Radio, Amateur Radio first geostationary satellite, OSCAR 100 and how you can get involved on a small budget and how low-cost dongles can turn your computer or laptop into a multiple frequency receiver. Full details and a registration form are available on www.sarl.org.za.
AMSAT SA SPACE SYMPOSIUM A GREAT SUCCESS
The AMSAT SA Space Symposium held last weekend was a great success with good attendance including delegates from Namibia, Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg. The conference featured presentations and demonstration covering a broad spectrum of amateur radio activities. The papers will be made available on www.amsatsa.org.za from next weekend.
You are listening to a news Bulletin of the South African Radio League.
SENTECH TO CLOSE BLOEMENDAL SHORTWAVE STATION
Sentech will close its Bloemendal Shortwave Broadcasting station on 30 March, this means that today's Amateur Radio Today will be the last programme to be transmitted on the 7 and 17 MHz broadcast bands. Amateur Radio Today will however still be available on 7 082 kHz from Durban and on many repeaters around South Africa and from the SARL home page on www.sarl.org.za.
Sentech inherited South Africa's Bloemendal shortwave radio station near Meyerton when Radio RSA was closed down. Radio RSA started its broadcast on 1 May 1966 and by 1976 the station transmitted for 36 hours a week in twelve languages including English, French, Portuguese, and Afrikaans. The service was discontinued in 1992. The only transmission that survived the close down was a broadcast into Africa, renamed Channel Africa. The SABC also transmits Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) on shortwave to the Northern Cape. Sentech also took over the sponsorship of Amateur Radio Today.
To increase coverage on HF in the Southern African area the SARL is looking at transmitting the programme on 7 MHz from more locations like the Western Cape, Free State and Gauteng to compliment the 7082 kHz transmission by Louis, ZS5LP from Durban. The frequencies being considered are in the band between 7 100 and 7 200 kHz. On Monday evenings 80 metres is also under consideration. Radio Amateurs willing to offer their services on Sundays at 10:00 CAT and/or on Monday evenings on 80 metres are invited to send their contact details to artoday@sarl.org.za.
The SARL could not make this announcement earlier as Sentech was unable to confirm their planned close down and requested the SARL not to announce the closure earlier.
HAVE YOU ORDERED YOU SARL SHIRT?
The short-sleeved shirt costs R345-00 while the long-sleeved shirt costs R380-00, both shirts have the SARL logo embroidered on them. A name tag is available at 55-00. Photos of the shirts and the name tag can be seen on the SARL forum and the SARL Facebook page.
Please order as follows: send an e-mail zs6lme@gmail.com and confirm how many short or long-sleeved shirts are ordered and indicate if you want a name tag. Confirm your nearest POSTNET address for delivery - cost R100-00 extra. Pay the correct amount in the following account - Erasmus Ing Trust account at ABSA, account number 40 4947 8830 and in the reference: B52 plus your call sign. Delivery is about 3 weeks after receipt of payment. If you order now, you can collect your shirt at the 2019 Day of the Radio Amateur in Stellenbosch on 12 and 13 April.
THE 3Y0I DXPEDITION TEAM HAS DEPARTED FOR BOUVET ISLAND
The 3Y0I Bouvet Island DXpedition website has announced that the team of operators, led by Polish DXpeditioner Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX set sail on 19 March from Cape Town for the remote Antarctic island onboard the MV Atlantic Tuna. Some would say about time!
If everything goes well, the team should reach Bouvet around 26 March. Landing on the island will be strictly dependent on weather conditions met upon arrival. The team hope to be on the air by the end of March, but this is subject to change due to the vagaries of sea and weather conditions. The team plans to stay at the island at least for 2 weeks, with an option to extend the stay to 3 - 4 weeks, if weather and other factors permit. 3Y0I will attempt to produce a workable signal on 160 and 80 metres in the challenging Bouvet Island environment. The high-volume bands are expected to be 20, 30, and 40 metres.
RESULTS OF THE SARL YL SPRINT
The contest committee received six logs for the SARL YL Sprint held on Saturday 9 March.
1st Karin Andrews, ZS6MMA 96 points
2nd Clarissa Clark, ZS6LIS 70 points
3rd Simone Jones, ZS6SIM 62 points
4th Valerie Wagner, ZS5VAL 55 points
5th Heather Holland, ZS5YH 18 points
6th Roy Walsh, ZS3RW 14 points.
LOTS OF ACTIVITY DURING THE SARL 80 M CLUB SPRINT
The 80 m band was active on Wednesday evening with stations calling CQ Contest. The next 80 m Club Sprint takes place on Wednesday 15 May 2019. The contest committee has received 25 logs to date. The closing date for log submissions is midnight on Wednesday 27 March and send it to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. Your log should be named my call sign 80 m Club Sprint. The excel log sheet can be downloaded from the Contest page on www.sarl.org.za
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
26 March the closing date for your article for the April Radio ZS.
30 and 31 March the CQ WPX SSB Contest.
1 April the closing date for VHF/UHF Analogue logs.
2 April the Provincial schools re-open.
4 April the SARL 80 m QSO Party.
6 April the RaDAR Challenge and the Pretoria ARC Flea market.
6 and 7 April the SARL VHF/UHF Digital contest.
12 April the SARL Unlocking Amateur Radio Technology Symposium.
13 April the SARL AGM and Awards Dinner.
18 April World Amateur Radio Day
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
Can the record set by the 2018 AGM in Pretoria be broken in 2019 by Stellenbosch? Can the Western Cape set a new attendance record for the AGM? The AGM attendance in 2018 was 351 members made up of 244 proxies and 107 members present. This was the second highest attendance figure since 2005. Fill in and submit your registration form or fill in a proxy form. Both are available on the front page of the League web site. Remember to book for the Awards Dinner as well.
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 and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
