SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 14 APRIL 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.
We start the bulletin this morning with news of a silent key.
It is with regret that we announce that the key of Dick Stratford, ZS6RO went silent on Friday 12 April 2019. Dick provided a podcast of the Amateur Radio Today programme for many years. Dick was honoured with Honorary Life Membership at the 2018 SARL AGM.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
THE 2019 DAY OF THE RADIO AMATEUR
SIX RADIO AMATEURS ADDED TO THE SARL HALL OF FAME
and
AMATEUR RADIO TODAY ON 80 METRES ON MONDAYS
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE 2019 DAY OF THE RADIO AMATEUR
The SARL "Unlocking Amateur Radio Technology" Symposium took place at the Protea Hotel in Stellenbosch on Friday 12 April and was attended by 60 people. The presentations were well received; a lot of interesting discussion took place.
Registration for the AGM started at 07:00 at the Data Voice House Auditorium in the Techno Park and at 09:30, Nico, ZS6QL welcomes everybody present. The Stellenbosch AGM has taken the lead in the AGM attendance figures. There were 73 members in attendance carrying 298 proxies, giving a total of 371 votes – 20 more than the 2018 AGM. The eldest radio amateur at the meeting was Dennis, ZS1AU aged 90 and the youngest was Alastair, ZS6S aged 17. The partners enjoyed the visit to JC le Roux for the champagne and nougat tasting.
The Financial documents were discussed and approved by the meeting as well as the new subscription fees for 2019/2020. The three motions were discussed and will now be voted on electronically by all the League members. The SARL Secretary will send out a SARL Communication giving all the information about the voting process.
The Sandton ARC and the ZS6ZU Hammies Club will be hosting the 2020 SARL Day of the Radio Amateur.
During the afternoon, the VHF/UHF and the SOTA meeting took place.
The Stellenbosch AGM was also the first AGM to be streamed via YouTube and the SARL thanks Jan van der Vyver, ZS1VDV for making it possible. Reception reports of the YouTube streaming would be appreciated, send it to secretary@sarl.org.za
SIX RADIO AMATEURS ADDED TO THE SARL HALL OF FAME
At the SARL Awards Dinner on Saturday evening, the following radio amateurs were inducted to the SARL Hall of Fame.
Laurie Devereux, ZS5DL; Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP; Colin de Villiers, ZS6COL; Willem Weideman, ZS6X; Chris de Souza, ZS6AVC (SK) and Fred Anderson, ZS6PW (SK).
The recipients of the various SARL Awards and Trophies hand over during the Awards Dinner have been published in Radio ZS and the 2019 AGM Booklet.
A NEW TROPHY FOR VHF/UHF CONTEST
A trophy for the SARL VHF/UHF Digital Contest has been given to the SARL in memory of Koos du Plessis, ZS6BFD. The SARL wants to thank the family of ZS6BFD for the trophy.
HOBBY-X COMPETITION WINNER
At the SARL Unlocking Amateur Radio Symposium, the winner of the Hobby-X competition was drawn from the entries received. The lucky winner of the Raspberry Pi is Peter Jones, ZR6VJ of Polokwane. The Raspberry Pi was sponsored by RS Components.
THE IARU REGION 1 INTERIM MEETING
The HF, VHF/UHF and the EMC committees of IARU Region 1 will be meeting in Vienna, Austria over the weekend of 27 and 28 April. The various papers to be discussed are available on the meeting website at https://vienna.iaru-r1.org/. A list of the papers has been sent out in a SARL Communication dated 13 April. The SARL is concerned about Paper VIE19 C4-012 – 30 m bandplan, which can influence the SSB access to the band.
Please read the Papers and provide your comments to Geoff, ZS6C for HF Matters; Rassie, ZS1YT for VHF matters and to Hans, ZS6AKV for EMC matters.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
AMATEUR RADIO TODAY ON 80 METRES ON MONDAYS
From Monday 15 April 2019, Amateur Radio Today will be transmitted on Mondays at 19:30 CAT on 3 620 kHz by Andy Cairns ZS6ADY. Reception reports are invited. Please send your report to artoday@sarl.org.za. Please give details of the signal strength, antenna and location. The SARL thanks Andy for coming forward to do the weekly relay. The SARL is inviting more amateurs to come forward to become relay stations. Send your details to artoday@sarl.org.za.
A BUSY EASTER WEEKEND
The Easter Weekend is going to be busy with three local contests as well as the Two Oceans Marathon! On Saturday 20 April you can participate in the ZS4SRK Balloon contest and the Autumn QRP contest or you can run the Two Oceans Marathon. On Sunday 21 April, you can participate in the ZS4 Sprint.
The ZS4SRK Balloon Contest will run from 05:00 to 09:00 UTC on Saturday 20 April promoting contacts between radio amateurs via a balloon in flight
The Autumn QRP contest runs from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC on Saturday 20 April with CW and phone activity using 5 Watts output. The first hour is restricted to the 40 metre band and the remaining two hours the contesters are free to use any HF (non-WARC) band as they see fit. The exchange is a realistic RS(T) signal report and a six character grid locator.
The ZS4 Sprint will run from 14:00 to 16:00 UTC Sunday 21 April with phone activity during the first hour and CW activity during the second hour. ZS4 stations will give a RS or RST and the name of their town while all other stations will give a RS or RST report and their province or country name.
Get all the rules and information in the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
RESULTS OF THE SARL HAMNET 40 METRE SIMULATED EMERGENCY CONTEST
The Contest Committee received 14 logs for the Hamnet contest held on Sunday 3 March 2019.
Single operator stationary category
1st Nico Oelofse, ZS4N - 1 241 points
Single operator portable category
1st Keith Lowes, ZS5DCC - 1 242 points
2nd Al Akers, ZS2U - 828 points
3rd Brian Jones, ZS6BV - 600 points
Single operator base station category
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN - 1 218 points
2nd Schalk van Vuuren, ZS1LL - 1 044
3rd Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC - 1 008
Multi operator portable station category
1st Bloemfontein ARC, ZS4BFN - 420 points
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
The SARL has received membership applications from Y Shum, ZSL1201; G de Bruyn, ZSL1202; D Duvenhage, ZSL1203; E Pieterse, ZR6EFP; D le Grange, ZR6DLG; D Vermeulen, ZR6LSD and R Turner, ZS6VIP. Any objections to these membership applications must reach the League Secretary before the Wednesday following this bulletin. Please send your objections to secretary@sarl.org.za
THE AGM OF THE DURBAN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
At a recent AGM of the Durban Amateur Radio Club held on 6 April, the following members were elected to the committee.
Chairman: Louis de Bruin, ZS5LP
Acting Vice Chairman: Sean Beukes, ZS5TI
Treasurer: Louis de Bruin, ZS5LP
Secretary: Kurt Linsin, ZS5KL
Members: Aubrey Worthington ZS5ACW and Denham Eva, ZS5DE
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. Currently there is a single, large sunspot with stable magnetic configuration visible. This sunspot is currently the source of class-B solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around eight. With the recent equinox, the 10 to 30 m bands will still provide some good DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
15 April – the closing date for RaDAR log sheets.
16 April – monthly meeting of the Highway ARC.
18 April – World Amateur Radio Day.
19 April – Good Friday.
20 April – the Autumn QRP Contest, the ZS4SRK Balloon Contest and the Two Oceans Marathon.
21 April – Easter Sunday, the ZS4 Sprint and the May RAE Registration closes.
22 April – Family Day.
27 April – Freedom Day.
27 and 28 April – the IARU Region 1 Interim Meeting is Vienna.
29 April – the closing date for QRP, ZS4 Sprint and VHF/UHF Digital logs.
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
Registration for the AGM started at 07:00 at the Data Voice House Auditorium in the Techno Park and at 09:30, Nico, ZS6QL welcomes everybody present. The Stellenbosch AGM has taken the lead in the AGM attendance figures. There were 73 members in attendance carrying 298 proxies, giving a total of 371 votes – 20 more than the 2018 AGM. The eldest radio amateur at the meeting was Dennis, ZS1AU aged 90 and the youngest was Alastair, ZS6S aged 17.
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 programme can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and on 7 082 kHz lower side-band. On Monday evenings Amateur Radio Today will be transmitted at 19:30 CAT on 3 620 kHz by Andy Cairns ZS6ADY. We welcome your signal reports, comments and suggestions; please send these by e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za.
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
