SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 5 MAY 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 Johan, 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:
AWA SSB QSO PARTY THIS AFTERNOON
SARL 2 M BEACON PROGRAMME TAKING SHAPE
and
WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE GEARING UP FOR SIGNIFICANT AMATEUR RADIO PRESENCE
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
AWA SSB QSO PARTY THIS AFTERNOON
The AWA Valve SSB QSO party takes place this afternoon from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC with activity on the 40 and 80 metre bands. The exchange is your call sign, a RS report, a consecutive serial numbers starting at 001 and the type of radio you are using. The scoring is based on your radio - all valve radio: 3 points per QSO; Hybrid radio: 2 points per QSO and Solid State Radio: 1 point per QSO. The log sheets must be submitted by Monday 20 May 2019 to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za.
SARL 2 M BEACON PROGRAMME TAKING SHAPE
The SARL 2 metre beacon plan which will see two new beacons, is taking shape. This week the project was completed, two beacons will be erected, one in the Bethlehem area and the other one in the Karoo. Multiple Yagi antenna are being considered to get the widest possible coverage. The project will be discussed at the next joint SARL AMSAT SA VHF workshop on Saturday 25 May 2019 at the National Amateur Radio Centre.
Another major discussion is the debate "Horizontal versus Vertical antenna polarisation for long distance VHF communication." The subject has for several years been surrounded by arguments that Vertical polarisation surpasses Horizontal Polarisation in achieving long distance communication on VHF with equal opposite arguments. Dick Coates ZS6BUN has carried out extensive technical paper research and reviewed experiential data from world-wide resources and will present his findings and share his own experiences at the workshop.
The workshop will be held at the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre from 08:30 and ends at 13:00. Midmorning light refreshments will be served. The registration fee is R50 for SARL and AMSAT SA Members and R100 for non-members. To register get details on www.sarl.org.za or www.amsatsa.org.za .You can also download the full workshop agenda from links on the two websites.
SARL VHF/UHF AND MICROWAVE RECORD TABLE
Paul, ZS6NK is the custodian of the SARL VHF/UHF and microwave record table and he has just submitted the Table dated 4 May 2019 for uploaded to the League web site. Paul notes that Lee, ZS5LEE is now the top dog on 2 metres with 110 entities confirmed on LoTW. Please provide your VHF and above achievements to Paul, ZS6NK at zssixnk@gmail.com.
MILLS ON THE AIR
The second weekend in May is always time for the 'Mills on the Air' activity. During this weekend many Mills (wind and water) will be active on the radio. In the Netherlands it is known as National Windmill and Pumping Station weekend and in the UK, it is part of the National Mills Weekend. You can find more information at www.g4cdd.net/mills/index.php and www.pd6mill.com. For South Africa visit www.windmillworld.com/world/southafrica.htm and www.windmillworld.com/watermills/southafrica.htm
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
ITU-R WORKING PARTY 5A MEETING IN GENEVA
IARU Region 1 reported that two of ITU-R Study Group 5 Working Groups are meeting in Geneva between 29 April and 10 May 2019.
Working Party 5A deals with the Land mobile service above 30 MHz (excluding IMT), wireless access in the fixed service and the amateur and amateur-satellite services.
Working Group 5A1, responsible for amateur matters is chaired by Dale Hughes. VK1DSH. The main topic is to finalise a technical report on spectrum requirements and sharing to support the work for World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) Agenda Item 1.1, considering an allocation of the frequency band 50 to 54 MHz to the amateur service in Region 1. The Working Group consists of a mix of radio amateurs and administrations from all over the world and other interested parties like meteorologists and military.
Amateurs present in WP 5A include 5A1 Chairman Dale Hughes, VK1DSH, IARU Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, IARU representative Dave Court, EI3IO, CEPT coordinator Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, DARC representatives Ulrich Mueller, DK4VW and Bernd Mischlewski, DF2ZC and CRAC representative Yin Hu, BD1AZ.
(Southgate ARC News)
WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE GEARING UP FOR SIGNIFICANT AMATEUR RADIO PRESENCE
Amateur Radio will be a part of the 24th World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, USA. The Jamboree has chosen the theme "Unlock a New World." Thousands of Scouts and Scout leaders from some 200 countries are expected to attend. The Jamboree's Amateur Radio Exhibit will use the call sign NA1WJ and will be on the air during the event from 22 July to 2 August at the Summit Bechtel Reserve. Amateur Radio testing is expected to begin as early as 14 July.
The goals of the Amateur Radio station at the World Scout Jamboree are to introduce Amateur Radio to Scouts and Scout leaders through hands-on participation in two-way communication with other stations across the globe. This activity will also serve as the Amateur Radio voice of the Jamboree. Other facets of Amateur Radio at the Jamboree will include Amateur Radio direction finding (ARDF), Amateur Radio satellite contacts, and a scheduled Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with an ISS crew member. It is expected to launch one or two balloons with Amateur Radio payloads and track them as they cross the Atlantic.
(ARRL Letter)
THE RESULTS OF THE SARL 80 M QSO PARTY
The results of the first leg of the 2019 80 Metre QSO Party held on Thursday 4 April 2019 have been released. Approximately 54 stations participated in the QSO party, while 13 contest logs were submitted; percentage logs 24%. There was one log that was irregular and rejected by the contest committee.
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN – 385 points
2nd Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT – 285 points
3rd Johan van Zijl, ZS4DZ – 220 points
4th Woody Collett, ZS3WL – 190 points
The compete results were published on page 69 of the May Radio ZS.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. There are currently 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 will provide some good DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
This afternoon - the AWA Valve SSB QSO Party
11 and 12 May - Mills on the Air event
12 May - Mother's Day
17 to 19 May - the Dayton Hamvention
18 May - the radio amateur examination
19 May - the ZS3 Sprint
25 May - the SARL/AMSAT SA VHF Workshop at the NARC
25 and 26 May - the CQ WPX CW Contest
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The AWA Valve SSB QSO party takes place this afternoon from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC with SSB activity on the 40 and 80 metre bands. The log sheets must be submitted by Monday 20 May 2019 to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za. Please consult the 2019 Blue Book before the contest.
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
