SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 12 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.
We start the bulletin with news of a silent key.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Dave Holliday, ZS5HN went silent on Thursday 9 May 2019. He had been busy in his shack and garage and when entering his home, collapsed and died. Dave was the Deputy Director for SARL Hamnet KwaZulu Natal.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Cheryl, family and friends.
Pause:
In the news, today:
ELECTRONIC VOTING FOR THE AGM MOTIONS
THE WEDNESDAY 80 M CLUB SPRINT ON 15 MAY
and
THE FIRST RADIO AMATEUR EXAM FOR 2019 ON 18 MAY
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
The SARL News Team wishes all the Mothers a happy Mother’s Day!
ELECTRONIC VOTING FOR THE AGM MOTIONS
The electronic voting for the three motions discussed at the 2019 AGM will take place from Monday 13 May to Wednesday 22 May. The three motions were included in the 2019 AGM Booklet and will be found on the voting page as well. On the voting page you will be asked for your call sign and member password. For each of the motions, you can vote in favour; against or abstain. After making your selection, the system will record your vote and send you an e-mail notification. The system will not allow you to vote a second time. A SARL Communication will be sent out on Sunday afternoon with all the information.
THE WEDNESDAY 80 M CLUB SPRINT ON 15 MAY
The second Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint will be on the air from 17:00 to 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 15 May 2019 with CW activity between 3 510 and 3 570 kHz and Phone activity between 3 603 and 3 650 kHz and between 3 700 and 3 750 kHz, remember that the segment between 3 651 and 3 699 is contest free!
The exchange is a RS or RST report and your grid square (e.g. KG30). You score 2 points for every QSO, with 5 points for the first QSO with each ZS call area (ZS1 to ZS8) and 5 points for the first QSO with each country outside South Africa. Log sheets in MS Excel format ONLY shall be submitted by Wednesday 22 May by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. The name of the operator's Club must be shown on the log sheet. The Excel log sheet can be found on the Contest Page on the League web site or use the one you used for the March Sprint.
THE FIRST RADIO AMATEUR EXAM FOR 2019 ON 18 MAY
The first RAE for 2019 will take place next Saturday 18 May at various exam centres around the country. There are 167 candidates who have registered for the exam; This is a record number. A big thank you goes to all the clubs and the individuals who promote the hobby, thereby making the RAE a success. The Council and the RAE Team wish all the candidates the best of luck and hope to hear the new call signs on air soon.
IS VERTICAL ANTENNA POLARISATION BETTER FOR TROPO IN THE COASTAL AREAS?
The big debate on Saturday 25 May at the VHF workshop at the NARC will examine this and other polarisation of antenna questions. Do not miss the "Horizontal versus Vertical antenna polarisation for long distance VHF communication debate." 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. Various other subjects of interest in taking your amateur radio experience to the next level are also on the agenda.
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.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League which is broadcast on the 145,650 MHz repeater in Port Elizabeth.
SARL HAMNET SECURED THE SAFETY OF CLOSE TO 2000 CYCLISTS
SARL Hamnet Gauteng South was in full action on Sunday 5 May when the organisation provided communication and general support to participants in the annual 100 Cycle Challenge, which took place from Germiston Lake. It is autumn's biggest road cycling event drawing participants from Gauteng, the rest of South Africa and the African continent. Apart from the traditional 100 km for all categories, the organisers included a 50 km option for riders who prefer a shorter distance. The UCI event for male road cyclists (category 1.2 one-day class 2) was raced over 130 km, culminating with six laps of five kilometres each around Germiston Lake.
At 03:00 on Sunday morning members of the SARL Hamnet team accompanied the fencing teams who were responsible for deploying the speed fences to close off the various roads along the cycle routes. After setting up of the Operations Centre, the SARL Hamnet team received their final instructions and departed to their designated points. After the race, Audri Joao from the event organisers wrote "I have no words - thank you so much for all you did for the 2019 100 Cycle Challenge. I shudder to think what would have happened without your expertise and professionalism." Read the report on the SARL webpage at www.sarl.org.za or listen to the SARL Hamnet report in AR Today at 10:00 CAT.
RADIO COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE DARKNESS INTO LIGHT HIKE
The Boland Amateur Radio Club provided radio communication during "Darkness into Light" hike in Cape Town. The Club provided radio communication from 04:30 on Saturday 11 May during the annual world-wide "Darkness into Light" event. The event was hosted in 200 cities, in 19 countries across 5 continents this year. BARK members who took part in this special event were ZS1DDK, ZS1ADL, ZS1JDL, ZS1AN, ZS1TAF, ZS1BOK and ZS2SD who was visiting Cape Town. For more information on "Darkness into Light" visit https://www.darknessintolight.ie
THE ZS3 SPRINT NEXT SUNDAY
The ZS3 Sprint will be on the air from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC on Sunday 19 May 2019. It is a phone and CW contest on the 40-metre band and this year the ZS3 Clubs play a bigger roll in the Sprint. Get all the information in the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
CONTEST RESULTS
The results of the SARL RTTY Contest held in February are as follows:
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN - 87 points
2nd Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC - 36 points
3rd Marius Snyman, ZR6MS 30 points
4th All Amateur Radio Club, W7PU - 5 points
Nine logs were received for the Autumn QRP contest. The results are as follows:
1st The West Rand Amateur Radio Club, ZS6WR - 972 points
2nd The Jeugland Radio Club, ZR6JRC - 192 points
3rd Volker Otto, ZS3Y - 168 points
4th The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club, ZS6PTA - 120 points
THE JOHANNESBURG ARC FLEA MARKET
The Johannesburg Amateur Radio Club will be hosting a Flea Market on Saturday 25 May 2019. All are welcome to attend. For more info or to book a table, please send an email to zs6tjclub@gmail.com or visit the club’s website at http://zs6tj-club.co.za/. Refreshments and lunch will be on sale.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. There are currently a few sunspots visible but only low levels of solar flaring are expected.
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:
Today – Mother’s Day
13 to 22 May – the electronic voting on the three AGM motions
15 May – the Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint
17 to 19 May – the Dayton Hamvention
18 May – the May RAE
19 May – the ZS3 Sprint
20 May – Closing date for AWA Valve QSO Party Logs
24 May – Closing date for June Radio ZS
25 to 26 – CQ WPX CW Contest
01 June – West Rand ARC Flea Market
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
The electronic voting for the three motions discussed at the 2019 AGM will take place from Monday 13 May to Wednesday 22 May. The three motions were included in the 2019 AGM Booklet and will be found on the voting page as well. A SARL Communication will be sent out on Sunday afternoon with all the information.
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 programme, '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. A rebroadcast can be heard on Monday evenings at 19:30 Central African Time on 3 620 kHz. 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 Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY, edited by Dennis Green, ZS4BS and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
