Bulletin readers - the date in the first SK notification is correct.
SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 16 JUNE 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 two silent keys.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Jan Coetzee, ZS5JC went silent in May 2018. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife, son David, ZS5DS, family and friends.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Henk Langenhoven, ZS6PHM of Potchefstroom went silent on Tuesday 11 June 2019. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Barbara, daughters, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
THE SARL TOP BAND QSO PARTY THIS WEEK
WRC-23 AGENDA ITEMS MAY IMPACT 144 MHZ AND 1240 MHZ BANDS
and
THE SARL TO HAND OVER YOTA FLAG AND KEY AT HAM RADIO 2019 IN FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
The SARL News Team wishes all the Fathers a Happy Father’s Day.
THE SARL TOP BAND QSO PARTY THIS WEEK
Have you got the SARL Top Band Certificate? By participating in the SARL Top Band QSO Party from 00:00 UTC on Thursday 20 June 2019 to 00:00 UTC on Monday 24 June 2019, you can make the required QSOs for this certificate. The QSO Party is open to all licensed amateurs that have access to the 160-metre band. CW activity takes place between 1 810 and 1 838 kHz with phone activity between 1 840 – 2 000 kHz and the exchange is a RS(T) report and your provincial or country abbreviation.
Each station can be worked once per mode i.e. once on phone and once on CW and each QSO counts 3 points. Each South African call area and each DXCC country worked is worth 5 bonus points. The total score is the total QSO points plus the bonus points. Logs in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel with a summary sheet labelled “my call sign Top Band,” must be submitted by 2 July 2019 by e-mail to contest@sarl.org.za.
WRC-23 AGENDA ITEMS MAY IMPACT 144 MHZ AND 1240 MHZ BANDS
IARU Region 1 notes that there are two proposals under discussion in Europe as possible future Agenda Items at WRC 2023, which potentially could impact important amateur radio frequencies.
IARU Region 1 says, “The following sets out the current IARU position on these proposals.
A proposal from France to consider the band 144 - 146 MHz as a primary allocation to the Aeronautical Mobile service, as part of a broader consideration of the spectrum allocated to that service. The band 144 - 146 MHz is allocated globally to the amateur and amateur satellite services on a primary basis. This is one of the few primary allocations to the amateur service above 29,7 MHz and as such is an important and widely used part of the amateur spectrum with a vast installed base of users and operational satellite stations.
The IARU views with grave concern any proposal to include this band in the proposed study. It will be representing this view energetically in Regional Telecommunications Organisations and in ITU to seek to obtain assurances that the spectrum will remain a primary allocation for the amateur services.
A proposal to study the amateur allocation in the 1 240 – 1 300 MHz (“23 cm”) band following reported cases of interference to the Galileo navigation system. The IARU is aware of a handful of cases where interference to the Galileo E6 signal has been reported. In all cases these have been resolved by local action with the full cooperation of the amateur stations concerned.
IARU does not want the amateur service to affect the operation of the Galileo system in any way. Joint studies have been carried out to assess the true vulnerability of the system and, based on these, IARU regards the proposal to initiate an Agenda item for WRC-23 as premature. The IARU position is that proper technical assessment of the issues involved should be made in the relevant CEPT study group. Proper account needs to be taken of the operational characteristics of the amateur service in order to develop sensible and proportionate measures that will facilitate the continued utility of the band for amateur experimentation whilst respecting the primary status of the GNSS service. The IARU is ready to cooperate fully in any studies and shares the objective of reaching a secure and permanent solution to the issues of sharing in this band.
The IARU asks its Member Societies to draw this information to the attention of their members and to refrain at this time from making speculative public comments about the situation until further progress has been made in regulatory discussions. The IARU is also ready to discuss this issue with other societies not in IARU membership.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League which is broadcast by the Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society on Sundays on 7 098 kHz and on the Eastern Cape Repeater Network.
THE SARL TO HAND OVER YOTA FLAG AND KEY AT HAM RADIO 2019 IN FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
It is almost a year ago that the SARL received the YOTA Flag and the official Morse key and hosted what is described as the best IARU Youngsters on the Air summer camp event in South Africa. On 21 June, SARL President, Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL and Koos Fick, ZR6KF, SARL Youth coordinator will hand over the Flag and Morse key to the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA) team who will be hosting the 2019 event.
The SARL presented the week-long programme, from 8 - 15 August 2018, at the Kopanong Conference centre outside Benoni. Young people were involved in building a radio transceiver kit, launching and tracking a high-altitude balloon with radio equipment on-board to explore near-space, hone their communication skills using multi frequency amateur radio stations and other technology, and communications-based activities. Exploring near-space with a high-altitude balloon had not before been presented at a YOTA event before. This was a first for the 2018 group of young radio amateurs. The young people visited a game farm and local electronic manufacturing companies. One of the projects was the assembly of a dual band 2 m/70 cm handheld Yagi which they soon turned towards the heavens to work satellites. The Yagi kit was locally put together and subsequently developed into a commercial product of which close to 250 have be sold and are now available from AMSAT SA.
While at Ham Radio in Germany, Nico will also attend the IARU Region 1 International meeting hosted annually by the DARC, the Region 1 Emergency Communications meeting and workshop and visit the RSGB Stall to look at the online exam system that has been developed. YOTA will have its own booth this year and Koos will attend the Youth meetings and participate in all the youth activities planned for the event.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES IN OCTOBER
Richard, ZS6RKE, the National JOTA/JOTI Coordinator reports that the 2019 JOTA/JOTI event will be held on the weekend of 18 to 20 October. This is the largest Scouting event of the year with around 2 million Cubs, Scouts and Guides taking part. We are looking for radio amateurs to assist with running of stations for the event. A simple field station at your local Scout hall or within a Scouting District is all that is required. Over the last 3 years, we have seen a 400% growth is stations, predominately in Division 6.
There is no need to run the whole weekend either, as most of the activity is on the Saturday. If you are keen to get Youth involved in Amateur Radio and give back to your local Scouting community, please contact Richard and he will assist with contacting a local Troop. he can be contacted at richard.hooper@scouts.org.za or richard@sandringhamscouts.co.za.
On Saturday 19 October, the annual CQ Hou Koers event for the Voortrekkers takes place. Contact Andries, ZS6VL at orionvoortrekkers@gmail.com to offer your assistance and to find your local Voortrekker Commando.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. There have now been no sunspots visible for more than 26 concurrent days. 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 may provide some DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:
Today - Youth Day and Father's Day
17 June - Public holiday and World QRP Day
18 June – monthly meeting of the Port Elizabeth ARS
20 to 24 June - the SARL Top Band QSO Party
21 June - Winter Solstice
21 to 23 - Ham Radio 2019 in Friedrichshafen
22 June - the AGM of the Namibian Amateur Radio League in Windhoek
22 and 23 June - the ARRL Field Day
6 July – the SARL Newbie QSO Party
7 July – the ZS5 Sprint
To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:
Have you got the SARL Top Band Certificate? By participating in the SARL Top Band QSO Party from 00:00 UTC on Thursday 20 June 2019 to 00:00 UTC on Monday 24 June 2019, you can make the required QSOs for this certificate. The QSO Party is open to all licensed amateurs that have access to the 160-metre band. CW activity takes place between 1 810 and 1 838 kHz with phone activity between 1 840 – 2 000 kHz and the exchange is a RS(T) report and your provincial or country abbreviation.
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 by Andy, ZS6ADY 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
/EX
