SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 04 AUGUST 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 and 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 Leon Isaacson, ZS1CI went silent on Sunday 7 July at his home in Woodbridge Island, Milnerton, he was 92. Dr Leon was a lecturer at UCT in the Physiology Department for many years.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family in the UK and his friends.
In the news, today:
SARL HF PHONE CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
SARL YL AND YOUTH SPRINT NEXT WEEKEND
and
LZ19YOTA FROM THE NINTH YOTA SUMMER CAMP
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE SARL HF PHONE CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
The SARL HF Phone Contest is on the air this afternoon from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC with activity on 80, 40 and 20 meters. The exchange is a realistic RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001. Submit your log in ADIF with a summary sheet or Cabrillo with a summary sheet or MS Excel spreadsheet (the summary sheet already included) and labelled “my call sign HF Phone” by 12 August 2019 by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. The MS Excel log sheet is available on the Contest page of the League website. Find the complete set of rules on page 38 of the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
Each of the three Contests have trophies to be won, and this includes a trophy for the Youth and for the YL’s. There is also a trophy for the Club participation. You can participate as a single operator or get the Club station on the air as a multi-operator station.
IARU REGION 1 TO TAKE MONITORING OF THE RF NOISE FLOOR ANOTHER STEP FORWARD
During a two-hour teleconference, the monitoring group of the IARU Region 1 EMC committee discussed various methods to take the monitoring of increases in the RF noise floor forward. The group discussed the DARC and SARL noise monitoring projects and agreed that an important step forward will be the development of a common data format, so that results from both and possible other future systems, will be compatible. Various ideas were exchanged, and it was agreed that Dr David Lauder, G0SNO will collate the various proposals and circulate a draft format for further discussion. One of the important factors considered was the identification of the antenna type used and a way to calibrate the data against a known standard.
The SARL was represented at the teleconference by Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, Brian Jacobs, ZS6YZ, Anton Janovsky, ZR6AIC and Leon Lessing, ZS6LMG. The SARL and AMSATSA will be arranging a noise monitoring workshop on Saturday 28 September. More details soon
THE SARL YL AND THE SARL YOUTH SPRINT NEXT WEEKEND
On Friday 9 August, National Women’s Day, the second SARL YL Sprint will be on the air from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC with phone activity on 40 meters. The exchange is an RS report and YL or YM. What is a YM? Young Man sounds so much better than Old Man!
The second SARL Youth Sprint takes place on Saturday 10 August from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC to celebrate International Youth Day on Monday 12 August. It is a phone sprint on the 40 meter band and the exchange is an RS report and the operators age. The rules for the two contests can be found on pages 54 and 55 of the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
THE AUGUST ISSUE OF RADIO ZS
Have you downloaded the August Radio ZS? It has been available since Tuesday 30 July from the Publications tab on the League web site. Read more about the 2019 Southern African Lighthouse Award; Vertical vs horizontal antenna polarisation benefits questioned and SOTA and VHF Activities. You can build an automatic antenna switch, an antenna switch catering for 4 radios and 2 antennas and a VHF/UHF Discone Antenna. When last did you listen to the medium wave bands? Find out more in ‘A Long Listen On 1 240 kHz.”
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
LZ19YOTA FROM THE NINTH YOTA SUMMER CAMP
LZ19YOTA is the call sign that will be used during the 9th Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Camp, to be hosted by the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA) between 11 and 17 August. This annual event brings together young people from IARU Region 1 member societies for a week, creating an opportunity to learn all about different nationalities and cultures, foster international friendships and goodwill and learn new amateur radio skills. QSL via the bureau to LZ1BJ.
THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER
The Perseid Meteor Shower has been active since 23 July and will show its maximum on Tuesday 13 August 2019. It will reach its end by 20 August.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS
The Office at the NARC has received membership applications from the following radio amateurs – Heinrich Zwemstra, V51HZ; Johan Terblanche, ZS1I; Hendrik Myburgh, ZS1SK;
JG Smit, ZS6BVM; Rudi Venter, ZS6DX; Katrin Venter, ZS6KVR; Ian Reid, ZS6RE; Deon du Plessis, ZS6RBS; Charles Thatcher, ZSL1006; Johan Lombard, ZSL1205; Theunis de Jongh, ZSL1206; Marthinus Botha, ZSL1207; Dirk Crafford, ZSL1208; Pieter Pienaar ZSL1209 and the
Ekurhuleni Amateur Radio Society ZS6ARS. 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
CONTEST RESULTS
The SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint of 17 July holds the record of log submissions – 51 were received. Can the SARL HF Phone Contest this afternoon, beat 51 submissions?
The winner of the Lucky Draw prize for submitting their log for the SARL VHF/UHF QSO party is Brad Mostert, ZS6WWW. Congratulations Brad.
The Contest Committee received 20 logs and 1 check log for the ZS2 Sprint held on Sunday 21 July 2019. The complete set of results was published in HF Happenings 858, which can be downloaded from the Publications tab on the League website.
1st Mitch Rundle, ZS2DK - 96 points
2nd Dylan Macdonald, ZS2MAC - 86 points
3rd Barry Nugent, ZS2NF - 55 points
The Contest Committee received 5 logs for the Winter QRP contest held on Saturday 20 July.
1st the West Rand ARC, ZS6WR - 552 points
2nd Nico Oelofse, ZS4N - 264 points
3rd Schalk van Vuuren, ZS1LL - 198 points
4th the Pretoria ARC, ZS6PTA - 88 points
5th Nic van Duffelen, ZR6AEZ - 4 points.
Thanks to all who submitted their logs.
CLUB NEWS
The Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre held its 73rd AGM on Saturday 27 July. During the meeting Life Membership of CTARC was bestowed on John Hycox, ZS1AGH, and Ian Pope, ZS1SX. The Ham Spirit Award went to James Dudgoen, ZS1ZKZ; the Wellie Award to Kevern Thurling, ZS1ABU; the Participation Award to Lem Melidonis, ZS1LEM; the Fox Hunt award to Colin Porter, ZS1RS and the Buck Taylor award to Chris Gozzard ZS1CDG
The following Committee was elected
Chairman: Rob Bareham, ZS1SA
Vice-Chairman: Noel Futter, ZS1FW
Secretary/Treasurer: Anne Bareham
Bulletin Coordinator: Paul Johnson, ZS1S
Meeting Logistics: Paul Kennedy, ZS1PXK
Assets Manager: Peter Cloete, ZS1PC
WC Repeater Working Group, Club House and Lighthouse manager: John Ward, ZS1EQ
QSL Manager: Barry Fletcher, ZS1FJ
RAE, Field Day, SOTA, Chris Gozzard: ZS1CDG
Events reporter and photographer: Tony Kahn, ZS1TK
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 18 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:
This afternoon – the SARL HF Phone contest
9 Aug – National Woman’s day and the SARL YL Sprint
10 Aug – the SARL Youth Sprint
12 Aug – International Youth Day
17 and 18 Aug – the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
18 Aug – the SARL HF Digital contest
25 Aug – the SARL HF CW contest
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
The SARL HF Phone Contest is on the air this afternoon from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC with activity on 80, 40 and 20 meters. The exchange is a realistic RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001. Submit your log by 12 August 2019 by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. Find the complete set of rules on page 38 of the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
This concludes our bulletin for this morning.
We invite clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners in both English and Afrikaans, if possible, by following the news inbox link on the South African Radio League web page. News items to include 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. 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 Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY, edited by Dennis Green, ZS4BS and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
