SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 25 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 in 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:
THE SARL HF CW CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
SARL ICASA LIAISON COMMITTEE MEETS
and
BOOK NOW FOR SARL RF NOISE WORKSHOP
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE SARL HF CW CONTEST THIS AFTERNOON
The last contest in the SARL HF Contest series is the CW Contest taking place from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC this afternoon with CW activity on 80, 40 and 20 meters. The exchange is an RST report and a serial number starting at 001. There are two trophies to be won for this contest. Submit your log in ADIF or Cabrillo with a summary sheet or use the MS Excel spreadsheet and label your log "my call sign CW Digital." The log must be sent by midnight on Monday 2 September by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. Find the rules on page 38 of the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
SARL/ICASA LIAISON COMMITTEE MEETS
The SARL/ICASA liaison committee met on Friday 23 August and discussed a number of issues affecting amateur radio. In this week's SARL News we comment on two of the agenda items and will report on several other important issues in next week's SARL News.
If you have renewed your licence for 5 years and only received a valid one-year license from ICASA, the spectrum licencing department would like to hear from you. Send an e-mail with your full name, call sign, license number and proof of payment to dbence@icasa.org.za and the problem will be rectified and a five-year license sent to you.
If you experience interference on VHF and UHF amateur radio frequencies caused by a non-licensed persons or groups, it is important to lodge a complaint with ICASA. Complaints must be in writing and can be lodged on the ICASA website at www.icasa.org.za or a complaint form can be completed and mailed to consumer@icasa.org.za. Give as much detail as possible including any reference as to the nature of interference and information that can lead to the identification of the interfering person or system. Send a copy of the complaint to the ICASA Regional Manager. The SARL has requested ICASA to supply an updated list of regional managers and their contact details. Once the regional information becomes available it will be posted on the SARL website. For good measure also copy admin@sarl.org.za.
ARRL CONTEST AND DXCC RULES NOW PROHIBIT AUTOMATED CONTACTS
Following the direction of the ARRL Board of Directors, the ARRL has incorporated changes to the rules for all ARRL-sponsored contests and DXCC, prohibiting automated contacts. These changes also apply to the Worked All States (including Triple Play and 5-Band WAS), VHF/UHF Century Club and Fred Fish, W5FF, Memorial awards. The changes are effective immediately.
A resolution at the July ARRL Board of Directors meeting pointed to "growing concern over fully automated contacts being made and claimed" for contest and DXCC credit. The rules now require that each claimed contact include contemporaneous direct initiation by the operator on both sides of the contact. Initiation of a contact may be either local or remote. This now also applies to all SARL sponsored contests.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
BOOK NOW FOR SARL RF NOISE WORKSHOP
Registration for the SARL RF Noise workshop to be held at the National Amateur Radio Centre on Saturday 28 September is now open. The workshop is presented in partnership with AMSAT SA. The agenda features a panel discussion on how to resolve mains noise including a practical case study. The agenda will also feature a review of the SARL RF Noise monitoring programme, updates on the Noise monitoring software, active antenna designs with reviews of on the air test results, a hand-on session on the deployment and application of dongles to turn your laptop or computer into a powerful receiver and how identify RF noise sources around your house. Book now, the details and forms are available on www.sarl.org.za
WHERE CAN I GO FOR FIELD DAY?
The South African National Parks will be presenting the 14th annual SA National Parks Week from 8 to 15 September 2019. This year the SA National Parks Week include weekends. You get free access to the parks, visit www.sanparks.org/about/events/parks_week/default.php to see which parks are included. The SARL National Field Day is on the air over the weekend of 14 and 15 September and your Field Day field station could be in a National Park for Parks on the Air/WWFF.
CONTEST RESULTS
The Contest Committee received 12 logs for the SARL YL Sprint held on Friday 9 August.
1st Sonet de Wet, ZS3SW - 103 points
2nd Alta Gaybba, ZR3PA - 100 points
3rd Simone Jones, ZS6SIM - 87 points
The combined results of the March and August Sprints
1st Karin Andrews, ZS6MMA - 171 points
2nd Simone Jones, ZS6SIM - 149 points
3rd Sonet de Wet, ZS2SW - 103 points
The Contest Committee received 3 logs for the SARL Youth Sprint held on Saturday 10 August.
1st Breanne Schutte, ZS5BZ - 29 points
2nd Brenna Gibbons, ZS5BL - 26 points
3rd Brad Mostert, ZS6WWW - 9 points
The combined results of the June and August Sprints
1st Jean van Heerden, ZR6RZ - 44 points
2nd Werner Swanepoel, ZS2WS - 38 points
3rd Philip van Tonder, ZS6LVT - 31 points
The Contest Committee has received 6 logs for the SARL HF Digital Contest. The closing date is midnight on Monday 26 August 2019 and logs must be sent to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za
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:
25 August SARL HF CW contest
26 August the closing date for the SARL HF Digital contest logs
2 September the closing date for the SARL HF CW contest logs
7 September the West Rand Flea Market
7 and 8 September the Region 1 SSB Field Day and RSGB SSB Field Day
14 September the Boland ARC AGM
14 and 15 September the SARL National Field Day
15 September registration for the October RAE closes
17 September the Highway ARC monthly meeting
18 September the SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint
20 September provincial schools close
28 September the SARL/AMSAT SA RF Noise Workshop
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
The last contest in the SARL HF Contest series is the CW Contest taking place from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC this afternoon with CW activity on 80, 40 and 20 meters. The exchange is an RST report and a serial number starting at 001. There are two trophies to be won for this contest. Find the rules on page 38 of the 2019 SARL Blue Book.
This concludes our bulletin for this morning.
Clubs and individuals are invited 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 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 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.
