SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 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 and 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 the news of three silent keys.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the keys of Marlene Swanepoel, Leon Havenga and Henk van de Pol went silent in the past week.
Marlene Swanepoel ex-ZS6SMA passed away on Wednesday 18 September. Our condolences to her sister Sonja, brother David Fritz, other family and friends.
Leon Havenga, ex-ZS2QG, ex-ZS4WW and ex-ZS1EE passed away during the past weekend. Our condolences to his wife Sybil, daughter Tania, son Adrian, other family and friends.
Henk van de Pol ZS1VDP, a member of the Oakdale ARC passed away on Monday 23 September. Our condolences to his wife Sheryl, his sons Ryan and Calvin, ZS1VFR, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
THE SARL 80 M QSO PARTY ON THURSDAY
IS YOUR CLUB TAX COMPLIANT?
and
THE 80 M CLUB SPRINT HEADING FOR AN INTERESTING FINAL
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE SARL 80 M QSO PARTY ON THURSDAY
The second leg of the SARL 80 m QSO Party is on the air from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC on Thursday 3 October 2019 with phone activity between 3 603 to 3 650 and 3 700 to 3 800. Please note that the segment 3 651 to 3 699.99 is contest free. The exchange is your call sign, an RS Signal Report and your name. You get 10 points for every QSO with a South African station and 15 points with a station outside South Africa. Submit your log sheets in MS Excel format ONLY by Thursday 10 October 2019 to 27796600008@vodamail.co.za
THE ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION VALVE QSO PARTY
The second leg of the AWA Valve QSO Party takes place on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October. The AM QSO Party runs from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC on Saturday 5 October and the SSB QSO Party runs from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC on Sunday 6 October with activity on 40 and 80 meters. The exchange is your call sign, an RS report, a consecutive serial number starting at 001 and the type of radio you are using. The log sheets must be submitted by Monday 21 October 2019 to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za. Consult the 2019 Blue Book for all the rules.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
IS YOUR CLUB TAX COMPLIANT?
In the October 2019 issue of Radio ZS, Louw, ZS6LME discusses what your Club must do to be tax compliant. Clarissa, ZS6LIS and Alastair, ZS6S tell about their participation in YOTA 2019 in Bulgaria. In VHF News, we look at Short-path Summer Solstice Propagation and Tom, ZS1TA tells about tropo ducting. Read more about the beginnings of AM radio in the Museum Piece, Henry, ZS1AAZ discusses Switch Mode Power Supplies and new technologies that change our mindset. If you enjoy home-brewing, then we have a dummy load and power meter for HF, a very simple tester for Coax Integrity and an USB Control Cable for Icom Transceivers you can build. Was the 1921 Solar Event bigger than the Carrington Event? And the editor asks, Who is Olivia?
The October Radio ZS will be available for download from the League website from Monday morning 30 September.
THE 80 M CLUB SPRINT HEADING FOR AN INTERESTING FINAL
Who will be the winner of the 2019 Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint? Look at the overall results after four legs of the Sprint, it can be the Boland or the West Rand Clubs who take the trophy? The fifth and final leg of the 2019 Sprint takes place on Wednesday 20 November.
The Contest Committee received 57 logs and one checklog for the 4th leg of the 80 m Club Sprint held on 18 September. 900 QSOs are reflected in the 57 logs (897 SSB and 3 CW). The 58 logs received is also a record of log submissions.
1st the Boland ARC 1 287 points (20 logs)
2nd the West Rand ARC 868 points (19 logs)
3rd the Bo-Karoo ARC 327 points (9 logs)
The overall results after 4 legs are:
1st the Boland ARC 2 397 points
2nd the West Rand ARC 2 263 points (only a difference of 134 points)
3rd the Bo-Karoo ARC 1 633 points
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. With the recent equinox, the 15 to 30 m bands will provide some good DX fun, especially around sunrise and sunset. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
Ending at midnight UTC tonight the CQ WW RTTY Contest
3 October the SARL 80 m QSO Party
5 October the AWA AM Valve QSO Party
6 October the AWA SSB Valve QSO Party
12 October the Spring QRP Contest
18 to 20 October Jamboree on the Air
19 October CQ Hou Koers and the RAE
26 and 27 October the CQ WW DX SSB Contest
23 November the SARL VHF Workshop
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
The second leg of the SARL 80 m QSO Party is on the air from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC on Thursday 3 October 2019 with phone activity between 3 603 to 3 650 and 3 700 to 3 800. Please note that the segment 3 651 to 3 699.99 is contest free. The exchange is your call sign, an RS Signal Report and your name.
This concludes our bulletin for this morning.
We invite clubs and individuals 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 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS, edited by Herman Erasmus, ZS6CTA and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
