SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER 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 and in 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 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 begin the bulletin with news of a silent key.
It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Eric William Meyer, ZS6ME went silent on Friday 4 October. He was 89 years old.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Ingrid, family and friends.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
THE CQ WW DX SSB CONTEST NEXT WEEKEND
THE FIRST 2019 ZONE 38 AWARD ISSUED
and
A LARGE S.A. DELEGATION READY TO ATTEND WRC-19
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE CQ WW DX SSB CONTEST NEXT WEEKEND
The CQ WW is the largest Amateur Radio competition in the world. Over 35 000 participants take to the airwaves on the last weekend of October (SSB) and November (CW) with the goal of making as many contacts, with as many different DXCC entities and CQ Zones, as possible.
The CQ WW DX SSB Contest runs from 00:00:01 UTC on Saturday 26 October to 23:59:59 UTC on Sunday 27 October with activity on 160 to 10 meters. The exchange is an RS report and your CQ Zone. For South Africa, that is Zone 38. Find all the information about this contest at www.cqww.com/rules.htm
THE FIRST 2019 ZONE 38 AWARD ISSUED
To obtain the 2019 Zone 38 Award, radio amateurs must provide evidence of contacting 38 stations in the DXCC entities making up CQ Zone 38. There is no restriction on frequencies or modes.
Award No 001/2019 dated 18 October 2019 has been issued to Jan Botha, ZS4JAN. Congratulations Jan!
HOMEBREW HEROES AWARD FOR 2019 IN AMATEUR RADIO ANNOUNCED
The “Homebrew Heroes Award” Program has announced its first annual recipient. He is Hans Summers, G0UPL, of East Sussex in the UK. The annual award recognizes individuals, groups, or organizations that help define the frontiers of Amateur Radio technology through the long-standing tradition of constructing their own equipment. Hans was in South Africa during YOTA 2018.
For his part, Summers said he was humbled and “just blown away by it all” to be the first recognized with the “Homebrew Heroes Award”. Summers said he’s been sharing his homebrew work and that of his company QRP Labs for years. “To have these efforts publicly recognized in this way, is so personally gratifying,” Summers said. You can visit his website at http://hanssummers.com/
THE NEW VHF BEACON FOR BETHLEHEM IS BEING TESTED
The VHF Work Group reports that the issues with the radio for the VHF beacon has been fixed and the beacon is now fully assembled and being tested from the QTH of Brian, ZS6YZ in the North of Pretoria. It is a CW beacon on 144,425 MHz with an output of 25 W. The beacon is beaming South on an 8-element horizontal Yagi. This beacon will be installed in Bethlehem during December as soon as the license has been issued.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
LARGE SA DELEGATION READY TO ATTEND WRC-19
Next week South Africa will send the largest ever delegation to attend the ITU World Radio Conference in Egypt.
For the past 4 years, the WRC-19 Industry held Preparatory meetings in Pretoria to discuss South Africa’s position on the various WRC-19 agenda items. Brian Jacobs, ZS6YZ and Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV attended the meetings representing the SARL and the interest of the South African Amateur Radio community. ZS6AKV was the rapporteur for Agenda Item 1.1 to consider an allocation of the frequency band 50 - 54 MHz to the amateur service in Region 1. The group supported the SARL position, which was Option A, and it reads: an allocation to the amateur service on a primary basis in all the band 50 - 54 MHz, or part thereof, with appropriate footnotes to provide protection to services that already have an allocation in the band. This position was lobbied at SADC and ATU meetings. At the last ATU meeting before WRC-19 held in East London and attended by ZS6YZ, this position was confirmed as the African position.
At the WRC-19 Industry Preparatory meeting held on Thursday last week, Dick Sono of the Department of Telecommunication and Postal Service and convener of the group, said he was pleased that the SARL position has become an Africa position. He said it is important that we support Amateur Radio in South Africa and on the African continent.
THE BESTMED TSHWANE CLASSIC CYCLE RACE ON 3 NOVEMBER 2019
The BestMed Tshwane Classic Cycle race will be run for the third year on 3 November 2019 from the Voortrekker Monument. SARL Hamnet will be responsible for the event communications, being the eyes and ears in the field reporting back to the VOC at Voortrekker Monument. Brian Jacobs, ZS6YZ will be the SARL Hamnet coordinator for this event. SARL Hamnet Gauteng South will assist, but they are looking for local Pretoria based radio amateurs who have knowledge of the city to assist with communications for this event.
Brian said this will be an ideal opportunity to learn how to work together as a coordinated team. We never know when we need to do it in a real disaster situation. If you are interested in doing radio communications for cycle events or would like to know more about SARL Hamnet, then contact Brian at 083 255 9786 or bjacobsza@gmail.com
CLUB NEWS
The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club held its Annual General Meeting on 20 September and the following Committee Members were elected:
Louis de Wet ZS6SK: Chairman, Watts Newsletter, SARL and ICASA Liaison
Graham Reid ZS6GJR: Vice Chairman, Treasurer, Website
Johan de Bruyn ZS6JHB: Membership, Repeaters, Rallies, Social
Irene Myburgh ZS6IEA: Secretary, Social
Albert Schreuder ZS6SE: Contests, Taxation Matters, Social
The following Club Members were allocated the following co-opted portfolios:
Almero Du Pisani ZS6LDP: Flea markets, SARL Bulletins
Tony Crowder ZS6CRO: Auditor
Pierre Holtzhausen ZS6PJH: Contests
Pieter Myburgh ZS6PAM: Repeaters
Hans Kappetijn ZS6KR: SARL and PARC Bulletins, Swop Shop
John Minter ZS6LED: RAE Training, Technical
The Highway Amateur Radio Club recently elected their Committee for the 2019/2020 year:
Chairman: Keith Lowes, ZS5WFD
Vice-Chairman: Justin Wright, ZS5JW
Secretary: Laurie Devereux, ZS5DL
Treasurer: Kimmi Wright, ZS5KIM
Members: Sean Pritchard, ZS5X; Hettie Joubert, ZS5BH; Troy Beveridge, ZS5TWJ and Praveen Kumar, ZS5LT
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 10 to 30 m bands will provide some good DX fun around sunrise and especially around sunset. For more information, please visit the website: spaceweather.sansa.org.za
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
Today – Jamboree on the Air
21 October – The closing date for QRP and AWA Valve QSO Party logs
26 and 27 October – CQ Worldwide SSB contest
27 October – The Pears HF Competition
2 November – The RaDAR Challenge and the Pretoria ARC Flea Market
3 November – The Bestmed Tshwane Classic Cycle Race
9 and 10 November – The SARL Analogue VHF/UHF Contest
10 November – Remembrance Sunday
11 November – Armistice Day and the closing date for RaDAR Logs
18 November – The closing date for the PEARS HF logs
19 November – The Highway ARC monthly meeting
23 November – The SARL VHF Workshop and the SARL Newbie Contest
23 and 24 November – The CQ WW DX CW Contest
30 November – The West Rand Flea Market
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
The CQ WW DX SSB Contest runs from 00:00:01 UTC on Saturday 26 October to 23:59:59 UTC on Sunday 27 October with activity on 160 to 10 metres. The exchange is an RS report and your CQ Zone. For South Africa, that is Zone 38. Find all the information about this contest in English and 18 other languages at www.cqww.com/rules.htm
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 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 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 3 620 kHz on Monday evenings at 19:30 Central African Time. 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.
