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SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 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 various VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide. 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.
PAUSE
In the news, today:
THE SARL 80 METER CLUB SPRINT ON WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER
IARU REGION 1 - DECEMBER 2019 YOTA MONTH
And
THE VHF/RF NOISE WORKSHOP AND THE NEWBIE PARTY ON 23 NOVEMBER
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
THE SARL 80 METER CLUB SPRINT ON WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER
The last leg of the 2019 SARL Wednesday 80 meter Club Sprint takes place from 17:00 to 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 20 November with CW and phone activity. Looking at the results of the previous four legs of this Sprint, it will be interesting to see who will take the Trophy. Will it be the Boland, the Bo-Karoo or the West Rand Club?
The exchange is an RS or RST report and your grid square (e.g. KG30). You earn 2 points per QSO and 5 points for the first QSO with each ZS call area and country outside South Africa. Send your log sheet by e-mail to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za by Wednesday 27 November and remember to write the name of your Club on the log sheet. The MS Excel log sheet can be found on the Contest page of the League web site.
HAPPY 95TH BIRTHDAY TO THE DURBAN ARC
The SARL congratulates the Durban ARC on its 95th birthday. The birthday function was held on Saturday 2 November at the Clubhouse. SARL President Nico, ZS6QL, Vice President Chris, ZS6GM and Treasurer Cliff, ZS6BOX attended the lunch and met with the committee, members and guests present.
IARU REGION 1 - DECEMBER 2019 YOTA MONTH
December is YOTA Month when several youngsters from Member Societies will become active on the air with YOTA as suffix in the call signs. From Sunday 1 December to Tuesday 31 December 2019, international YOTA stations, operated by young amateurs in their teens and early 20s, will attempt to make many contacts worldwide with each other. This event is aimed at our young generation and is an excellent opportunity for clubs to get youngsters on the air who are interested in or want to find out more about Amateur Radio.
It is not a formal contest, but a way to get our current young amateurs on the air contacting hundreds of other youngsters around the world. The SARL has registered a special call sign ZS9YOTA on the IARU Region 1 website as an educational call sign for use by clubs and individuals during December. All radio amateurs are welcome to enjoy a QSO with the youngsters, be aware that some of them are new to the radio hobby, while others are more experienced.
To reserve a slot to use the ZS9YOTA call sign on a daily basis or for more information please contact Noel, ZR6DX via e-mail at zr6dx@iafrica.com or alternatively to Nico, ZS6QL at zs6ql@mweb.co.za. The schedule and applicable rules will be available on the SARL website soon. Looking forward to hearing our younger generation on the air during December!
THE 2020 SARL BLUE BOOK AND DIARY OF EVENTS
Thank you to the Clubs and individuals who responded with information for the 2020 Blue Book and the Diary of Events. Information can still be submitted until midnight on Wednesday 20 November. For the Blue Book submissions send to contest@sarl.org.za and for the Diary of Events to secretary@sarl.org.za.
THE VHF AND NOISE WORKSHOP ON 23 NOVEMBER 2019
Book now for the last event of 2019. The VHF and RF Noise Workshop will be held at the NARC on Saturday 23 November 2019. The programme and booking form are available by following the links on the SARL web page.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
THE SARL ESTABLISHES AN IARU WORKGROUP
In response to motion 3, accepted at the 2019 AGM and in order to achieve maximum benefit from the SARL attendance at the IARU Region 1 General Conference at Novi Sad, Serbia from 10 to 16 October 2020, the Council of the SARL has appointed Deon Coetzee, ZR1DE to establish a workgroup to consider proposals and papers to be submitted to the conference, as well as the SARL response to other papers. An interim report will be tabled at the 2020 SARL AGM and the final recommendations will be considered by the SARL Council prior to briefing South Africa’s delegation to the conference.
Like in the case with the ITU and the African Telecommunications Union, IARU Region 1 is mainly dominated by societies in Europe where conditions under which amateur radio operates is in many instances very different to conditions in Africa. In the case of the ATU there is now talk about suggesting that the ITU creates a fourth region, ITU Region 4 which will cover Africa and some countries in the Near East. While there is no such suggestion to form IARU Region 4, it is important to let the African voice be heard at the Region 1 Conference to ensure that African requirements are considered. One compelling case is the 10 MHz bandplan where no SSB is permitted. The SARL was instrumental in a footnote which reads,
“SSB may be used during emergencies involving the immediate safety of life and property and only by stations involved in the handling of emergency traffic. The band segment 10 120 kHz to 10 140 kHz may be used for SSB transmissions in the area of Africa south of the equator during local daylight hours. News bulletins on any mode should not be transmitted on the 10 MHz band.”
There is a danger that this footnote may be reconsidered and deleted. The workgroup must collect evidence to be tabled to ensure that the current footnote is maintained or even expanded and supply the necessary tools to the SARL delegation to state the SARL position.
There are likely other areas that the workgroup must look at and develop papers for the SARL to consider submitting to the conference for discussion.
The SARL IARU workgroup will do its work via email and Skype conferencing. Deon Coetzee invites radio amateurs who would like to join the workgroup or supply input to send their contact details to pgcoetzee@hotmail.com with a copy to sarlregwg@sarl.org.za. Details must include your Skype name, telephone or mobile number and e-mail address. The first Skype meeting is planned for Wednesday 20 November at 20:30 CAT.
THE SARL NEWBIE PARTY
The Newbie Party is a fun activity to encourage all the newly licensed radio amateurs to become active and is on the air from 08:00 to 20:00 UTC on 23 November 2019. It is a phone contest on 20, 40 and 80-meters, and the exchange is an RS report and an alpha character depending on how long you are licensed. Read page 43 of the 2019 Blue Book for all the information.
RESULTS OF THE SARL 80 METRE QSO PARTY
Approximately 75 stations participated in the QSO party on 3 October, while 12 contest logs were submitted, a return of 16%.
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN – 625 points
2nd Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT – 560 points
3rd Kobus Boshof, ZS6BOS – 515 points
Listeners Section:
1st Denise van Vuuren, ZSL1210 – 455 points
The combined results of the April and October legs:
1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN – 1 010 points
2nd Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT – 845 points
3rd Kobus Boshof, ZS6BOS – 675 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. The 15 to 30-meter bands will provide some good DX fun, especially around sunset. For more information, please visit spaceweather.sansa.org.za
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
11 November – The closing date for RaDAR Logs
18 November – The closing date for PEARS HF Logs
20 November - SARL Wednesday 80-meter Club Sprint, the closing date for submissions for the 2020 Blue Book and Diary of Events, and the SARL IARU Working Group Skype meeting
23 November – The SARL Newbie Sprint and the VHF and RF Noise Workshop
23 and 24 – The CQ WW DX CW Contest
30 November – The West Rand Flea market
1 December – The start of the December YOTA month
14 and 15 December – The ARRL 10-meter contest
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
The last leg of the 2019 SARL Wednesday 80-meter Club Sprint takes place from 17:00 to 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 20 November with CW and phone activity. Looking at the results of the previous four legs of this Sprint, it will be interesting to see who will take the Trophy. Will it be the Boland, the Bo-Karoo or the West Rand Club?
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 League’s 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 at 10:00 Central African Time for the weekly radio program “Amateur Radio Today”. 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 CAT 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.
