NOTE: Please accept our apologies if you have already received this bulletin - fixing a problem with our email system!
SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 24 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 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.
In the news, today:
FROM FRIDAY 29 NOVEMBER JOIN THE SARL AT THE HALF YEAR TARIFF
CHANGES IN SARL HAMNET LEADERSHIP
and
AGENDA ITEM 1.1 50 MHZ ALLOCATION APPROVED AT WRC-19
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
We begin this bulletin with the news of a silent key
It is with regret that we have to announce that the key of Charl Wentzel, ZS6CFW fell silent on Tuesday 19 November 2019. He was a member of the Klerksdorp ARC as well as the Potchefstroom ARC. We express our deepest condolences to his wife Sanet, family and friends.
PAUSE
FROM FRIDAY 29th NOVEMBER JOIN THE SARL AT THE HALF YEAR TARIFF
From Friday 29th November 2019, you can join the SARL and pay the half year tariff which normally comes into effect on 1 January. Complete the SARL Membership Application form and transfer your membership fee by EFT into the SARL bank account. Ordinary Members will pay R250; Senior Members (over 65) will pay R150; Spouse Members will pay R90 and Student Members will pay R60. The banking details are SA Radio League, ABSA, account no 4071 588 849 branch code 632 005, please type your call sign in to the reference field.
WELL DONE BERNIE ZS4TX
SARL News has been informed that Bernie van der Walt, ZS4TX has achieved All Africa Awards on 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 metres, a nine band All Africa Award! Well done Bernie!
CHANGES IN SARL HAMNET LEADERSHIP
At the Council meeting held on Tuesday 12 November, the resignation of Glynn Chamberlain, ZS6GLN as National Director of SARL Hamnet and as a Councillor was accepted. Council hereby thanks Glynn for his work and dedication to the SARL and SARL Hamnet.
Council has appointed Grant Southey, ZS1GS/ZS3GS as the interim SARL Hamnet National Director until the SARL Hamnet Workshop scheduled for February 2020. Council wishes Grant all of the best.
THE 2020 SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION
On pages 7 to 9 of the November Radio ZS you will find information about the 2020 National Convention to be held on 3 and 4 April 2020. The article contains information about the SARL awards and Trophies, a call for motions and a call for nominations to serve on Council. The relevant documents can be found on the AGM Documents page in the members only section on the League web site. The closing date for nominations for awards, Council and motions is Friday 31 January 2020. Do not wait until 30 January to send in your nominations, do it now!
THE DRAFT 2020 CONTEST MANUAL AND DIARY OF EVENTS
The draft 2020 Contest Manual and the Diary of Events can be found on the Contest Rules page on the League web site. Clubs hosting contests are requested to check that the information in the Blue Book is correct. Clubs and individuals are requested to check the Diary of Events. Any changes must be sent to contest@sarl.org.za and secretary@sarl.org.za respectively. The closing date is 29 November.
HAPPY 45TH BIRTHDAY, AMSAT-OSCAR 7!
The world's longest-lived satellite, AO-7, turned 45 years old this month. It was launched on 15 November 1974, from Van den Berg Air Force Base in California. After nearly 7 years of service, AO-7 was thought to have reached the end of its life in June 1981 due to battery failure, and a premature obituary appeared in the AMSAT Satellite Report.
Twenty years later, on 21 June 2002, the late PJA Gowen, G3IOR reported hearing "an old-style CW beacon" from an unknown OSCAR near 145,970 MHz. It did not take long to identify the satellite as AO-7, which remains operational and well-used while it is in sunlight.
To celebrate AO-7's 45th birthday, AMSAT plans to auction a set of gold-plated AO-7 cufflinks and a 50th Anniversary AMSAT lab coat (size 42R). The auctions are now live on eBay and will conclude shortly after 02:00 UTC on 26 November 2019. AMSAT reports that 100% of the proceeds will go toward Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
AGENDA ITEM 1.1 50 MHZ ALLOCATION APPROVED AT WRC-19
WRC-19 has approved an allocation in the 50 MHz band for amateurs in Region 1 at its morning plenary in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Thursday 21 November 2019. The decision comes after more than three weeks of strenuous negotiations to reconcile widely disparate views of Region 1 administrations. The result is a dramatic improvement in the international Radio Regulations for amateurs in Region 1. Prior to WRC-19 there had been no ITU frequency allocation for Region 1 apart from those named in ITU footnote 5.169 for Africa and some national usage.
The new situation is that the amateur service now has a 'baseline' secondary allocation of 50 to 52 MHz in the main ITU allocation table for Region 1. A total of 44 named Region 1 countries will now have a primary allocation in all or part of the 50 to 54 MHz band, including 14 CEPT countries which will have a 500 kHz primary allocation in the 50,0 to 50,5 MHz band, as part of their overall 50 to 52 MHz allocation, a major improvement for amateurs in Europe, 26 African and Middle East Countries, who will have the full 50 to 54 MHz range on a Primary basis. Primary allocations thus see a significant expansion in Africa and the Middle East. The Russian Federation has opted for a smaller but very welcome 200 kHz secondary allocation in the 50,08 to 50,28 MHz band. African countries with previous primary allocations under footnote RR5.169 retain their current status in the 50 to 54 MHz frequency band.
The Final Acts of WRC-19 should enter into force on 1 January 2021, however administrations may make provisions to provide 50 MHz spectrum at an earlier or later date.
(Thank you to the RSGB for this item.)
CLUB NEWS
The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 30 November 2019 at their clubhouse in Kroton street, Weltevreden Park, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome, bring your surplus equipment and support the vendor on the day. For more information contact Phillip, ZS6PVT on mobile 083 267 3835.
The Overberg Amateur Radio Club will be holding their end of the year function at Stanford at the home of John, ZS1DI and Judy, ZS1JEG from 10:30 for 11:00 on Saturday 30 November. It will be the usual bring and braai with wood and braai facilities provided. You can camp over the weekend and visitors are welcome. Contact Andre, ZS1AZ on mobile 072 729 1680 or at home on 028 514 2018 for more information.
CONTEST NEWS
Here are the results of the ZS5 Sprint. The contest committee received 16 logs for the ZS5 Sprint held in July 2019, 15 were contest logs and there was 1 check log. The Sprint was won by Deon Fraser, ZS5DCF with 110 points, with Woody Collett, ZS3WL on 82 points in second place. The Highway ARC, ZS5HAM took third place with 52 points. Bruce Dunn ZS5XT worked the competition using CW. The full results will be published in HF Happening 875.
The results of the SARL VHF/UHF Digital Contest. The committee received 4 logs for the second leg of the VHF/UHF Digital contest.
1st Carl Minne, ZS6CBQ - 38 063 points
2nd Pierre Lindeque, ZS4PF - 13 764 points
3rd Pine Pienaar, ZS6OB - 3 661 points
4th Rickus de Lange, ZS4A - 2 123 points
The combined results of the March and September legs are
1st Carl Minne, ZS6CBQ - 63 479 points
2nd Rickus de Lange, ZS4A 19 481 points
3rd Pierre Lindeque, ZS4PF - 13 764 points
Congratulations to the winner. All the results are available on the SARL website
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 m bands will provide some good DX fun, especially around sunset. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, the diary of events:
29 November – Join the SARL at half price and closing date for comments on the 2020 Blue Book and Diary of Events
30 November – the West Rand Flea market and the Overberg ARC end of the year function
1 December – the start of the YOTA Month
2 December – the closing date for VHF/UHF Analogue log sheets
4 December – the provincial schools close
9 December – the closing date for Newbie Party log
14 and 15 December – the ARRL 10 m Contest
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
From Friday 29 November 2019, you can join the SARL and pay the half year tariff which normally comes into effect on 1 January. Complete the SARL Membership Application form and transfer your membership fee by EFT into the SARL bank account.
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 Dave Reece, ZS1DFR and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.
