My apologies to the 300 odd who received the SARL News twice - large parts of Bloemfontein have been without electricity since 14:40 following a lightening strike. The "metro" began repairing the fault at 18:00 and promised to have the power back by 20:00 - they were slightly out and only got the power back on at 00:03. Dennis, ZS4BS
SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 29 DECEMBER 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:
SARL NEWS ON 80 METRES ON SUNDAY
AMSAT CW DAY 1 JANUARY 2020 IS JUST AHEAD!
and
COMMEMORATIVE ARISS SLOW-SCAN TV TRANSMISSIONS
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
This is the last SARL News bulletin for 2019 and also for this decade!
SARL NEWS ON 80 METRES ON SUNDAY
The SARL News Team has received a request that the SARL News bulletins at 08:15 and 08:30 CAT on Sunday mornings must also be transmitted on 80 metres because the 40 metre transmission is plagued by propagation problems. Maybe a transmission on 60 metres could also be done.
To do a relay on 60 or 80 metres, we need volunteers to do the job! If you are willing to assist the News Team, please contact Dennis, ZS4BS at zs4bs@netactive.co.za
AMSAT CW DAY 1 JANUARY 2020 IS JUST AHEAD!
You are cordially invited to take part in the AMSAT CW Activity Day 2020 sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world. The 2020 event will be held in memory of Larry Brown, W7LB and Keith Pugh, W5IU. Among their many contributions to AMSAT, they were the AMSAT 20-metre net for many years.
Participation is easy. Just operate CW through any Amateur Radio satellite on 1 January 2020. Use of straight keys or bugs is encouraged but not required. If you use AO-7, please observe the QRP rules currently in effect for that 45-year-old satellite. May it be with us for many years to come!
FIRST QO-100 QSOS FROM NAMIBIA
Werner Muller, V51JP reports that the first QSO via the Es-hail QO-100 satellite between Namibia and the world was made on Sunday evening 22 December 2019. Derek Moore, V51DM and Charly Eichhorn, DK3ZL have been in contact for some time now getting all the technical gremlins of Derek's station under control. At 23:00 on Sunday evening, Derek started calling and Charly answered. They were joined by Martin Wieland, DL1ZU and a short while later Gary Immelman, ZS6YI also joined the QSO. It was not long before everyone on the bird was tuned in on the frequency and started calling Derek. He will have a busy time on the satellite in 2020 and I know he will enjoy every moment. Congratulations to Derek and thank you to everyone who helped to make this happen.
Charly, DK3ZL will visit Namibia and southern Africa from middle January to March 2020 and he will be operating a mobile QO-100 station during his visit. He will use the special event call V55QO for this visit and he will be the QSL manager for all Namibian stations working QO-100. Please see the V55QO qrz.com page for contact and QSL details.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
COMMEMORATIVE ARISS SLOW-SCAN TV TRANSMISSIONS
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will support slow-scan television (SSTV) transmissions worldwide in memory of cosmonauts Alexei Leonov, Valery Bykovsky, and Sigmund Jaehn. The transmissions are scheduled to start at 11:00 UTC on 28 December continuing until 18:20 UTC on 1 January 2020 and will take place on 145,800 MHz in the PD 120 format, using the call sign RS0ISS. The Polish ARISS Team has prepared an award for participants in the SSTV experiment.
HAVE YOU DOWNLOADED THE JANUARY 2020 RADIO ZS?
The 80 page January 2020 issue of Radio ZS was uploaded to the League website on Tuesday 24 December. It is available for members and non-members. Click on the link on the front page of the web site.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. There are currently two small sunspots visible. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around ten. The 15 to 30 m bands will provide some good DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
31 December - the end of the 2019 CQ DX Marathon and the YOTA month
1 January - New Year's Day; the AMSAT CW Day, the start of the 2020 CQ DX Marathon and the Southern African Parks-on-the-Air programme and download the 2020 Blue Book
4 January - The ARRL Kids Day
4 and 5 January - The ARRL RTTY Roundup
15 January - The SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint and the closing date for submitting the synopsis of papers for the SARL 95 Symposium
17 to 19 January - The PEARS National VHF/UHF Contest
25 January - the Summer QRP Contest
31 January - the closing date for AGM motions, SARL Award nominations and Council nominations.
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
The SARL News Team has received a request that the SARL News bulletins at 08:15 and 08:30 CAT on Sunday mornings must also be transmitted on 80 metres because the 40 metre transmission is plagued by propagation problems. Maybe a transmission on 60 metres could also be done.
To do a relay on 60 or 80 metres, we need volunteers to do the job! If you are willing to assist the News Team, please contact Dennis, ZS4BS at zs4bs@netactive.co.za
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 Andy Cairns, ZS6ADY, edited by Paul Johnson ZS1S and read by ..............
From the news team, best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2020.
