Apologies - Latency much higher than prviously. The undersea cable break is causing problems. ZS4BS

SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 2020

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. 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:

NOMINATIONS FOR SARL AWARDS CLOSE ON 31st JANUARY

TRAINING FOR THE RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION

and

THE 2020 SECUNDA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB FIELD DAY

Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.

SILENT KEY

It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Gunther Kanz, ZS5GUN, went silent on 17th December 2019.

We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

PAUSE

NOMINATIONS FOR SARL AWARDS CLOSES ON 31st JANUARY

The closing date for nominations for the various SARL Awards and Trophies, the nominations to serve on Council, and for motions to be discussed at the AGM, is midnight on Friday 31st January 2020. The documentation must be sent to secretary@sarl.org.za. Please do not wait until Friday morning to submit your nominations.

ZS95SARL CELEBRATES 95 YEARS OF AMATEUR RADIO

The special call sign ZS95SARL is available to Clubs to use during 2020. Please contact the SARL Secretary at secretary@sarl.org.za to book a slot to use the call sign. At the end of the slot, an ADIF log must be returned for uploading to the master log sheet. ZS95SARL has been active on QO-100.

FIVE YEAR LICENCES

Following the item in SARL News last Sunday, the SARL Secretary has received 24 e-mails. The documentation will now be handed to the SARL/ICASA Liaison Team to take up the matter with ICASA. Thank you to those who responded.

TRAINING FOR THE RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION

The Hammies ARC is presenting a 12-week RAE course at the National Amateur Radio Centre. The first session took place on Saturday 25th January. Classes run from 09:00 to 12:00 on Saturdays and the course is suitable for youngsters aged ten to fifteen years. Contact Noel Hammond, ZR6DX by e-mail zr6dx@iafrica.com and mobile 082 490 9934 or Graham Busse, ZS6GL by e-mail grahambusse@vodamail.co.za and mobile 083 442 7777

The Magalies Amateur Radio Club will be offering RAE classes starting at 08:30 on Saturday 1st February 2020. The classes will be held at the MRK Club House on the corner of Mills and Breyer Avenues in Waverley, Pretoria. For more information send an e-mail to sekretaris@zs6mrk.org or contact the chairman, Thys Maree, ZS6MJM on mobile 082 565 6087. Visit the MRK website at www.zs6mrk.org where you can download the RAE manual.

FM AND CW CONTESTS NEXT WEEKEND

The SARL VHF/UHF FM QSO Party is a fun activity on the simplex frequencies of the VHF and UHF bands and provides activity for FM stations to test operator ability and station performance on simplex. It allows beginners to get on the air without using a repeater. The QSO Party runs from 12:00 to 16:00 UTC on Saturday 1st February with activity on 6, 4 and 2 metres and 70 and 23 centimetres. The exchange is your call sign, signal report, your name and age. Log sheets should be submitted by 10th February 2020 by e-mail to contest@sarl.org.za and certificates will be issued for all logs received.

The Antique Wireless Association CW Activity Day takes place from 13:00 to 15:00 UTC on Sunday 2nd February with the aim of contacting as many amateurs as possible on the 20, 40 and 80 m amateur bands. The exchange is an RST report, your name and Grid locator and there are 4 classes of participation. Log sheets must be submitted by Monday 17th February 2020 to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za

The rules can be found on page 53 and page 20 of the 2020 SARL Contest Manual.

You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.

THE 2020 SECUNDA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB FIELD DAY

The Secunda Radio Club, ZS6SRC, will hold its annual Field Day week from 20 – 29th March 2020 (during the school holidays) at the Trichardtsfontein Dam, just outside Secunda. This is a perfect opportunity to gain experience in a simulated DXpedition. ZS6SRC plan to operate on HF - 160, 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 m and on VHF/UHF - 6 m and satellites (voice and digital), and QO-100 Satellite operation will also be available. The Secunda ARC require all operators to use the Club call sign, ZS6SRC before working additional contacts using their own or club call sign.

Accommodation: There will be camping only, so bring your own tent and/or caravan. There are hot and cold-water showers, toilets and 220 V available. The Yacht Club will ask a fee of R40 person per night. Each person must provide his/her/group own food (plan to braai every night); his/her own mugs and cutlery; his/her own chair; a flashlight; mosquito repellent, suntan lotion and a hat. A supervisor must accompany all participants under 18 years of age and no swimming in the dam will be allowed.

The Club is also in need of sponsors. Please contact Gert, ZS6GC if you know of anyone who can help sponsor the event. If you are planning to attend the Field day or can sponsor it, contact Gert Botha, ZS6GC on mobile +27 82 771 0663 or e-mail gertb@cybersmart.co.za

THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE AND LIGHTSHIP WEEKEND

The 2020 event takes place over the fourth weekend of August, as the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Pacific (VP) Day will be commemorated on 15th August 2020. The ILLW runs from 00:01 UTC on 22nd August to 24:00 UTC on 23rd August 2020.

The Bo-Karoo ARC has started an initiative to form a national committee to liaise and obtain the necessary permission from the authorities to use Lighthouse facilities. They invite Clubs and individuals who are planning to participate this year to nominate a member of your Club or yourself to participate in this committee.

Send the particulars of your nominees together with the name of the Lighthouse you want to activate to zs3vdk@webmail.co.za by 30th March 2020.

THE RESULTS OF THE WEDNESDAY 80 M CLUB SPRINT

The Contest Committee received 59 logs for the Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint held on Wednesday 15th January. Four of the logs are checklogs. It was hoped to publish the results in HF Happenings 883, but because many participants tampered with the layout of the spreadsheet, all the logs must first be corrected before the scoring can be done. All you have to fill in is the date, time, call sign worked, frequency, mode, exchange sent, exchange received and the 2 points per QSO and 2 points for each new grid worked. The spreadsheet will do the calculations. As easy as that!

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 may provide some good DX fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:

31st January – the closing date for AGM motions, SARL Award nominations and Council nominations. The closing date for a Paper synopsis for the Unlocking Amateur Radio Technology Symposium
1st February – the SARL VHF/UHF QSO Party
2nd February – the AWA CW Activity Day
7th and 8th February – the SARL Council meets at the NARC
8th and 9th February – the SARL National Field Day
13th February – World Radio Day
22nd February – the 2020 AGM Booklet available for download
23rd February – the SARL RTTY Contest
27th February – International Milk Tart Day
28th February – closing date for synopses of AMSAT SA Papers

To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:

The closing date for nominations for the various SARL Awards and Trophies, the nominations to serve on Council, and for motions to be discussed at the AGM, is midnight on Friday 31st January 2020. The documentation must be sent to secretary@sarl.org.za. Please do not wait until Friday morning to submit your nominations.

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 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!