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April 19

East Rand Radio Club Monthly Meeting

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May 17

East Rand Radio Club Monthly Meeting

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West Rand Fleamarkets 2014

June 16

East Rand Radio Club Monthly Meeting

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April 2014

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HF Update with ZS4BS

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SARL TODAY!

@SARL Office closed - The office administrator, Mariska, will be on leave from 22 to 25 April. The SARL office will only reopen on 29 April 2014. In very urgent cases, phone the Secretary on 012 811 3875.

@HAMNET TO PROVIDE CRUCIAL COMMUNICATION FOR TWO OCEANS - For the sixteenth consecutive year, Hamnet Western Cape will be managing the communications in the sweep vehicles during the 2 Oceans Marathon over Easter Weekend. The Medical aspects of the race have been taken over by Metro Emergency Management Services in the last 2 years, and we

form part of the rescue functionality during the race. 16 of our operators man and drive the sweep 9-seaters, drive rapid response rover vehicles, or man the official cut-offs to ensure accuracy of times at cut-offs and report on problems. 2 operators man a radio station in the Joint Operation Centre at Tygerberg Hospital’s Provincial Emergency Management Centre. All ops have trackers in their vehicles and are visible to all other services on the TV wall in the JOC. This makes despatch and management of their services very easy for the JOC.

The medical management of the injury/illness aspects of the race has become very well organised in recent years and runs like clockwork, in no small part due to the input by Hamnet Operators. Hamnet is regarded as a senior contributor to this aspect of the race, and our input during the pre-race meetings and services in the JOC are highly respected.

“Even though some of the communications during the race between the JOC and the ambulances and response vehicles are handled by the new EMS Computer Aided Despatch system, the value of analogue comms with the sweeps and rovers should not be underestimated”, said Dave Reece Deputy Provincial Director Hamnet Western Cape.

@SARL AGM ELECTS A NEW COUNCIL - Following changes accepted at the 2014 AGM. The Council of the SARL will in future consist of 10 Councillors. In the election, the first one in many years, the following members were elected to serve on Council: Rassie Erasmus ZS1YT, Geoff Levey ZS6GRL, Fritz Sutherland ZS6SF, Riaan Greef ZS4PR, Dennis Green ZS4BS ,Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV,Frik Wolff ZS6FZ, Johann Marais ZS1JM, Gideon Jannasch ZS4GJA and Nico Janse van Rensburg ZS6QL. At a brief council meeting held after the AGM Geoff Levey was elected as President, Fritz Sutherland and Vice President and Secretary and Riaan Greeff ZS4PR as treasurer. The Council will meet again today to elect the other portfolio holders. Photo by ZS4PR Rassie Erasmus ZS1YT handing over the chain of office to Geoff Levey ZS6GRL)

MRK CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY - The Magalies Radio-amateur Klub celebrated its 50thanniversary by hosting the SARL National Convention and Annual Dinner.. At the dinner an audiovisual presentetation highligting the clubb;s rich history was presented. To view it download it here

@SARL ANNUAL REPORT- download the SARL annual report here

@ The Online RAE Registrations Deadline extended - All the candidates must register online.Note that the closing date for registrations has been extended to 16 April 2014 and no late registrations after that date will be accepted. All invigilators, lecturers and clubs are urged to communicate this information to candidates and help them to register. Thanks to Peter Hers and Collin de Villiers who worked very hard to make this possible. Click here to download the explanation on how to register for the examination and click here to register

@ 2014 RTA KIT - Join the digital world of amateur radio with the Isolated USB Transceiver Control Interface kit to be launched at the 2014 RTAs, The interface will be fully discussed and demonstrated during one of the RTA sessions. It is easy to build with ordinary lead components. When you book for the RTA order your kit. Bookings will open soon. To read about the kit and get the RTA date for your area click here

ESSAY COMPETITION FOR LEARNERS - ” Young people under age of 20 are invited to put pen to paper, or may be more appropriate today, hands to the keyboard and explore how amateur radio has shaped the development of radio science and how amateur radio can be a gateway into a career into the engineering and science. As only 3 qualifying entries were received, it was deceided to extend the closing date till 31 July 2014.

The competition has been divided into two age groups under 15 years and between 15 and 20 years old. The best entry will be receiving from RS components a Raspberry Pi complete with screen, keyboard and mouse. Entries may be in any of South Africa’s official languages. The closing date is on 31 July .More detail can be found on http://www.hamradio.org.za/

@LICENCE FEE PAYMENTS - Please note that all ICASA licence fees must be paid directly to ICASA and not to the SARL. Please make sure that you include your licence number and callsign to ensure that ICASA can credit your account correctly.

While Form B is an essential document for this year, the SARL has been in discussion with ICASA and it was agreed to send licence renewal accounts to all licence holders. If you have not received a licence renewal invoice, please make sure that ICASA has your correct address details. It is a regulatory requirement to notify ICASA of an address change

@SARL APPOINTS A YOUTH ACTIVITY COORDINATOR- The Council of the SARL has ppointed

Michel Mynhardt, ZS6YH as youth coordinator. Mitchel became a radio amateur in his early teens and has been active on both local and international competitions. He has served the East Rand Radio Club as youth coordinator and was for the past six years also involved with JOTA and the Voortrekkers. Mitchel will the setting up a SARL Youth group on facebok and Whatsup. Watch this space!

www.hamradio.org.za will be dedicated to SARL Youth Activity with a link to and from the SARL home page. To go to the youth website click here

@RTA KIT AND CD NOW AVAILABLE- Supplies of the RTA2013 SDR VFO kit and CD are now available for shipping. The kit and CD combo are available at R250 each including packaging and shipping. The CD alone is available at R70. Place your order now. The booking from is available here. There is a premium for non-members,

HF UPDATE WITH ZS4BS (updated 14 April)

DXCC News- Bill Moore, NC1L, ARRL Awards Branch Manager, reports on the Crimea and DXCC situation: Upon request of the CEO, the ARRL Awards committee evaluated the situation at present in Crimea against the DXCC rules. As the interpreter of the rules, the following is the Awards Committee's decision on how to "count" QSOs with stations operating from Crimea.

Crimea is not a DXCC entity. Neither Russia nor Ukraine is a rare entity and the vast majority of confirmations used for DXCC credit for either entity do not involve Crimea.

DXCC Rule 4 reads:
“Confirmation data for two-way communications must include the call signs of both stations, the entity name as shown in the DXCC List, mode, date, time and band. Except as permitted in Rule 1, cross-mode contacts are not permitted for DXCC credits. Confirmations not containing all required information may be rejected." A QSL with a call sign issued by the administration of Ukraine and showing the entity name as Ukraine counts as Ukraine. A QSL with a call sign issued by the administration of Russia and showing the entity name as Russia counts as Russia. A QSL that satisfies neither condition does not count for either entity.

ON, Belgium- Ten special Belgian call signs (OS10M to OS19M) will be in use from 15 April to 14 May to promote recognition of Morse Code as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

F, France- To commemorate the First World War (1914/1918) some special activity will take place during 2014. - TM02REF will be active today 13 April from 8 to 18 local time

- TM62PGM will be active from 14 to 15 April (8 to 18).

- Fred F5OZK, Paul F4DVT and Christian F8HJV will be F5KKD/P from Ile du Levant (IOTA EU070, DIFM ME012) from 1 to 4 May. QSL via F5KKD.

- Fred F4EIH will be F4EIH/P from Oleron Island (IOTA EU032) from 12 to 20 April with 100 watts and dipole on 40, 20 and 10 m SSB.

3B8, Mauritius Island- Bob, M0RCX will be active as 3B8/M0RCX from Mauritius Island (AF-049) on 2-27 May. He will operate SSB, CW and digital modes (RTTY, JT65 and PSK) on 40 - 6 metres. QSL via EB7DX and LoTW. Bureau cards will be sent automatically six months after the operation.

7Q, Malawi- A large multinational team of 20-24 operators is being assembled for a DXpedition to take place from Malawi between 10 November and 2 December. The call sign will be 7QAA (no second number in the prefix) and the team will be split into two sub-teams: Team One will operate only SSB and RTTY (160 - 6 metres) on 10 - 20 November, while Team Two will operate CW only from 21 November to 2 December, including a M/2 entry in the CQ WW DX CW Contest. The logs will be uploaded to Club Log and LoTW on a daily basis. Bookmark www.malawidx.org for further information and updates.

D4, Cape Verde- Jorg, DL3LUM/PA1MUC, will be active as D44TXU from Santa Maria, Sal Island (AF-086), between 19 to 25 April. Activity will be holiday style on 20 metres mainly (possibly higher bands), and operating QRP CW only using a KX3 (max 12 W from hotel) into a vertical (probably HF-P1 or larger). QSL via DL3LUM, direct (Dutch home address) or by the DARC QSL Bureau.

FT4T, Tromelin (Update)- The FT4TA DXpedition team to Tromelin Island, which takes place between 30 October and 10 November, have announced their pilot stations and posted a link on their Web site. The following pilot stations were named:

Chief Pilot - Col, MM0NDX; E-mail address: dxer59@gmail.com

Asia/Japan - Harumi, JR4OZR; E-mail address: Jf1pjk@ybb.ne.jp

Europe/Africa - Bjorn, ON9CFG; E-mail address: on9cfg@telenet.be

Oceania - Al, ZL2AL; E-mail address: leezl2al@gmail.com

North America (East Coast) / South America - Don, N1DG; don@aurumtel.com

North America (West Coast) - Rich, KY6R; E-mail address: ky6r@arrl.net

To read more detailed info on the pilot stations, see www.tromelin2014.com/pilotes

VHF+ UHF+ MICROWAVE NEWS by Mike Bosch ZS2FM (13 April 2014)

VK6RIO BEACON, AN AMATEUR RADIO SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECT – The VK6RIO beacon on 144,590 MHz is proposed by an amateur group in Perth, Australia, and intended to bridge the Indian Ocean via Tropo Ducting. The Trans-Indian Ocean and the Trans-Atlantic two-way tests on 2 metres (144 MHz), via tropospheric propagation, are still the most challenging terrestrial frontiers that exist for radio amateurs to conquer. This is reminiscent of the first Trans-Atlantic test conducted by Marconi on 350 metres, and during the 1921 Trans-Atlantic tests when Paul Godley received a number of US amateur signals on 160 metres at night. The new beacon will operate with Chirp modulation as used in radar systems that is extremely sensitive to weak radio signals. The success of this proposed project will put amateur radio back on the science map.

FIRST MEERKAT OFF-SET GREGORIAN DISH COMPLETED – A start has been made with the 64 MeerKAT dish array that features an off-set Gregorian type of dish; all the dishes will be assembled on site in a specially constructed shed. The concrete foundations have been laid for the 64 MeerKAT dishes, which will be the precursor for the large SKA dish array. The main reflector (dish) is 13,4 x 16 metres and the subreflector 3,8 metres diameter with a total height of 19,5 metres. Don’t miss the next Intecnet on 15 April 2014 when Prof. Jonas from Rhodes University will provide full details about this exciting SKA project.

THE METEOR SHOWER SEASON IS STARTING WITH THE LYRIDS – The meteor shower, Lyrids. will be active from 16 April until 25 April 2014 and expected to peak on 23 April. The Lyrids is one of the oldest meteor showers known and its radiant is located in the constellation of Lyra near the star Vega above the northern horizon. It originated from the comet Thatcher, which orbits the Sun every 415 years. The radiant rises around 03:00 CAT with a visual rate of about 20 bursts per hour.

NEW US SAFETY LAW EXEMPTS AMATEUR RADIO GUYED TOWERS – Washington Governor, Jay Inslee, has signed into law legislation aimed at providing a safer “flying environment” for pilots of aircraft engaged in “low-flying activities,” such as crop dusting and search-and-rescue. The new law includes provisions to alert pilots to “guyed towers that may be erected at short notice” that might be hard to see and pose an air safety hazard, and it contains specific marking and lighting requirements. Specifically exempted from the new law is “Any structure for which the primary purpose is to support telecommunications equipment, such as equipment for Amateur Radio and broadcast radio and television services regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.”

MARS IS NOW IN OPPOSITION – If you look at the eastern horizon just after sunset you’ll see a bright red star, it is the planet Mars. It is currently opposite to the Sun with the Earth in the middle, and will be the closest to Earth during early April 2014 at 93 million km. It repeats this every two years and in 2018 it will reach a minimum distance of only 57 million km. If you look at it through a small telescope or powerful binoculars you will see its two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

THE VK6JAY MYSTERY DEEPENS – Richus Joubert, ZR6RIC, claims that he genuinely heard a call sign that sounded like VK6JAY. The VK’s informed us that there is no such call sign listed in Australia and the time would have been around 10 P.M. in Western Australia. This means that the prefix of the call sign could be suspect. Since Richus was beaming long path to Australia, i.e. in a north westerly direction, the DX signal could have been via TEP as we are now in that season. It would be interesting to know from where that signal originated.

CONTEST NEWS WITH ZS6GRL Updated 2 March 2014

ARRL Inter. DX Contest, SSB. Date: March 1-2, 2014 - .Mission: Encourage W/VE stations to expand knowledge of DX propagation on the HF and MF bands, improve operating skills, and improve station capability by creating a competition in which DX stations may only contact W/VE stations. Definitions: W/VE stations are those operating in the following locations: The United States and the District of Columbia with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii, Canadian provinces and territories with the exception of the DXCC entities St. Paul Island and Sable Island, DX stations are any non-W/VE station. This includes US possessions and territories in the Caribbean and Pacific. Objectives: W/VE amateurs work as many DX stations in as many DXCC entities as possible on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands, DX stations work as many W/VE stations in as many of the 48 contiguous states and provinces as possible. Contest Exchange: W/VE stations send signal report and state or province: DX stations send signal report and power (number or abbreviation indicating approximate transmitter output power).

OPEN UKRAINE RTTY CHAMPIONSHIP 2014: Date: 01-02 March 2014. The contest consist of two parts: LOW BAND (1,8, 3,5 & 7 MHz) and HIGH BAND (7, 14, 21 & 28 MHz). Time: LOW BAND-part includes 2 rounds: the First round is 18:00-20:59 UT , the Second - 21:00-23:59 UT (01 March); HIGH BAND-part includes 2 rounds: the First round is 08:00-10:59 UT , the Second - 11:00-13:59 UT (02 March). Bands: 1,8 ; 3,5 ; 7 ; 14 ; 21 ; 28 MHz, in digimodes sub-bands. Mode: RTTY (45 BAUD).

DARC 10m-Contest DIGITAL (Corona): The following DARC RTTY contests performs at the 10-m band in the approved by the IARU band plan frequency ranges. Dates: 2 March from 1100 to 1700 UTC. Participants: All amateur radio stations and receiving stations (SWL) at home and abroad. Call: CQ TEST CORONA. Digits Exchange: RST + serial number from 001

SARL Hamnet 40 m Simulated Emergency Contest: Aim - This SSB Contest is open to all Radio Amateurs in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, Marion Island and South African Antarctica. Only contacts with these areas will count. Date and Time. First Sunday of March from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC (14:00 to 16:00 CAT). (2 March 2014). Frequencies. It is a phone contest in the band segments 7 063 to 7 100 kHz and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz. Categories. a. Single operator stationary mobile, b. Single operator portable, c. Multi-operator portable, d. Single operator base station

UBA Spring Contest 2014. The UBA section of DST (Diest) invites all radio amateurs to take part in the 31^st edition of the UBA SPRING-CONTEST. Contest dates / Contest parts HF-80m CW: 2 March 2014 (07.00 -11.00 hour UTC), VHF-6m Phone/CW: 9 March 2014 (07.00 -11.00 hour UTC). VHF-2m Phone/CW: 16 March 2014 (07.00 -11.00 hour UTC). HF-80m Phone: 23 March 2014 (07.00 -11.00 hour UTC). Attention: only UTC time in the log is valid. Contest call. CQ UBA contest. Reports. ON Stations: Report = RS(T) + QSO serial number starting with 001 + UBA section or XXX for ON stations NOT member of the UBA. Ex: ON4DST - rprt given 59(9)001 DST - rprt received 59(9)003 MCL. Foreign stations: Report = RS(T) + QSO serial number starting with 001. Ex.: G3ZZZ - report given 59(9)005 - report received 59(9)019 DST. The QSO serial number must run continuously, regardless of the mode of transmission (VHF). Foreign stations. Only contacts with ON stations are valid.

The 2014 CQ World-Wide WPX Contest. SSB: March 29-30, 2014 Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday. I. Objective: For amateurs world wide to contact as many amateurs and prefixes as possible during the contest period. Period of Operation: 48 hours. Single Operator stations may operate 36 of the 48 hours – off times must be a minimum of 60 minutes during which no QSO is logged. Multi-operator stations may operate the full 48 hours. Bands: Only the 1.8, 3.5, 7, 14, 21, and 28 MHz bands may be used. Observance of established band plans is strongly encouraged. EXCHANGE: RS(T) report plus a progressive contact serial number starting with 001 for the first contact. Note: Multi-Two and Multi-Unlimited entrantsuse separate serial number sequences on each band

SARL Forum Active Topics

ZS1VR Stilsleutel

18/04/2014 21:58:54
by: ZS1OLI

SARL electronic voting

18/04/2014 18:59:02
by: ZS1YT

CW Net on 40m

18/04/2014 15:14:07
by: ZS1YT

6 meter band plan ?

18/04/2014 14:56:33
by: V51PJ

TK-80 CAT Interface working or not

18/04/2014 14:21:11
by: ZS6PX

Motorola GM-340

18/04/2014 06:58:32
by: ZS4PR

GRID SQUARES

17/04/2014 19:51:38
by: ZS3SVD

Commercial Hamads

Battery Clinic Midrand: Car batteries; truck batteries; alarm/gate motor batteries; Intelligent chargers & other accessories; new or ‘Re-new’ batteries. Discounts where possible for Ham Radio operators. www.batteryclinic.co.za Contact Nigel (ZR6NGB) 011 028 1146, Email: nigel@batteryclinic.co.za

MEGE electrical control & automation
Mege electrical control & automation is in the business of designing and manufacturing of control panels for the industry. Installation of frequency drives, PLCs, mimic panels. Temperature controllers, thermocouples, RTDs, electric and gas ovens. Gas detectors, hygrometers. Fire, heat and smoke detectors. Back-up generators. Solar panels, regulators. Earthing and lightning protection. Contact Eddie (ZS6DAY) at 082 330 3558, or megecontrol@gmail.com

ZS2BL's S.A. HAMSHACK
Your first choice for power supplies, swr meters, antenna tuners, HF, VHF and UHF antennas as well as antenna analysers and much much more. Check it all out at here Remember that SARL members get FREE postage on most orders over R700,00. T's & C's apply.

Patsau Communications
We supply and repair HF/VHF/UHF Radios. Antennas, cabling and accessories also available. Please leave your details on our site. Click here and we will contact you.

Place your commercial hamads on the home page. Book a six months space for R300 or 12 months at R500 prepaid with order The advertisements will be text only up to 60 words including address, telephone number and click through URL to advertisers' website and email address. Adverisement can be changed Send your contact details to artoday@sarl.org.za and we will contact you

What is Amateur Radio ?

Tell me more about Amateur Radio

Radio Amateurs, or "Hams" use two-way radio communication to make contact with other radio amateurs all over the world. They are even able to use satellites and on occasion speak with astronauts. Radio Hams can do this from home or while mobile in cars, boats or on foot.

Radio Hams have a full range or communication modes at their disposal. These include plain voice, Morse code, numerous digital computer modes and even graphical modes like television. As a licensed amateur radio operator you will be able to join in experiments using all these modes.

Amateur radio can be enjoyed by young and old, male and female, even the most severely disabled can make friends around the world from their own home. This hobby knows no boundaries.

Random Photo from the Call book.

Steven Baynes, ZS6XU

Click here to go to the Kevtronics web

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Call 041 3711425Speak to Donovan (ZS2DL) or Andre (ZS2BK)

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Worked All ZS award
An interesting operating goal

The entry level for the WAZS award is 100 different call signs. The programme has recently been expanded to include higher level endorsements, such as WAZS-200, WAZS-300, etc. Endorsements may also be obtained for specific modes, eg: CW, SSB, etc.
Click here for more information...

SA Maritime Net
The South African Maritime Net operates 7 days a week, and provides weather reports from around the coast, and maintains contact with boats off the coast of South Africa and up into the Mozambique channel. There are two regular schedule times as follows:

06:30 UTC: Starts on 14316 kHz for 5-10 minutes, and then moves to 7,120 kHz.
11:30 UTC: Starts on 14316 kHz for approx. 30 mins and then moves down to 7,120 kHz.