SARLNEWS  with Dave Reece ZS1DFR download/listen here 

AMATEUR RADIO TODAY with Hans van de Groenendaal  listen here or visit the Amateur Radio Today page with more details and download links  here   

REPEATER EVENT AT NARC 26 AUGUST 2017 - The SA Digital Repeater Sub-Committee (SADRS) is running an event at the National Amateur Radio Centre from 10:00 to 17:00 CAT on Saturday 26 August 2017. This is a free event for SARL members. Kits will be available for purchase. The programme is as follows:

10:00 Welcome and talk about the BrandMeister DMR, D-Star and the Fusion Master Server by Andy Coetzee, ZS5CEY 

11:00 Tea Break 

11:15 The MMDVM Homebrew Building Project by Johan Lehmann, ZS6JPL, and Ronald Verweerdt, ZS6RVC

12:15 Lunch - Steak rolls and refreshments

13:30 The MMDVM Hotpots projects and Different Digital Radios - Tytera MD2017 DMR Dual band Radio, etc., by Marinus Brand, ZS6BM, and Andy Coetzee, ZS5CEY

15:00 Practical MMDVM Demonstration and Building. 

 17:00 End of the event. 

IARUMS: Eritrea and Ethiopia still in 40 m amateur radio band - The IARU Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter reports Radio Eritrea and Radio Ethiopia are still operating in the 40 m band on 7 150 and 7 175 kHz. The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 July 2017 newsletter can be read at www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2017/news1707.pdf

Reports of Amateur Band intruders can be logged on the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System Logger at

http://peditio.net/intruder/bluechat.cgi

Monitor the short-wave bands on-line with a web based SDR receiver at www.websdr.org/

REPORT BACK ON SARL/SARL LIAISON MEETING -  The SARL-ICASA Liaison Committee met on 7 July. To read the summary report click here 

JOTA/JOTI 2017 - Richard Hooper, ZS6RKE, the National JOTA/JOTI Coordinator for SCOUTS South Africa told SARL News that JOTA/JOTI 2017 is being held from 20 to 22 October. JOTA/JOTI 2016 was a very successful event nationwide, with a 400% growth in Amateur Radio stations and I would like to see this get better with each year.

Below is the latest link with information on hosting an event. Registration has not yet opened for this year, but is expected in the next week or two. I will send out further details once registration opens for the year. Visit www.scouts.org.za/2017/07/27/60-years-connecting-scouts-register-jota-joti/

Please let me know if you have any queries or would like some assistance arranging Radio Amateurs for your event. I will endeavour to assist where possible. You can contact me at Richard.hooper@scouts.org.za

 Advertising in Radio ZS and the SARL Web site - Radio ZS and the SARL web welcomes advertising. It is a source of information for readers. To place an advertisement in Radio ZS, contact Dennis, ZS4BS, at radiozs@sarl.org.za. To advertise on the League web site, contact Hans, ZS6AKV at artoday@sarl.org.za

Advertising Rates

Display (cameo) on home page - R500 pm - R2 500 for 6 months - R4 500 per annum

Commercial Hamad on home page - R60 pm - R300 for 6 months - R500 per annum

Radio ZS Strip advertisement, 10 cm x 2 columns on top of the page - R100 pm - R500 for 6 months - R1 000 per annum

Display (cameo) on home page and Radio ZS Strip advertisement (as above)       - R550 pm - R2 700 for 6 months - R4 900 per annum 

Terms and conditions

All contract advertisements content may be changed monthly on 5 working day notice

The rates are based on the complete supply of material in Jpeg unless otherwise negotiated. For artwork additional charges may apply as agreed

The content of the advertisements must comply with regulations and norms acceptable in South Africa

All advertisements are playable in advance by EFT to SA Radio League, ABSA, account no 4071 588 849 branch code 632 005

All correspondence and material must be sent to admin@sarl.org.za with a copy to artoday@sarl.org.za

The full net information URL is www.wia.org.au/members/nets/travellers/

Pirates. "For more than a year now an Amateur Radio operator has been pirating the following calls on CW", The Daily DX reported on 17 August. "It started off with VU2TS, but only on CW. Then he was switching between VU2TS and 4U1ITU, when the club was using 4U1WRC, again CW only.  Next, he began using 5H3PM, CW only.  The pirate has now recently switched over to 5H3MG again, CW only.  I have confirmed with Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) that both 5H3 calls are not currently registered calls. The signals are clearly coming from Southern Europe".

Mellish Reef, VK9M. The VK9MA DXpedition's team now includes nine operators (DL3DXX, LB8DC, N7QT, N9ADG, SM1ALH, SM5AQD, SM5GLC, W5XU and WJ2O). They will be active from Mellish Reef (OC-072) between 3 and 16 November, with four stations around the clock. "One of our goals is to dedicate a lot of station time to the digital modes, particularly RTTY", they say. "If conditions are such that the band(s) are not open for RTTY, we most likely will give JT65/JT9 and FT8 a try". The lower bands (160 to 30 m) are expected to “provide the best opportunity to work the world during the evening hours", while 17 and 20 metres will be "the most likely bands to work the world during the day". The pilot stations will be K4PI (all the Americas), V51B (Africa) and ON9CFG (Europe).  QSL via Club Log's OQRS (preferred), LoTW and eQSL; traditional requests via N7QT. The website for the DXpedition is at https://vk9ma.com/.

Taiwan, BV. Special callsign BV0FISU will be in use between 18 and 30 August for the XXIX Summer Universiade (the World University Games organized by the International University Sports Federation) to be held in Taipei. QSL via BV2FP, bureau preferred.

South Cook Islands, E5. Doug, W6HB, will once again be active as E51DLD from Rarotonga Island (OC-013) between 27 August and 8 September. Activity will be on 160 to 10 metres using SSB. Doug states, "I will be with XYL Ana this trip and will be playing more the tourist. Expect some operating vacation style from E51AND's and E51KC's QTH - I expect visiting and possibly some operations from E51JD's and E51BQ." QSL via his home callsign. See QRZ.com for more details. No LoTW, no eQSL, no QRZ.com logs - hard cards ONLY folks.

French Polynesia, FO. Heinz, DF1YP, will once again be active as FO/DF1YP from Moorea Island (OC-046) between 6 September and 1 October. Activity will be holiday style on 20, 17 and 15 metres using SSB and the Digital modes. QSL via his home call sign, direct or by the Bureau (preferred).

# Link to SARL VHF, UHF & MICROWAVES DX TABLE Click here 

LIGHTNING SCATTER ON 50 MHz – Lightning Scatter is another VHF propagation mode, but two-way contacts have never been tried in South Africa. Many years ago a FM broadcasting station in Durban on the 108 MHz FM band was heard in East London by ZS2FM during a lightning storm. Everytime a lightning flash occurred, from a distant thunderstorm in the direction of Durban, the FM signal would pop out of the noise at full limiting and last for about ten seconds before it faded out. Recently radio bursts from lightning on 144,300 MHz SSB, emanating from ZS6CBQ at Krugersdorp, were picked up by ZS4A in Bethlehem, even though  they were of very short duration the voice of ZS6CBQ was recognizable. This suggests that brief two-way contacts on 50 MHz should be possible on SSB, FM or Digital during a thunderstorm where longer bursts may occur. 

The late afternoon thunderstorms, normally experienced in the summer months around Johannesburg, could be a wonderful testing ground for a lightning project. Of course, only distant stations surrounding Johannesburg area would be able to participate, as all antennas will be grounded in the area where the storm is raging. If you are in Pretoria then beam at the storm in Johannesburg area and give a brief call during a lightning flash, while only listening during the next flash. If you can’t see the lightning flash then call when you hear the static burst on receive. In theory it should be possible to make contacts as far south as Bloemfontein. Who will be the first to a make a contact via Lighting Scatter on 50 MHz?  

TROPO PROPAGATION IS POOR ALONG SOUTH EAST COAST AT PRESENT –“Hi, Dave ZS5DJ is back on the radio, and I called him last night, Monday 14^th. No contact was made. No other stations were heard as conditions are not good along the S.E. coast.73 Peter ZS2ABF.” 

“Peter I heard you on Monday evening but you did not copy me. I also sent CW but I think you switched off by then. Never copied any other station. Dave ZS5DJ.” 

THE NJIT HAM RADIO CLUB WILL STUDY THE SOLAR ECLIPSE ON 21 AUGUST 2017 – Nathaniel Frissell, an assistant research professor of physics at NJIT's Centre for Solar Terrestrial Research at Newark, New Jersey, USA, and a sophisticated practitioner of ham radio who is intent on elevating the technology's role in space science research. He founded the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI), an organization that connects professional researchers such as space physicists and astronomers with the amateur radio community.

With a 102 ft. wire antenna, he will contact a network of ham radio operators he's assembled around the world to test the strength and reach of their high frequency signals as one measure of the eclipse's impact on Earth's atmosphere. More than a week in advance, nearly 200 operators - from New Jersey, to Tennessee, to Wyoming in the U.S. and at far-flung locales such as Chile, Greece and India - are already signed on to be "citizen-scientists" that day by recording their contacts with one another. 

By merging their data, the different groups will be able to construct a comprehensive picture of atmospheric effects caused by space weather events ranging from the solar eclipse later this month to more common phenomena, such as solar flares. In 2014, he first demonstrated the use of ham radio data by showing the effects of an X-class solar flare on high frequency communications. He will share data and analysis from the day at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in December.

Worked All Europe DX Contest: The Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) invites radio amateurs world wide to participate in the annual WAE DX Contest. Times: CW: Saturday, August 12, 2017, 0000 UTC until Sunday, August 13, 2017, 2359 UTC – Bands: 3.5 - 7 - 14 - 21 - 28 MHz. No operation to take place on:  3560-3800; 7040-7200; 14060-14350 kHz . http://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/referat-conteste/worked-all-europe-dx-contest/en/

South African Radio League Digital Contest: Aim- The aim of the HF Contests is for participants to contact as many amateurs in Southern Africa as possible on the 20, 40 and 80 m amateur bands.        Dates:  13:00 to 16:30 UTC on Sunday 20 August 2017 – Frequencies: 3 580 to 3 600 kHz, 7 040 to 7 060 kHz, 14 070 to 14 099 kHz. See Blue Book for details

SCC RTTY Championship:  OBJECTIVE: For amateur radio stations around the world to contact as many other amateur radio stations as possible on HF bands using RTTY Baudot mode. CONTEST PERIOD: last full weekend in August, from 12.00 UTC Saturday to 11.59 UTC Sunday (24 hours); in 2017 (26 - 27 August). BANDS: All amateur bands from 3.5 through 28 MHz, except WARC bands (80/40/20/15/10m). http://lea.hamradio.si/scc/rtty/rttyrules.htm

YO DX HF Contest: Objectives: All the radio amateurs around the world are invited to make as many possible contacts with YO amateurs and other amateurs from different DXCC countries. Contest Period:  August 26 12:00:00 – August 27, 11:59:59 UTC. Bands and Modes: From 80m to 10m, except the WARC bands, in the band segments corresponding to the selected mode (CW and SSB). The same station can be worked once in CW and once in SSB, in the appropriate band segments according to the IARU band plan. http://www.yodx.ro/en/english 

SARL HF CW Contest: Aim: The aim of the HF Contests is for participants to contact as many amateurs in Southern Africa as possible on the 20, 40 and 80 m amateur bands. Dates:  13:00 to 16:30 UTC on Sunday 27 August 2017. Frequencies: 14 000 to 14 060 kHz, 7 000 to 7 040 kHz, 3 510 to 3 560 kHz. See Blue Book for details

Direct importer of a wide selection of SWR meters, H.F., V.H.F. and U.H.F. base and mobile antennas. Amateur radio transceivers, antenna analyzers, etc. Affordable shipping costs for out of town customers and subsidized shipping to SARL members. Check out all my amateur radio goodies here. 0720268909.

Light Engineering Works

General engineering, part remanufacturing  turning, milling, drilling.Specialised welding of steel, stainless steel, aluminium and cast iron.Gear repair and remanufacturing.Prototype industrial and automotive  parts and brackets made to specification,  Heavy duty antenna support and Mobile brackets including standoff brackets and antenna parts manufactured.Tower and tower part repairs also undertaken. Contact Willie Wright ZS6WC.0823351356. zs6wc@vodamail.co.za

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.

 Click here to go to the Kevtronics web