Get your weekly copy of HF Happenings at www.sarl.org.za/hf_happenings.asp 

Southern African Fauna and Flora https://zsfaunaandflora.wordpress.com/. 

South African SOTA https://zssota.wordpress.com 

Contacts with stations on the African continent count towards the SARL’s All Africa Award www.sarl.org.za/public/awards/awards.asp

Worlswide List of HF Beacons https://iaruhfbeacons.wordpress.com/ 

Bouvet, 3Y0I. "The entire 3Y0I Bouvet Team is home and all are resting after the Rebel attempt at Bouvet," they posted to www.rebeldxgroup.com on 18 April. "Our license is renewed, our equipment stored in Cape Town", they added, “and we're already making plans for Bouvet in the Spring."

Liberia, EL. Silvano, I2YSB and the Italian DXpedition Team will be active from Liberia from 28 September to 11 October. Announced callsigns are A82X (for CW and SSB) and A82Z (for digital modes). QSL via I2YSB. Bookmark http://www.i2ysb.com/idt/ for updates.

Intrepid Spirit Award. The Intrepid-DX Group is pleased to announce that Kenneth Opskar, LA7GIA is the recipient of this year's Intrepid Spirit Award for his "outstanding efforts to activate Malawi (7Q7GIA), Comoros (D67GIA), Equatorial Guinea (3C7A), Central African Republic (TL8AO), Congo (TN5E), Somalia (6O6O) and Chad (TT8KO)". The Intrepid-DX Group recognizes "Ken's unselfish acts to activate these challenging and much needed entities on behalf of a grateful Global DX Community", and acknowledges his "pursuit of operating excellence in making these difficult activations". The Intrepid Spirit Award, in memory of James McLaughlin, WA2EWE/T6AF (who was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan on 27 April 2011), "is intended to recognize and honour those individuals or teams that boldly activate rare entities where their own personal safety is secondary to their pursuit of providing contacts to the DX Community".

International Marconi Day. Organized by the Cornish Radio Amateur Club, the International Marconi Day (IMD) is a 24-hour amateur radio event held annually to celebrate the birth of Guglielmo Marconi (25 April 1874). It is not a contest, but an opportunity for amateurs around the world to make contacts with historic Marconi sites using HF communications techniques. This year's event will be held on 27 April, from 00.00 UTC to 23.59 UTC. Details, including information on the Award Certificates and the listing of participating stations, can be found at http://gx4crc.com/.

Italy, I. Italian stations participating in this year's International Marconi Day on 27 April include IY0GA (from Sardinia), IY0IMD, IY0ORP, IY0TC, IY1MR, IY1SM, IY1SP, IY4FGM, IY5PIS, IY6GM and IY7M. QSL via operator's instructions.

Austria, OE. Austrian special event station OE19M will be active on 26 to 28 April. This is an official International Marconi Day station and contacts made on 27 April will count for the IMD Award. QSL via OE1WHC (bureau) or direct to DokuFunk, OE19M, An den Steinfeldern 4A, 1230 Wien, Austria.

USA, W. The Long Island CW Club (W2LCW) and the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club (W2GSB) will participate in the International Marconi Day (27 April) from the Lewis Pond Marina, Babylon (NY). Marconi had a training school in 1901 nearby and the house is still there today.

Czech Republic, OK. Special call sign OL75CLAY marks the 75th anniversary of Operation Clay, executed during World War II in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia by Czech paratroopers trained in England. Activity started on 12 April and will continue until 31 July. QSL via OK2PXJ.

Djibouti, J20DX --- > Col, MM0NDX and Jonathan, MM0OKG reported on 16 April that their "radio equipment was impounded by customs at the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport upon arrival", despite the fact that the third operator (Christian, EA3NT/J20NT) had cleared customs "smoothly" two days earlier. On 17 April, being still unable to retrieve their bags, the team decided to cancel their planned activity from Sept-Freres (AF-059) "due to time constraints", and to use Christian's equipment from Moucha Island (AF-053).

On 18 April "at 0700 local we departed the mainland for the 40 minute crossing to Moucha Island", they posted to the DXpedition's website (https://j20dx.com/news/). "We identified an excellent location for radio upon arrival and immediately assembled a 15 m VDA and 17 m & 20 m vertical dipoles. Our intention was to add more antennas as the day progressed.

Literally 5 minutes before the first CQ from AF-053 we received a phone-call from National Security saying signatures were needed for the authorization letter to permit us to collect our impounded gear. This same letter would also allow us to depart Djibouti without any more issues at airport customs.

However, we had to return to the mainland to get the letter. The weekend is Friday and Saturday here in Djibouti meaning this would likely be our final chance of obtaining the important authorization letter prior to heading home. Before we had even started, teardown begun. Yes, we left the island 2 hours after arriving. AF-053 is now also cancelled. Upon returning to the mainland we headed straight to the National Security offices. Yes, you guessed it - no authorized letter to be seen. We had basically been told fake news. We've now had enough of this country and look forward to heading home".

VHF, UHF and Microwave Record Table - the latest table of records is available from the VHF SA Record page. Click here to get a copy. Compiled and updated by Paul, ZS6NK - latest version 8 March 2019. Updates to zssixnk@gmail.com  

Focus on VHF and Above 24 March 2019 

 Audio version

Focus on VHF and Above 24 March 2019 

There is no tutorial this week, but the bands have been open across the country. 

The 46 Long Distance group had a bumper day on Thursday. Being a public holiday most of the guys were in front of their radios and the conditions were also very good. The load shedding did delay some, but they joined in as soon as they could. There were reports of the ZS4AFV beacon being heard very well in Edenvale and Pretoria. 

Dick ZS6BUN, Vernon ZS6AIG and Pine ZS6OB were also playing with FT8 on 2m on Thursday. 

Willem ZS6WAB reports that the power supply for his beacons has failed as a result of the load shedding and that the beacons will be off for the foreseeable future or I guess until the national power supply has been stabilised again. 

Cor ZS6CR is also busy with his hardware to work QO-100. Here is a photo of his progress so far. 

ZS6CR Arduino Oscillator Control, Oscillator Board, RF Amplifier and 2.4 GHz power amplifier. 

Here is also a SSTV photo that Cor ZS6CR received over the QO-100 satellite.

Peter ZS2ABF reports from East London that he received a text message from Dave ZS5DJ informing him that the forecast was good along the South East Coast for Sunday 17 March. Peter says “I duly came on frequency at 19:45 and Dave's Morse Code call was blasting into my QTH. Signals were strong, and we had a good SSB chat. The only thing that spoilt it was the QSB. At what was to be near the end of our QSO, Dave's signal cut off as if he had a power outage, and that was really the end.” 

Last week we mentioned that John ZS6JON and Louise ZS6LU would be in Gaborone this weekend. Well on Thursday both Willem ZS6WAB and Rickus ZS4A made contact with A21EME which is their Botswana callsign.

Along the West Coast the signals were also great as predicted on the Hepburn Charts for the whole 2^nd half of the past week. Koos ZS3JPY and Cobus ZS3CVB were in contact with Garry ZD7GWM. 

ZS3JPY QSO with ZD7GWM Video 

And one of Cobus with Garry as recorded by Koos. Just listen to the excitement in Cobus’ voice. 

Rudi ZS3DT from Vryburg is on holiday in Port Nolloth and was listening to Garry ZD7GWM with a handheld radio and an AMSAT SA Yagi. 

ZS3JPY ZD7GWM ZS3DT Audio 

Dawid ZS1DK from Langebaan finally has his tower upright with the help of David, Gert and a TLB. 

Well done guys and thanks for sharing the information with us.

The next meeting of the VHF Work Group will be via Skype on 28 March 2019. If you want to join the VHF Work Group, send us your Skype name to vhfnews@sarl.org.za and we will add you to the call. 

The next VHF/UHF workshop is being planned for 25 May 2019 at the National Amateur Radio Centre. Put this date in your diaries and plan to be there. 

Please send your news snippets and information about activities on VHF and Above to vhfnews@sarl.org.za. 

THE WEDNESDAY 80 METRE CLUB SPRINT: The first Wednesday 80 metre Club Sprint was on the air from 17:00 to 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 20 March with CW and phone activity on 3 510 to 3 570 kHz; 3 603 to 3 650 and 3 700 to 3 750 kHz. The exchange is a RS or RST report and your 4-symbol grid square (e.g. KG30). Log sheets in MS Excel format ONLY must be submitted by midnight Wednesday 27 March to zs4bfn@mweb.co.za. The name of the operators Club must be shown on the log sheet. An MS Excel log and summary sheet is available on the Contest page of the League web site.

CQ World-Wide WPX Contest SSB: Date & Time: March 30-31, 2019. Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday. 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. Exchange: RS(T) report plus a progressive contact serial number starting with 001 for the first contact. Note: Multi-Two and Multi-Unlimited entrants use separate serial number sequences on each band. https://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

South African Radio League 80 m QSO Party: Aim: The aim of these contests is to create an interest in and activity on the 80-m band. It is a phone only contest. Date and times: 17:00 to 20:00 UTC on Thursday 4 April 2019. Frequencies: Only frequencies in the segment 3 603 to 3 650 and 3 700 to 3 800 kHz may be used. Exchange: Call sign, RS signal report and operator’s name. See Blue Book

SARL VHF/UHF Digital Contest: (RTTY/PSK/WSJT but not limited to these modes). Aim: The VHF/UHF Digital contest is a test of operator ability and station design, To promote Digital activity on the VHF/UHF and microwave bands. The Contest is open to all licensed Radio Amateurs in South Africa, Namibia (V5), Botswana (A2), Zimbabwe (Z2), Mozambique (C9), Lesotho (7P) and Swaziland (3DA). Only contacts with these states will count. Dates and Times: 10:00 UTC Saturday 6 April 2019 to 10:00 UTC Sunday 7 April 2019. See Blue Book for more details

EA RTTY Contest: To participate in this contest, the specific bases of the competition must be complied with, as well as the General Regulation of URE Competitions. Participants: Any radio amateur anywhere in the world with a valid licence. Dates: From 16:00 UTC on Saturday 6th to 16:00 UTC on Sunday 7th April 2019. Mode: RTTY Baudot (Teletype). Bands: 10, 15, 20, 40 y 80 meters, in the segments recommended by the IARU for this mode. Exchange: Spanish stations send RSQ and the Province abbreviation. DX stations send RSQ and serial number starting with 001. Spanish stations are considered to be those stations operating within the Spanish national territory irrespective of the prefix used. https://concursos.ure.es/en/eartty/bases/

FT8 DX Contest 2019:  Date: Begins: 13-April-2019 | 12:00 UTC Ends:    14-April-2019 | 12:00 UTC. Bands and mode: 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters on FT8 mode. Any station may work any other station. Stations may be worked once per band. Exchange: United States: Signal report and State (except KH6 and KL7). Canada: Signal report and Province. DX: Signal report and consecutive serial number, starting with 001 (including KH6 and KL7). Miscellaneous: Participants must use WSJT-X version 2.0 or later or MSHV version 2.14 or later. https://europeanft8club.wordpress.com/

HOLYLAND CONTEST: Friday 19 of April 21.00UTC - Saturday 20 of April 21.00UTC. Aim: To promote contacts between Radio Amateurs around the globe and Israeli Hams. Eligibility: All licensed amateurs and SWL's worldwide. Object: To contact as many different Israeli amateur radio stations on as many bands, and from as many 'Areas' as possible in different modes CW, SSB and DIGITAL. Period: Start: Friday 19 of April 2019, 21.00 UTC. End: Saturday 20 of April 2019, 21.00 UTC. Modes: CW; SSB; Digital; MIX. (Mixed = minimum 2 modes). Bands: 1.8, 3.5, 7, 14, 21, 28 MHz. Exchange: Worldwide stations send RS(T) + QSO number starting with 001. Israeli stations give RS(T) and 'Area'. https://www.iarc.org/iarc/#HolylandContest

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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.

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