The spectrum 5350 to 5450 kHz is now available to all licensed radio amateurs on a shared non-interference basis. In addition, the channel 5290 kHz has been allocated for WSPR beacons deployed in the SARL Propagation Research project.

Due to licensing issues the SARL has kept low key on the 5290 kHz beacon project. “We now can go full steam ahead”, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, the SARL Manager Regulatory said. “There are no longer any restrictions and no application for use of the 60-metre band is required.”

The National Radio Frequency Plan 2018 is a nearly 300-page document which covers the entire radio frequency spectrum. The SARL will carefully consider all the amateur allocations. The plan is in Government Gazette 41650 which will from next week be available from the Government Printer’s website under general notice 266.

Commenting on the 100 kHz 60 metre allocation, SARL President, Nico van Rensburg ZS6QL said that the SARL has worked on this for a long time. “Clearly our persistent interaction with ICASA has paid dividends. This is however not the end of the road as in the new band plan power on 5 MHz is restricted to the WRC15 agreement of 15 watts e.i.r.p

Amateur Radio Today and SARL NEWS. Listen to  these programmes on line or download to retransmit on local nets, a SARL service to Radio Amateurs. Get the transmission schedule here .

Sunday 27 May  2018

AMATEUR RADIO TODAY with Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV listen/download here . More details about Today's programme here 

The latest VHF, UHF and Microwave Record Table is available from the VHF SA Record page. Click here to get a copy. 

Compiled by Mike Bosch, ZS2FM (SK) and updated by Paul, ZS6NK 25 May 2018. Updates to zssixnk@gmail.com  

Football World Cup Radio Marathon. A large number of special call signs from countries participating in the Football World Cup tournament, as well as from other FIFA member countries that did not qualify for the finals, will be active between 1 June and 15 July. Participating stations are expected from Algeria (7X2FIFA), Antigua & Barbuda (V218FIFA), Argentina (AY0FWC), Austria (OE18FIFA), Bahrain (A91FWC), Bermuda (VP9FIFA), Bosnia & Herzegovina (E70FIFA), Brazil (ZZ18FWC), Canada (VB18FIFA), Croatia (9A18FIFA), Denmark (OU18FWC), Ecuador (HD18FIFA), Egypt (SU18FWC), England (GB18FWC), France (TM18FWC), Germany (DJ18FWC and DK18FWC), Greece (SX18FIFA), Haiti (HH18FIFA), Hong Kong (VR2FIFA), Hungary (HG18FIFA), Indonesia (YB18FIFA), Iraq (YI0FIFA), Italy (II9FIFA), Kazakhstan (UP18FIFA), Korea (DT18FIFA and DT18FWC), Luxembourg (LX18FIFA), Moldova (ER18FIFA), Netherlands (PA18FIFA), New Zealand (ZL18FIFA), Northern Ireland (GB18FIFA), Panama (HP18FWC), Peru (OC18FWC), Philippines (DX18FIFA), Poland (3Z18FWC), Portugal/Azores (CR2018FWC), Qatar (A71FIFA), Saudi Arabia (HZ18FIFA and HZ18FWC), Scotland (MB18FIFA: 10, 13, 14 July), Serbia (YU18FWC), Slovakia (OM18FIFA and OM2018FIFA), Spain (AO18FWC), Suriname (PZ18FIFA), Sweden (7S18FWC, 8S18FWC, SB18FWC, SC18FWC, SD18FWC, SE18FWC, SF18FWC, SH18FWC and SI18FWC), United Arab Emirates (A60FIFA), Uruguay (CW18FWC), Venezuela (YW18FIFA), Wales (MB18FIFA: 12 June and 12 July). Complete information will be published on http://fwc18.hamlogs.net/.

BAD OPERATING PRACTICES ON HF - Following a recent communicated trend of on air abuse including misconduct on 20 m, the Namibian Amateur Radio League (NARL) President Werner, V51JP and the SARL President Nico, ZS6QL engaged with the respective individuals and were able to resolve the matter. Unfortunately, this did not end there, we are currently facing a situation where South African radio amateurs are now themselves guilty of misconduct on the air.

Amateur radio is a self-governing service and we as respected amateurs operate in accordance with a code of conduct which stand for cooperation, assistance, loyalty, good-will, patience, consideration and friendship when operating on the air.

The SARL Council would like to appeal to South African amateurs to refrain from bad behaviour and poor operating practices. Please promote fair play and adhere to the amateur code of conduct on the air in the spirit of amateur radio.

Radio ZS May 2018

The May 2018 issue of Radio ZS is available for download - all 72 pages! 

Young South African Radio Amateurs invited to apply for YOTA 2018 - South Africa will host 80 young Radio Amateurs from 34 countries in Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East, for a week-long international event from 8 – 15 August 2018. This is the first time that YOTA (Youngsters–on–the–Air Summer Event) is presented in South Africa and hosted by the South African Radio League (SARL).  

Applications are now invited for the South African Team and anyone aged between 16 and 25 is invited to apply for selection as a team member and participate in this amazing amateur radio event.

“This annual event creates, in addition to amateur radio, the opportunity to learn about different nationalities and cultures, foster international friendships and goodwill as well as learning new radio communication and technical skills”, says SARL president, Nico van Rensburg. YOTA brings together young radio amateurs under the age of 26 who have a passion for amateur radio and technology to learn new skills, discuss and share ideas about amateur radio and its future. This year’s camp will not just focus on teaching individual skills but look at empowering the group to become mentors and transfer the skills they have learned. 

The week long programme includes building a radio transceiver kit, becoming involved in launching and tracking of a high altitude balloon with various radio equipment on-board, hone their communication skills using multi frequency amateur radio stations and other technology and communications based activities. 

To be considered for selection in the South African team visit  www.zs9yota.co.za,   complete the online application in full and submit before 30 May 2018. The SARL YOTA Team Selection Committee will notify successful applicants by 17 June 2018. Full details about the 2018 event can be found on www.zs9yota.co.za. For additional information contact the team at info@zs9yota.co.za. 

Radio Amateurs and companies can become involved in YOTA 2018 by financially contributing. For banking and PayPal details visit www.zs9yota.co.za. Support the future of amateur radio.

Get radio active in a different way - The SARL will soon be featuring a 3 minute slot on LM Radio. It will be broadcast mid-morning on a Saturday on 702 kHz AM from Johannesburg.   The SARL invites all young radio amateurs to send us a WhatsApp voice note. Record why you think amateur radio is cool or “Amateur radio is cool because it gets into new technologies …” Use your own words.  Start your voice note with I am, your name and callsign. The voice note must not be longer than 1 minute. Send your voice note to 076 402 1464.  You may just be the next radio star. Send as many as you like. We will select the best!

ARRL HANDBOOK -   only 2 copies of the 2017 edition are available. The 2018 is no longer available. For details visit www.amateurradio.org.za

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

Italy, II4. Elettra Back on Air! In conjunction with "Museum Ships Weekend Event" www.nj2bb.org, members of the ARI Fidenza Radio Club will activate the callsign II4AMP. The station is close to the relic keel of Guglielmo Marconi's yacht "Elettra", which is kept at the Museum and will ideally give new life to its "voice", allowing the radio amateurs overall in the world to get in contact with it during the weekend of 2 and 3 June. QSL Manager is IQ4FE (by the Bureau or direct). For more details, see the following URLs www.arifidenza.it and www.fgm.it

Ireland, EI. The EIDX Group will activate all Irish IOTA groups between 1 June and 30 September. They will use EI0DXG from the main island of Ireland (EU-115) and EJ0DXG from the other groups as follows:

15 to 18 June Little Saltee Island EU-103

20 to 22 July EU-007 to be confirmed

24 to 26 August EU-121 to be confirmed

13 to 16 September EU-006

Plans are for three stations to operate CW, SSB and digital modes on the HF bands and 6 metres. Updates will be posted to www.facebook.com/groups/185038478993063/. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. A plaque will be available for working all four groups, with EI0DXG as a wildcard, see http://dxwanted.net/.

Indonesia, YB. Special event station YB50AR will be active on 1-30 June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia (ORARI), Indonesia's IARU member society. In addition to the HQ station, other 32 special callsigns will be active from the 32 ORARI Subdivisions (ORARI Daerah) over the same period. QSLs via  LoTW (no paper cards will be issued). Information on the ORARI Golden Anniversary Awards will be posted to http://www.orari.or.id/ YB50AC, YB50BA, YB50BB, YB50BE, YB50BT, YB50GO, YB50JA, YB50JB, YB50JI, YB50JK, YB50JT, YB50KB, YB50KI, YB50KR, YB50KS, YB50KT, YB50LA, YB50MA, YB50MU, YB50NB, YB50NT, YB50PA, YB50RI, YB50SA, YB50SB, YB50SG, YB50SN, YB50SR, YB50SS, YB50ST, YB50SU and YB50YO.

Aland Islands, OH0. Juha, OH5CW and the OH5C group will be active as OG0C and OG0C/p from Kokar (grid square KO09), one of the Aland Islands (EU-002), between 2 and 6 June. They will operate CW, SSB and FT8 on 80-2 metres. QSL via OH5CW and possibly LoTW.

Suriname, PZ. Olli, OH0XX is active as PZ5XX from Lelydorp, Suriname until 29 May, including an entry in the CQ WW WPX CW Contest. He operates CW on 160 to 10 metres. QSL via LoTW, Club Log's OQRS, or via OH0XX (direct or bureau).

Micronesia, V6. Tosy JA3FGJ (V63GJ), Sanny JJ3CIG (V63SS) and Mami JP3AYQ (V63YL) will be active as V6J from Ta Island in the Mortlok group (OC-254) in early July (dates TBA). This IOTA group was activated only once back in 2002. They will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 on 40, 30, 20, 17, 15 and 6 metres. While on Pohnpei (OC-010) they will be using their personal V6 callsigns. QSL V6J via Club Log's OQRS, or direct only via JP3AYQ; QSL others via home call. Updates will be posted to www.qrz.com/lookup/V6J. Joe, JJ3PRT will be their pilot station.

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

Focus on VHF 27 May 2018

For a audio version click here 

For many years Mike Bosch ZS2FM wrote many articles and news reports on activity above 30 MHZ and a wide range of subjects on astronomy and other space related research. As the SARL and Amateur Radio Today we would like to continue where Mike left off two weeks ago when he joined the ranks of the silent keys. 

Please help us to keep his legacy and keen interest in promoting activities on the VHF, UHF and Microwave bands alive. Send news about your activity to artoday@sarl.org.za  preferably by Thursday night for inclusion in Sunday’s programme and posting on the web. 

In the news today...

Some news from the Cape Verde Islands

Europeans have had a royal time with the new upgraded remote controlled station at D4C. D4C is the call sign of the Monteverde Contest Team whose contest station is located on the island of Sao Vicente, one of the 10 islands that make up the archipeligo of Cape Verde.  Cape Verde is in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 570 km off the West African coast near Senegal.  The fibre optic line was just installed in time.  The latest trend in Europe is FT8 on 50.313 MHz and is already utilised 100%.  

FT8 is an excellent mode for HF DXing and for situations like multi-hop Sporadic E on 6 metres, where deep QSB may make fast and reliable completion of QSOs desirable.

Japan has requested the international community if 50.323 MHz could not be utilized for FT8 DX.

But at least there are still callers on USB Voice. Not all have fled to FT8 yet.

Now the question always asked is why sporadic E season is so very active in Europe and all north of the Equator but not the same in the southern parts of the Equator?  The reason is hams active above 30MHz are only a handful compared to the thousands in Europe. Yes, activity and new DXCC contacts are just around the block if you stay in Europe. But in Africa it is thousands of kilometres that need to be crossed in the ionosphere and there are no cheap solutions.

Let us make it our goal to talk to other amateurs in Africa on the HF bands and try to convince them to put up a basic vhf station with at least a 5 element antenna on 6m or a 10 element antenna on 2m. Not all are activated yet on 4m but they can listen. It does not have to be an EME station.

On the local front the normal activities are there.

Pieter Jacobs V51PJ reports that on the 6m front there were 2 days where the band almost opened in Namibia.  He and Wynand V51WW heard voice with very deep QSB which lasted for about 30-45 minutes but unfortuantely no contact was made.

The East coast have been informed by Phil FR5DN from Reunion Island that conditions look very positive but that the ducting is in layers and not all at the same height above sea level. So we hold thumbs for them.

Dave ZS5DJ and Peter ZS2ABF are doing their regular skeds and although voice was not possible they managed to communicate using CW. Peter mentioned that he did hear another voice but unreadable. The Hepburn Charts propagation forecast did not look very promising but CW did it. 

Pieter V51PJ writes that Phil FR5DN has introduced him to the MeteoInfo software found at www.meteothinker.com.

MeteoInfo is an open source software suite, which includes two major applications: MeteoInfoMap and MeteoInfoLab.

MeteoInfoMap was designed to view and analyze meteorological and spatial data interactively.

MeteoInfoLab was developed using Java and Jython based on MeteoInfo Java library. The purpose is to provide an optional scientific computation and visualization tool similar with MatLab and/or NCL.

Pieter says, I am not a programming language boffin. For those that do know programming languages please download and help us create a package that can be used at any hams location for monitoring weather conditions. The weather GRIB files are freely available off the internet. The software can then be used to look for sudden increase in temperature and sudden drop in humidity level at various levels above sea level. This can provide very useful information especially to monitor inland weather conditions as the Hepburn Forecast Predictions are done at 0m above sea level which means that it is no good for use inland.  Please advise if you can help. Pieter’s  contact detail is nets@mtcmobile.com.na 

From next week we will re-introduce the tutorial feature and look at FT8 and what you require.

The information for this week’s Focus on VHF was provided by Pieter Jacobs V51PJ and edited and presented by Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ for Amateur Radio Today.

Dates and time: The contest will be held on the first full weekend of May 5-6 starting at 12.00pm Saturday and ending at 1159Z Sunday. Bands: Bands from 10m through 80m, except WARC bands. Exchange: Italian stations will send RST and two letters to identify their province. Other stations will send RST and a serial number from 001.  See http://www.ari.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5167%3Aari-international-dx-contest-2018&catid=250%3Aari-international&Itemid=270&lang=it 

VOLTA RTTY DX CONTEST: TEST PERIOD: 12:00 GMT Saturday May 12, 2018 until 12:00 GMT Sunday May 13. BANDS: 3,5 - 7 - 14 -21 - 28 MHz Amateur bands. MESSAGE: Must consist of: RST - QSO progressive number starting from 001 - Your CQ Zone number. (es.: 599-001-15). See http://www.contestvolta.com/rules.pdf 

UN DX CONTEST:  Aim: UN DX CONTEST is organized and held by the national amateur radio society The Kazakhstan Federation of Radiosport and Radioamateur (KFRR). Contest period: 06.00 UTC 19 May 2018 – 21.00 UTC 19 May 2018. Bands: 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m (according to the IARU band plan for HF contests). Modes: CW and SSB. Exchange: Kazakhstan stations send RS(T) report plus KDA award district code. Non-Kazakhstan stations should send RS(T) report plus progressive serial number, starting with 001 for the first contact. See http://undxc.kz/bez-rubriki/2015-2/

AEGEAN RTTY CONTEST: Date: 3rd full weekend of May, from 12:00 UTC Saturday till 12:00 UTC Sunday  19 and 20 May. Mode: RTTY BAUDOT. Bands: 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 meters, according to the IARU Region 1 band plan. Exchange: RST + QSO number starting with 001. See http://www.aegeandxgroup.gr/dx-pdf/AEGEAN%20RTTY%20CONTEST%20RULES.pdf 

European PSK DX Contest: Date and Time: 12:00 UTC 19.05.2018 - 12:00 UTC 20.05.2018. Bands: 80 meters (3.580 – 3.590 MHz), 40 meters (7.040 – 7.050 MHz), 20 meters (14.070 –14.080 MHz), 15 meters (21.070 – 21.080 MHz), and 10 meters (28.070 – 28.080 MHz). Exchange: All EU stations should send signal report plus EU Area Code.  DX stations should send signal report plus QSO number, starting 001. See http://www.eupsk.com/eupskdx/eupskdxrules.pdf 

His Majesty The King of Spain CW Contest: Dates: 1200 UTC Saturday till 1159 UTC Sunday (May 19-20, 2018). Bands: 10, 15, 20, 40, 80 and 160 meters, in the segments recommended by the IARU for this mode. Exchange: Spanish stations send RST and the Province abbreviation and Special station His Majesty The King of Spain (EA0) will pass the abbreviation (SMR). DX stations send RST and serial number starting with 001. See https://concursos.ure.es/en/s-m-el-rey-de-espana-cw/bases/

CQ World-Wide WPX Contest: Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday May 26-27. 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: 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 entrants use separate serial number sequences on each band. See http://www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm 

Hammies Sprint: Aim: This is a fun activity to promote contacts between Hammies and radio amateurs in Southern African countries with an emphasis on ZU stations. Date and Time: 14:00 to 15:00 UTC 10 June 2018. Exchange: RS and provincial abbreviation, DX for all stations outside South Africa. Frequency and mode: A phone contest on the 40-metre band, 7 063 to 7 100 and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz. See Blue Book for more details 

South African Radio League Top Band QSO Party: Aim: This is a fun activity to promote contacts on 160 metres between radio amateurs in Southern African countries and to encourage radio amateurs to apply for the South African Radio League Top Band Award. Date and Time: 00:00 UTC on Thursday 21 June 2018 to 00:00 UTC on Monday 25 June 2018. Frequency: CW: 1 810 – 1 838 kHz, Phone: 1 840 – 2 000 kHz. Exchange: The exchange is a RS(T) report and provincial or country abbreviation. See Blue Book more details 

His Majesty The King of Spain SSB Contest: Dates: 1200 UTC Saturday till 1159 UTC Sunday (June 23-24, 2018). Bands: 10, 15, 20, 40, 80 and 160 meters, in the segments recommended by the IARU for this mode. Exchange: Spanish stations send RST and the Province abbreviation and Special station His Majesty The King of Spain (EA0) will pass the abbreviation (SMR). DX stations send RST and serial number starting with 001. See https://concursos.ure.es/en/s-m-el-rey-de-espana-ssb/bases/ 

UKRAINIAN DX DIGI CONTEST: 12.00 UTC Saturday , through 12.00 UTC Sunday 23-24 June.  MODE:  RTTY 75bd and PSK63 only. BANDS:  3,5 – 7 – 14 - 21 - 28 MHz without WARC bands. Exchange:  Non-Ukrainian stations transmits RST & QSO number beginning from 001. Ukrainian stations transmits RST & two letters denoting the province(oblast). http://www.izmail-dx.com/

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.

www.radioacc.co.za