SARLNEWS  with Dennis Green ZS4BS download/listen here 

AMATEUR RADIO TODAY with Dawie Conradie ZS6DHC listen here or visit the Amateur Radio Today page with more details and download links  here  (Corrected version uploaded 09:29)

ICASA Licensing Matters - The SARL is aware of members who are having trouble in resolving their various licensing issues, especially in the case of a cancelled licence. The League is more than willing to assist members but could only do so if the following basic information in the case of cancelled licences is provided: 

A copy of their communication/s with ICASA.

A copy of their latest licence.                                

A copy of the payment/s made subsequent to this latest licence.

A completed ICASA Application Form

A copy of their Identity Document

Proof of payment for the re-application fee.

Original RAE results or HAREC certificate

In the case where a member has paid for a multiple year licence (2 years to 5 years) and has only received a one-year licence, the following information must be provided:

A copy of their communication/s with ICASA.

A copy of the payment made for a multiple year licence.

Please forward your request for assistance, including all the documentation, to secretary@sarl.org.za. Use your call sign and licence number as a topic in the e-mail.

Please refer to the following document for comprehensive information pertaining to licensing at http://www.sarl.org.za/public/ICASA/ICASA_Docs.asp and select the document “ICASA Amateur Radio Licences General Information V2”

Interview with the IARU President - International Amateur Radio Union IARU) president Tim Ellam, VE6SH, talks with ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, at Hamvention 2017. Tim explains what the IARU is, how IARU's work affects every radio amateur in the world, and why hams should pay attention to the events within their own IARU member society. Watch ARRL Hamvention 2017: IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH https://youtu.be/LudvqBWxcE0

The 2017 IARU Region 1 General Conference - Papers for Committee 3 (Administration), Committee 4 (HF), Committee 5 (VHF/UHF) and Committee 7 (EMC) have been uploaded to the Landshut Conference page at http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/general-conference/landshut-2017

The papers are in zipped files ready for download. Also available on the Conference page are the Nominations for the Executive Committee as received by the Region 1 Secretary on 17 June 2017.

SARL Fund for Disaster Victims

I am pleased to announce that Council have decided, on short notice, to establish an independent General Disaster Trust Fund to assist fellow radio amateurs who have suffered because of natural disasters. In a nutshell, this general disaster fund will be administered by independent trustees and not by Council.

The trustees in no specific order are Gary Immelman, ZS6YI, Louw Erasmus, ZS6LME, Cliff Smyth, ZS6BOX, and Rassie Erasmus, ZS1YT.

Trustees will have absolute discretion how funds for the current and for future major relief situations are to be utilised.

This is an open and honest initiative from Council to establish a fund for the current and for future major relief situations to assist in extra ordinary circumstances and not ordinary charity circumstances.

Contribution can be paid into: Erasmus Incorporated Trust Account ABSA Bank, Account no 4049478830

Please use your callsign as reference or should you prefer to contribute anonymously use the word “Disaster Fund” as reference”

The thread “SARL Fund for Disaster Victims” on the Forum will be used for reporting progress, acknowledge payments and for announcements. Please note that no general chatter will be allowed, especially negative remarks or criticism of any kind.

Many thanks for your generous support and understanding with this initiative.

73, Nico, ZS6QL, SARL President 

 PAY YOUR AMATEUR RADIO LICENCE NOW -   Your 2017/2018 licence was payable on 1 April 2017. The fee is R134.00.  The fee is for 5 years is R559.00. Advise Dewald  at  DKuhrau@icasa.org.za of your payment for a five year license. 

ICASA is not oblighed to send out invoices.  For full details on licenecs and payment click here

NVIS PROPAGATION  - UNDERSTAND THE  BASICS - Radio Communication via Near Vertical Incidence Skywave propagation  can be used for communication over a wide area. It is very well suited for emergency communication. It uses frequencies between 3 and 10 MHz with amateur allocation in the 5 MHz particularly attractive.  Two propagation researchers, Ben Witvliet  and Rosa Ma Alsina-Pages wrote an interesting paper with lots of reference to  other papers for additional reading.

You can download it here

4 Bursaries available for under 26 to study for class A -  If you are under 26 and planning to study for  the Class A amateur radio examination there are bursaries available.. For more detail and application forms click here. 

RSGB HANDBOOK NOW AVAILABLE IN SA- The new RSGB Radio Communication Handbook is now avaiable in South Africa. Also available are the ARRL 2017 Handbook (hardcover version) and Low Band DXing. For a list of books locally stocked and a mailorder from click here. SARL Members get up to 10% discount .

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

Full details of the award are at http://wp.rac.ca/operating/rac-awards/canada-c3-expedition-award/ .

Baker Island. “The Dateline DX Association (most recently the K4M team) is very pleased to announce that it has been selected by the Pacific Islands Refuges and Monuments Office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to pursue an Amateur Radio expedition to Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge (KH1). We will announce dates of activation and other pertinent information once a vessel has been selected and approval of said vessel and dates is approved by the Service." The co-leaders for the DXpedition are N1DG, N4XP and K6TD.

Spain, EA. Special call sign AM25FEDIEA is active between 1 and 31 July to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Federacion Digital EA. Also, Spanish stations are allowed to use special prefixes during the same period: EA# stations can use AM#25, EB# stations can use AN#25 and EC# stations can use AO#25.

France, F. TM007TF will operate from 8 to 22 July in the context of the Tour de France. Likewise, TM39TDF is active until 10 July and then again from 16 to 23 July. QSL for TM39TDF via F8GGZ.

Hungary, HA. Members of the radio club FMV (HA5FMV and HG7F) celebrate their club's 60th anniversary until 30 June 2018 with the call HA60FMV. QSL via bureau. Visit www.hg7f.com/ for all the information.

Italy, I. Alessio, IV3GDE and a large group of operators will be active from the island of Santa Maria di Barbana (EU-130) between 28 to 30 July. They will be active on 80 to 10 metres as II3IOTA using SSB, CW and digital modes and as II3Y during the IOTA Contest (SSB and CW). QSL II3IOTA via IV3CTT (direct or bureau), QSL II3Y via IV3OSC (direct or bureau). Plans are to upload the logs to Club Log.

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

THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR EARLY RADIO AMATEURS – Our early radio amateurs were great experimenters and pioneers, they were responsible for the ITU to recognize amateur radio as an official radio service, and therefore entitled to dedicated amateur bands in the radio spectrum. 

1921 – Paul F. Godley set up a temporary radio listening post in Scotland and picked up for the first time amateur radio signals from the USA on the shorter wavelengths. 

1923 – Leon Deloy 8AB in France and Fred Schnell 1MO in the USA, made the first intercontinental DX QSO on shortwaves. In the same year KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, started operation on 100 metres (3 MHz) to become the first shortwave broadcasting station in the world. 

1924 – Radio amateurs were now making worldwide contacts on shortwaves, and John Streeter FO-A4Z made the first contact between the Union of South Africa and the USA on 36 metres. 

1931 – Amateurs in the USA started to experiment with phone on 5 metres (56 MHz) using super regenerative transceivers, and achieved distances beyond the line-of-sight limit on these Ultra High Frequencies. 

1934 – Ross A. Hull (ex VK3JU) discovered Tropo propagation in the USA over a distance of 160 km on 56 MHz, 112 MHz and 224 MHz (5, 21Ž2 & 11Ž4 metres respectively), which peaked up to S9 during temperature inversions.  

1937 – Bert Howes ZS1AL (later ZS6HS) in Cape Town received the AM TV sound from Alexandra Palace, London, England on 41,5 MHz, which was confirmed by the BBC as the longest distance in the world that TV sound has ever been heard at the time. 

ICY COLD CONDITIONS AFFECTED TROPO ON VHF IN RSA – Icy cold weather has spread across the country with snow on the mountains, even the southern coast is now freezing too after all the wild fires. Under these conditions Tropo openings can only briefly appear during approaching cold fronts, and there should be quite a few during this month. Anyway the warner months are coming. 

FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS TO BE EXTENDED FROM 275 GHz – 450 GHz INTO THE TERAHERTZ SPECTRUM – The World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) will be held from 28 October to 22 October 2019. Agenda Item 1.15 to consider identification of frequency bands for use by administrations for the land-mobile and fixed services applications operating in the frequency range 275 - 450 GHz, in accordance with Resolution 767 [COM6/14] (WRC-15) 6.1 IARU position on Agenda Item 1.15 Resolution 767 (WRC-15) recognizes that the amateur service is developing and demonstrating applications above 275 GHz. As studies proceed to identify candidate frequency bands for the land-mobile and fixed services in the frequency range 275 - 450 GHz, the IARU supports maintaining access for non-commercial experimentation by stations in the amateur service to as much of the frequency range as possible, consistent with the protection of the passive and other active services.

DMC RTTY Contest: Start:  Date: 12:00 UTC -Saturday 15 July 2017, End: 12:00 UTC -Sunday 16 July 2017. Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 meters. Exchange: Signal report + serial number, starting 001. http://digital-modes-club.org/index.php/en/dmc-rtty-contest

The 2017 CQ World-Wide VHF Contest: Date: Begins: 1800 UTC Saturday, July 15, 2017, Ends: 2100 UTC Sunday, July 16, 2017. Contest Period: 27 hours for all stations, all categories. Operate any portion of the contest period you wish.  Objectives: are for amateurs around the world to contact as many amateurs as possible in the contest period, to promote VHF, to allow VHF operators the opportunity to experience the enhanced propagation available at this time of year. Bands:  All amateur radio frequencies on 50 MHz (6 meters) and 144 MHz (2 meters) may be used as authorized by local law and license class. Exchange: Callsign and Maidenhead grid locator (4 characters, e.g., EM15). Signal reports are not required and should not be included in the log entry. http://www.cqww-vhf.com/rules.htm

SARL QRP Contest:  Aim: The QRP contests are intended to be fun activities to promote QRP operation between radio amateurs. Using homebuilt equipment or operating as a portable/field station and using temporary antennas is encouraged, but is not a requirement. Dates and times: from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC Saturday 15 July 2017, General Info: Modes: SSB and CW, Power: 5 watts (PEP) output or less, A station may be worked once per band per mode. There are no antenna restrictions. Frequency: The first hour is limited to the 40 m band only, the remaining two hours the contest- ers are free to use any HF (non-WARC) band as they see fit. (See Blue Book for details)

ZS2 Sprint:  Aim: This is a fun activity to promote contacts between radio amateurs in the Eastern Cape and radio amateurs in Southern African countries. Date and Time: 14:00 to 15:00 UTC Sunday 23 July 2017. Exchange: The exchange is RS(T) and provincial or country abbreviation. Frequency: It is a phone and CW contest on the 40-metre band CW: 7 000 to 7 040 kHz, SSB: 7063 to 7 100 and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz. (See Blue Book for details) 

RSGB IOTA Contest: Objective:   To promote contacts between stations in IOTA island groups and the rest of the world, and to encourage expeditions to IOTA islands. Date & Time: 29th - 30th July 2017 12:00 - 12:00 UTC. Frequencies and Modes: 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 MHz CW and/or SSB. Exchange: World Stations send RS(T) and serial number starting from 1, Island Stations send RS(T) and serial number starting from 1, plus their IOTA Reference. If you are not sent a serial number, log a zero. http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2017/riota.shtml

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.