@SARLNEWS/NUUS 9 March 2014 Download here Afrikaans English

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. 

 @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,

Lampedusa Island AF-019.  An international team of operators will be active as IG9Y from Lampedusa Island during the CQ WW DX SSB Contest (25 and 26 October) as a Multi-Op entry. Twelve operators are mentioned. Activity outside the contest will be on 160 to 6 metres using CW, SSB, and RTTY, with four stations on the air. QSL via ON4LG. An OQRS will be available for direct and Bureau cards. Visit their Web page at http://ig9y.com 

Download HF Happenings, the free weekly HF Newsletter, from the HF Happenings page on www.zs4bfn.co.za

NEW VHF ACTIVITY STARTING UP IN CAPE TOWN – Mike Kellett, ZS6TAF, now resident in Cape Town posted the following report: " I now have some aluminium and parts to build a very "Portable” type 4-El Yagi for 6m. So I should be active within the next week or two with the Yagi. In the interim I have been active with the CP6 Vertical and have spoken to John ZS1AGF, Naz ZS1NAZ, Gilbert ZR1ADI, and Johan ZS1A. I've heard Allan ZS1LS but haven't had the opportunity to work him yet. We chatted on 50.110MHz SSB and 50.200MHz SSB. Sean ZS1BSD relays the Sunday Bulletin on 144.300MHz SSB @ 08H00 SAST. Myself and Dennis ZS1TC chatted recently on 432.200MHz SSB. When my 6m Yagi goes up I will put up my small 12 El-Yagi Horizontally for 70cm. I should be up on 2m SSB within the next month or so. Hoping to work some more stations soon…. “ Mike’s cell number is 076 278 5622 and e-mail address zs6taf@gmail.com 

VK6RIO BEACON PROJECT – An e-mail arrived from Keith Bainbridge, VH6RK, at Perth, Australia. “Well Phil VK6PH (not APH anymore) has almost completed your end of the project. All he needs now is the people who are going to house it to come forward. He will need to program the auto e-mail info, isp info etc into the software, that way as soon as a signal is received many of us will get an e-mail. At your end it needs a PC, antennas and an internet connection. That can’t be too hard to arrange can it?? Hopefully you have some news for me? Cheers, Keith.” The VK6RIO 144 MHz beacon is really an amateur radio science project to explore Tropo Ducting across the Indian Ocean between Australia and South Africa. ZS2FM will focus on this matter after his final change of QTH this month, and look for support from other interested VHF amateurs. 

QSO’S ON 144 MHz BETWEEN DIVISIONS 4 & 6 – Dick Coates, ZS6BUN, reports. “Danie, ZS4JJ and Mike ZR4MF worked on 2m SSB by myself and Koos, ZS6BFD, at about 07h00 local time Sunday morning. This is about 370 – 380 km and shows what can be done with a multimode rig covering 2m and modest antennas. ZS5 next? ZS6BFD, ZS6CBQ, ZS6JON and ZS6OB all meet at weekends, Saturday and Sunday mornings on 144.300 MHz looking for DX call-ins.” A late report came from Carl, ZS6BCQ, that QSO’s occurred on 144,300 MHz SSB with ZS6OB KG44de, ZS6JON KG33vv, ZS6CBQ KG33vu, ZS6BFD KG43gm and ZS6AYE KG54ml 322 km away. Ben ZS5QM KG50dl also indicated that he will on frequency from Hilton on Sunday mornings.

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

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 

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 

HAM RADIO OUTLET-SOUTH AFRICA cc

“Where Radio is a Passion”

TS990S Coming Soon! 

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

We Ship Country Wide! 

Visit http://www.hamradio.co.za 

For all your ham radio requirements!