SARL NEWS – SUNDAY – 22 JUNE 2008
You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official Radio Station of the South African Radio League, the National Body for Amateur Radio in South Africa, with a news bulletin that is transmitted every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and at 08:30 CAT in English. To listen to a web stream visit www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links for details. PLEASE NOTE! For audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.
You can download this and previous bulletins from www.sarl.org.za and you can subscribe there to receive future bulletins by email.
Your newsreader this morning is (name), (callsign), on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 28,325, 14,235, 10,130, 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB as well as on 51,400, 438,825 and 1, 296 MHz FM in the Pretoria-area. (Other news readers please change to suit).
In the news today:
ANOTHER FEATHER IN THE CAP FOR SARL HAMNET
REGISTRATION OF EXAMINERS AND ASSESSORS
ICASA CANCELS PLT HEARING
INTECNET TO FOCUS ON KITS
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and other important and interesting news items.
ANOTHER FEATHER IN THE CAP FOR SARL HAMNET
Hamnet received another feather in the cap this week. In a letter from the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society the general secretary ask permission to use the Hamnet information on the SARL website and any other additional support Hamnet can provide to set up an emergency communication organisation in that country.
He wrote: "I have been studying through the Net the various EmComm organisations as set up in various amateur radio societies all over the world, and I find that the structure you use in S.A. could be adapted to suite our needs here in Cyprus. Our country's small size and the limited number of active hams, make us tend to think that the national/regional/sub-regional structure is ideal for our needs."
If you are interested in using your knowledge and your amateur radio station to the benefit our country, why not join Hamnet. You will find full details on www.sarl.org.za. As Hamnet is the emergency communications division of the SARL, it stands to reason that you have to be a member of the SARL. If not as yet, join now. The national body for amateur radio needs you and you need the national body.
REGISTRATION OF EXAMINERS AND ASSESSORS
To keep in line with other national examining bodies it will be necessary for examiners and assessors to register annually. If you are currently an examiner or assessor and have not resubmitted your registration form for 2008/2009, please do so without delay. A new list of registered Examiners and Assessors will be published on 1 September and will replace the old list.
It is a simple process. Download the form from www.sarl.org.za. You will find it under the section ‘licensing’. Complete the form and have it signed by your club officials and fax the form to 088 011 675 2793. An updated list will be published as soon as possible after 1 September 2008. Your co-operation will be much appreciated.
ICASA CANCELS PLT HEARING
ICASA cancelled the PLT hearing last week minutes before it was due to start. A new date will be announced soon. Red-faced ICASA officials apologised for the last-minute postponement to the organisations who were invited to present their objections to the draft PLT regulations. The reason for the postponement was given as an administrative problem.
INTECNET TO FOCUS ON KITS
Following the postponement of the ICASA PLT hearing, Intecnet will expand its focus on kits and building of kits. At some of the recent RTA's the requirement for kits that can be built by newcomers to amateur radio, specific the younger generation, was highlighted. Here is an opportunity for your club to talk about the kits that it has available. The question has also arisen whether the SARL should establish a database of available kits. Share your ideas and experience in home construction. Join the discussion on Sunday 29 June at 19:30 CAT
DID YOU TAKE PART IN THE YOUTH SPRINT?
If you took part in the SARL Youth Sprint and have some pictures, please share them with us. Listening on 40 metres a number of young operators were heard on the band, all doing a great job. Please send your pictures to armi@sarl.org.za and include a few lines of how great your experience was. For publication we would prefer hi-res photographs.
Please remember to send in your log to receive your certificate of participation and take part in the draw for some fabulous prizes,
CONTEST NEWS
The SARL Digital Contest will be on the air next Sunday 29 June from 15:00 to 18:00 CAT. Activity is on HF as well as VHF. The rules are available in the SARL Contest Manual and will be published in the next HF Happenings newsletter.
GERMAN HAM CLAIMS FIRST DXCC ON 432 MHz
(Obtained from ARRL News)
The world of Amateur Radio DXing has passed a new milestone: On Friday, June 6, Jan Bruinier, DL9KR, of Niedernhausen, Germany, worked his 100th country on 432 MHz (70 cm) via moonbounce (EME) and CW.
Samek Zdenek, OK1DFC, and Hofbauer Zdenek, OK3RM, were getting ready to go on an EME DXpedition to Macedonia. Before they left, Samek asked Bruinier to help test out the equipment; Bruinier gave him a beacon, aiming a signal off the moon. According to VHF guru and conductor of QST's "World Above 50 MHz" column Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ, this is done by transmitting a series of CW dashes and then stopping to listen for the signal to return a little more than a second later. The moon averages 384 000 km from the Earth; radio waves travel at ~300,000 km/sec.
After one of these transmissions, Bruinier was excited to hear Samek appear on frequency with a 549 signal. Thus, after an exchange of calls and reports, Bruinier's 100th country on 432 MHz was in the log. Once his QSL cards are confirmed in the near future, he will become DXCC #1 on 70 cm.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZ, reports that the expected solar activity will be very low. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly at quiet levels till 24 June, and then rising to unsettled levels till 27 June. The expected Effective Sun-Spot number for the coming week will be less than 5. DX conditions will generally be good to the North and poor in the general North-Westerly directions.
20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX. There is a possibility of weak 20 m openings towards India from about 15:00 CAT. 20 m contacts with Australia may be possible from 08:00 till 10:00 in the mornings. From 17:00 there may be 20 m openings towards Europe. Contacts with the USA are going to be very challenging.
10 MHz is looking promising late afternoon and after dark for the CW and digital enthusiasts.
Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the daytime. 80 m may perform well during the mornings and late afternoons over shorter distances.
80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings, especially now that the majority of thunderstorms and static is behind us. 160 m will perform well for the SARL's 160 m QSO party. It is now a very good time to make a plan with a 160 m antenna, if you haven't got one up already, to experience the thrills and spills of working top band.
Remember that this is only a prediction and that HF always has the capability to surprise you, but you will never know unless you switch your rig on, listen and also call CQ.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
18 to 23 June - SARL Top Band QSO Party;
21 June - ZS4BFN from Barbarossa Day;
29 June - SARL Digital Contest;
6 July - Deadline for submission of VHF/UHF/Microwave records.
SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news stories of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners. Submit news stories if possible in both English and Afrikaans to www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.
The SARL also invites you to listen to the programme Amateur Radio Mirror International, on the air every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 590 kHz. For the webstream and Echolink by ZS6FCS visit www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links. A repeat transmission can be heard Mondays at 21:00 CAT on 3 215 kHz. Sentech sponsors the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
Today's South African Radio League news bulletin was compiled by Roger, ZR3RC.
Thank you for listening. 73.
/EX
