SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 20 JUNE 2010
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 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.
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Your newsreader this morning is (name), (callsign), on 145,725 and 7,066
MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 10,130, 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.
In the news today:
MAY 2010 RAE CALL SIGNS NOT YET AVAILABLE
SARL YOUTH DAY SPRINT
IARU DELEGATION IN ACTION NEXT WEEK
NAME THE CUBESAT PROJECT
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other
important and interesting news items.
MAY 2010 RAE – CALL SIGNS NOT YET AVAILABLE
The SARL regrets to advise candidates who recently wrote the radio amateur exam, that call signs have not yet been issued by the Authority. The person responsible for issuing the call signs has been allocated to process applications for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and has had to focus on dealing with all Spectrum licensing requests for this epic event.
The SARL is in constant contact with ICASA and will issue the call signs as soon as they become available. Please do not contact ICASA in an effort to speed up the process, as it will just create frustration for both yourself, the SARL - as well as the Authority - and may result in further delays.
The obtaining of call signs is a high priority and we are working closely with the relevant people to have this resolved as soon as possible.
ERRATUM: 160 m QSO PARTY ON 21 JUNE
PLEASE NOTE: There is a misprint in the Contest Manual. The 160 m QSO party on Monday 21 June runs up to 00:00 UTC (or 02:00 CAT).
SARL YOUTH DAY SPRINT
Thank you to all the operators who made their homes and shacks available to the youth on Wednesday. Now you must ensure that all the participants fill in a log sheet and post it to: SARL Youth Sprint, P.O. Box 1049, Kathu, 8446, or e-mail it to youthsprint@sarl.org.za before or on 1of July. All participants under the age of 26 will receive a certificate
IARU DELEGATION IN ACTION IN GENEVA NEXT WEEK
Working Parties 1A and 1B of the International Telecommunication Union's Study Group 1 will meet in Geneva from 21 to 28 June. A major item of discussion will be the protection of radio services from interference from Broadband-over-powerline (BPL), called Power Line Communications (PLC or PLT) in Europe and Africa.
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has already contributed to the ITU-R report SM2158: “The Impact of Powerline Telecommunication Systems on Radio Communication Systems operating in the LF, MF, HF and VHF bands below 80 MHz”. The report shows that the acceptable criterium for degradation of the HF radio noise floor caused by BPL, is defined as being 0,5 dB. Work in WP1A will focus on the protection of radio services from the effects of BPL in the range 80 - 200 MHz.
The IARU delegate to Study Group 1 and its working parties is Peter Chadwick, G3RZP. One of the items Chadwick has prepared for the meetings is a report on the effects of intermodulation in power supplies, causing the amateur band frequency notches in the BPL spectrum to be degraded. The report has been prepared from the work by Richard Marshall, G3SBA, published in the RSGB's member journal RadCom. It also emphasizes the difficulty such effects could have on the BPL system itself.
Chadwick will also present protection criteria for those amateur stations operating in the 2 m band. Chadwick, along with Ian White, GM3SEK, who helped prepare the criteria, said it is considered that the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services require protection that BPL interference does not exceed -45 dB µV/m in the main lobe of the antenna, with a separation between the antenna and the BPL installation being at least 10 m.
Chadwick further said that there are a number of non-amateur services that could suffer interference from BPL or its harmonics, such as applications of social alarms for the elderly, pagers and medical implant telemetry, as well as broadcast services.
What the aggregation of radiation is concerned, he said the following about aircraft navigation and communications: "When the differences are taken into account between the BPL, the mains leads and the social alarms and medical implant 'base' stations and the like, the acceptable levels of radiation to protect the amateur service are of the same order as those needed to protect these other services."
The SARL is a member of the IARU, which allows South Africans to benefit significantly from the work the IARU is doing to protect the amateur service. The IARU's strengths lie in the number of member societies and the number of members they have. This is one of the most important reasons why radio amateurs should support the SARL with their membership. If you are not already doing so, take action now and join. Details on www.sarl.org.za.
BOOKING FOR THE PRETORIA PIC COURSE IS NOW OPEN
Bookings for the PIC course on14 August in Centurion can now be made. Full particulars, as well as the booking form are available on the web at www.sarl.org.za. Click on RTA and follow the links. The four-hour course will be presented by John Williscroft, ZS6EF, using various audiovisual methods. At the end of the course you will be able to work with PICs and programme them for other projects. Allow an additional hour for question time and a refreshment break. The closing date for booking is 2 August.
If you have already booked, please check that your detail is recorded on the website. You can access the page by going to www.sarl.org.za, click on RTA and then follow the links to the booking page. If your booking is not reflected, please send an e-mail to rta@sarl.org.za. No other booking confirmation is sent.
LEARNERS TO BUILD PAYLOAD FOR HABEX
The SciBono Discovery Centre (ZS6SCI), in association with the Gauteng Department of Education initiated the High Altitude Balloon Experiment project, called HABEX.
HABEX was inspired by the BACAR project. The objective is to involve schools in Gauteng in the entire process of developing and building a payload that will be launched into high altitude using an unmanned meteorological balloon. SciBono approved a budget for the building of HABEX and approval has been obtained from CAMU to launch the balloons on 24 July. We plan to launch from the Klerksdorp Airfield.
Ten school teams are involved and several radio amateurs have also opted to join in this exciting project. A team of radio amateur engineers and designers are assisting the schools in developing the payloads. You can also join in the activities planned for the HABEX 2010 Launch.
"We are so enthused by the project that a world record attempt will also be made to launch the unmanned balloon to an altitude exceeding 38 000 m," Chris Gryvvenberg, ZS6COG, told SARL NEWS. "To achieve this, special balloons have been ordered to carry the payload to this altitude. Currently ten payloads are under construction.”
The weekend of 23 - 24 July will see many radio amateurs and learners from schools camping out and preparing their missions in true Space Programme Style with a mission control, search and recovery teams and even a launch pad. "If you want to be part of this exciting project please phone the SciBono Discovery Centre on 011 639 8400 and ask for Fannie Matumba. We still need many search and-recovery teams to assist in this massive undertaking," Chris said.
NAME THE CUBESAT PROJECT
SA-AMSAT is inviting radio amateurs to propose a name for its CubeSat project. The project was announced at the recently held Space Symposium and will involve the design and construction of a CubeSat. A CubeSat is a 10 cm cube with a mass of up to 1 kg. The project name should be a single word in any of South Africa's official languages and reflect the spirit of the project. A good example is the name given to the Around-the-world-balloon project which is called “lalela”, the Zulu word for “listen”. The winning entry will receive a satellite handbook. Entries should be sent by e-mail to saamsat@intekom.co.za. The closing date is 15 July.
RESULTS OF THE ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION HF QSO PARTY
Following are the results from the AM section:
First, Jan Botha, ZS4JAN;
Second, Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC, and
Third, the AWA station operated by ZS6ADY.
In the SSB section:
First, Jan Botha, ZS4JAN;
Second, Pieter Bosman, ZS3AOR, and
Third, Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC.
A total of 54 stations took part in the AM section but there were only 3 logs received, which is disappointing after such a good turnout. In the SSB section a total of 91 stations participated and only four logs were submitted with one control log from ZU1BEN.
Our thanks to all those who participated in the contest.
CLUB NEWS
The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 on Saturday 26 June at the clubhouse at Kroton Street, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everyone is most welcome. For more information, contact Joop, ZS6C, at 082 342 3280.
The Northern Cape Amateur Radio Club held their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 16 June at the Kathu Technical College. The following Committee members were elected:
Chairman: Johan Smit , ZS3AAK;
Vice Chairman: Sian van Deventer, ZS3SVD;
Secretary: Carel Reineke, ZU3K;
Treasurer: Roy Walsh, ZS3RW;
Public Information Officer: Gerhard Coetzee, ZS3TG, and
Youth Coordinator: Hugo Coetzee, ZU3H, who will be assisted by the rest of the youth in the club.
The next ZS6PTA Mega flea market, as advertised on Swop Shop, will be held on Saturday 26 June at the Pretoria Motor Club in Silverton from 08:00 to 11:00. For more information or to book a table, please contact Almero, ZS6LDP, on 083 938 8955. You can also send an e-mail to almero@up.ac.za.
UHF/VHF INDABA
The SARL will host a VHF/UHF/MICROWAVE Indaba on Saturday 26 June 2010 at the National Amateur Radio Centre at 12:00 for 13:00. The agenda includes discussions on VHF/UHF/Microwave operating , contesting and contest rules. Attendance is free, refreshment will be served and participants will take part in a lucky draw for an ARRL Antenna Book and free software.
To assist with arrangements please confirm attendance by email by 21 June. The address: contest@sarl.org.za.
PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels, although a few tiny spots are now visible in the northern hemisphere. The sun is waking from a deep slumber and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. The effective sunspot number is expected to be less than 10 for the coming week.
20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 15 and 17 m. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon onwards. During the late afternoon and in the early evenings it will be first-rate towards Europe. Contacts with the USA are still challenging. Contacts with Australia and New Zealand are becoming likely on 20 m at sunrise. Contacts with Brazil and South America are becoming difficult.
Local conditions are going to be good during the daytime on 40 m. With the change of season 30 m has taken over from 20 m for contacts over the longer distances during the middle of the day. With the decrease in noise levels 80 m is the best for the shorter distances and also during the early mornings and late afternoons.
80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
12 - 26 June - ZS1VTS Voortrekker camp, Southern Cape;
21 - 28 June - IARU working parties delegation in Geneva;
21 June – Confirm attendance at VHF/UHF/MICROWAVE Indaba to contest@sarl.org.za;
26 June - West Rand Amateur Radio Club flea market;
26 June - UHF/VHF indaba at the NARC at 12:00;
26 June - ZS6PTA mega flea market;
15 July – Last date to submit mane for CubeSat project;
18 July - Intechnet at 19:30 on VHF-/UHF- and microwave matters;
23 - 24 July - Preparation and launch of the HABEX balloon project;
24 July - RTA symposium in Cape Town;
2 August - Closing date for PIC course in Pretoria;
12 - 14 August - International EME Conference, Dallas, Texas;
14 August – PIC course in Pretoria;
21 August - RTA symposium in Port Elizabeth;
31 August - Closing date for submission of proposals for the 2011 SARL
Contest Manual;
18 September - RTA symposium in Gauteng;
30 September - closing date for Phase 1 of the Innovation project.
SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners. Submit news items - 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 Amateur Radio Mirror International every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria-area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 560 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO.For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on 'ARMI' and follow the links. A repeat transmission can be heard on Mondays at 21:00 CAT on 3 215 kHz. Sentech sponsors the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League, compiled
by Leon, ZS4V, and edited by Jannie, ZR6PHD.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
