SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2011

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 'Amateur Radio Today' and follow the links for details. PLEASE NOTE: for audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za and also subscribe to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

Your newsreader this morning is (name), (call sign), on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.

SILENT KEY

It is with deep regret that it must be announced that the key of Donald John Mackay, ZS6YD, went silent on Friday 12 August 2011 at the age of 78.

We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

INTECNET HOSTED A LIVELY DEBATE ON A POSSIBLE ADVANCED LICENSE

LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD IS EXPERIENCING DELAYS

HUGE SUNSPOT IS CAUSING SOLAR FLARES

You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting news items.

INTECNET HOSTED A LIVELY DEBATE ON A POSSIBLE ADVANCED LICENSE

The debate on an advanced amateur radio license held on the INTECNET last Sunday was lively and informative. The discussion was part of the SARL’s process to get members' input of how they view the idea, what such a license should like look like and what would be required to qualify should such a license be introduced in the future.

The main question was “what would the purpose be of such a license?” Several ideas were suggested which can perhaps be best summed up by Peter Hers, ZS6PHD's contribution to the discussion. He suggested that the main objective of such a license could be “to stimulate a climate of learning and development amongst Radio Amateurs in South Africa”. The recording of the discussion will be analysed and a summary will be published in the next few weeks for further comments.

The question of increased power was discussed by several participants. While the concept of a higher level license is not about higher power, the possibility that such a requirement could be identified, is not excluded.

Your input and suggestions are invited. Send an Email to artoday@sarl.org.za .

LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD IS EXPERIENCING DELAYS

Due to a large number of radio amateurs uploading their logs to Logbook of The World (LoTW) after last weekend's CQ Worldwide SSB Contest, the ARRL's online QSL verification service is experiencing delays. According to ARRL IT Manager Michael Keane, K1MK, there is about a 60 hour wait for the more than 10,000 logs in the queue to be processed. "Logs are processed in the order in which they were received," he explained. "If you have uploaded your log to LoTW, your log is currently queued for processing. It has not been lost in the system. Uploading your log multiple times will only further delay your log and those of others to be processed."

HUGE SUNSPOT IS CAUSING SOLAR FLARES

Spaceweather.com reported on Thursday that a huge sunspot had appeared and that some ionospheric disturbances could be expected. Yesterday NOAA forecasters have upgraded the chance of X-class solar flares to 20%. The source would be AR1339, one of the biggest sunspots in many years. The active region rotated over the sun's eastern limb two days ago and now it is turning toward Earth.

The sunspot unleashed an X-flare on 3 November around 20:27 UTC. The flare created waves of ionisation in Earth's upper atmosphere, altering the normal propagation of radio waves over Europe and the Americas. In Ireland, the flare's effect was felt even after dark.

A cloud of plasma or "CME" raced away from the blast site at 1 100 km per second. The CME is not heading for Earth. It is, however, heading for Mercury and Venus. For updates visit www.spaceweather.com.

CALL FOR PAPERS

This is the first call for papers for presentation at the SARL Radio Technology symposiums to be held in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg during 2012. Papers should be of a technical or operational nature and of interest to radio amateurs.

Send a synopsis of a proposed paper to artoday@sarl.org.za. Of interest would be papers on DXing and contesting, antenna design and construction and software application in amateur radio to mention some.

CONTEST NEWS

RESULTS OF THE SARL QRP CONTEST HELD ON 22 OCTOBER 2011

The contest committee received 13 logs. Information from those logs reveal that there were 63 stations on the air. Of these, 19 stations operated both SSB and CW. There were even 2 cross-mode QSOs made which is probably a first time that this has occurred.

The results are:
1st ZS6RJ - Roger 880 points
2nd ZS6XT - Pieter 648 points
3rd ZS3R - Christo 560 points
4th ZS2J - Derek 552 points
5th ZS6ARQ - Romeo 450 points

The overall results after the 4 legs of the contest are:

1st ZS6A - Pierre 2 682 points
2nd ZS6XT - Pieter 2 132 points
3rd ZS2J - Derek 1 577 points
4th ZS6WR - West Rand ARC 1 386 points

The full results have been posted on the SARL forum and will also appear in HF Happenings.

Thanks to all the participants, but, next time will all please submit their logs and congratulations to the winners.

CLUB NEWS

NIGHTLY NETS ON 144 MHz

VHF amateurs in Port Elizabeth have restarted their nightly nets on 144 MHz to encourage more VHF activity in the country and to give beginners a taste of VHF simplex operation. The nets are divided into two sessions; first session is on FM for those who are only equipped for the FM mode, and it could cover distances of about 400 km during very good conditions; the second session is intended for long distance tests on SSB but CW could be tried too. Amateurs will be active on most nights especially when conditions are favourable, and please note that horizontal polarization will be used. Tropo propagation produces the best results on the 144 MHz VHF band especially at night during the warmer months.

The complete schedule is as follows: 19:00 - 19:30 CAT on 144,400 MHz FM beaming west to Mossel Bay area, and 19:30 - 20:00 CAT beaming northeast to the East London area. At 20:00 CAT the frequency is changed to 144,200 MHz USB and the beams are pointing northwards to cover Bloemfontein, Durban or beyond.

VHF and the frequencies above are the experimental and most challenging side of the amateur radio service; the future spectrum of all radio communications.

AWA OPEN DAY

The Southern African Antique Wireless Association will be having an open day and AGM at the Transvaal Aviation Centre (TAC) at Rand Airport on Saturday 12 November from 10:00 the morning.

All interested parties and members are invited to join us for a fun day with radio displays, flea market, restaurant facilities and Cash Bar.

Contact Andy, ZS6ADY, should you require details or directions. Contact details are: 082 448 4368 or andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the largest sunspot in years is rotating over the sun's north eastern limb. Two or three of the sunspot's dark cores are wider than Earth itself. Naturally such a large sunspot has potential for strong flares.

For the people doing their own frequency predictions the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 108, a new high for this solar cycle.

All the bands from 20 m to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with the higher bands typically opening first and the lower bands opening later during the day. 6 m is also waking up with some very nice TEP openings.

Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

13 November – AWA open day at the Rand Airport starting at 10:00.
13 November - Pears HF Competition 12:00 till 16:00 UTC.
19/20 November - SARL Field day competition.
20 November - CW leg of 80 m Club competition.
27 November - Digital competition.
30 November - last day to submit logs for Pears HF DX-expedition.
31 January 2012 - Last day for submission of nominations for Council members and also for submission of motions for the 2012 SARL AGM.
31 January 2012 - Closing date for submitting papers for SA AMSAT Space Symposium.

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 Today every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 760 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on 'Amateur Radio TODAY', go down the green column and click on 'LISTEN ON THE WEB'. A repeat transmission can be heard on Mondays at 16:30 UTC on 4 895 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 George, Z6SNE.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX


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