SARL NEWS SUNDAY 19 JANUARY 2014
You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official radio station of the South African Radio League, the national body for amateur radio in South Africa. The SARL broadcasts 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. For audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.
You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za and also subscribe there to receive future bulletins by e-mail.
SILENT KEY
It is with deep regret that the passing of Lodewicus Johannes Brummer, ZS6VIC, on Monday 13 January 2014 at the age of 71 is announced.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
(Silence)
Your newsreader this morning is (name and call sign), on 145,725 MHz from Pretoria, with a relay on 7,066 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change to suit).
IN THE NEWS TODAY:
INTECNET TO EXPLORE THE IMPACT OF SPACE WEATHER ON RADIO COMMUNICATION
LANDMARK IN SOUTH AFRICAN VHF DXING
THE PEARS NATIONAL VHF/UHF CONTEST IS NOW IN FULL SWING
You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more details on these and other important and interesting items.
SA AMATEUR RADIO DEVELOPMENT TRUST ANNOUNCES THE TONY REUMERMAN BURSARIES FOR 2014
The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust will be offering four Tony Reumerman bursaries during 2014 for students and learners under 26 years old to study for and write the Class A Radio Amateur Examination. Each bursary is valued at R1000. This will cover the RAE examination fee, cost of the first year license with the balance towards tuition cost. The bursaries In addition, on passing the examination with a minimum of a B, the candidate will receive the ARRL Basic Antenna book valued at R350.
Two bursaries are available for the May examination and two for the November examination. The closing date for the May examination bursaries is 10 February 2014. Applications forms and more details can be found in www.amateurradio.org.za
INTECNET TO EXPLORE THE IMPACT OF SPACE WEATHER ON RADIO COMMUNICATION
Join Dr Pierre Cilliers for the first INTECNET of 2014 on Tuesday 21 January 2014 at 19:30. Pierre is a research physicist at the Space Science Directorate of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Note the new day of the week. The Intecnet moves from a Sunday to a Tuesday evening. Repeaters in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Pretoria will be connected to the network. It will also be available on Echolink and on 3718 kHz The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. The PowerPoint presentation will be available on www.sarl.org.za, select Amateur Radio Today and follow the link.
SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES INVITED TO SUMIT PROPOSALS FOR AN EDUCATIONAL PAYLOAD ON KLETSKOUS
The South African Amateur Radio Satellite Association SA AMSAT is inviting schools and universities to submit proposals for an education project for inclusion in their CubeSat satellite current being developed.
SA AMSAT is building a small satellite with a 20 kHz transponder to offer amateur radio enthusiasts on the African continent an opportunity to experience space communications. "We believe this is an ideal opportunity to include an educational project that will be of interest to learners to promote Science and Technology based activities", Hannes Coetzee who leads the project said.
"Space is a magical subject and attracts the attention of many young people even those who may not have shown an interest in science as a subject at school or as a past time. Combining Amateur Radio with Space doubles the attraction."
"While the satellite will carry a telemetry beacon which report on the health of the satellite and provides interesting opportunities for learners to acquire more knowledge about space, we believe that a student designed project will add the additional magic."
Proposals for a project are invited from high Schools and Universities. The most interesting proposal received will be considered for inclusion in the satellite. The criteria for judging includes originality and once operating from space the amount of interest it is likely to draw from young people.
"It should also be noted that the project needs to be small enough to fit in with the rest of the equipment of the 10x10x10 cm CubeSat and draw as little as power as possible."
"I believe this an ideal opportunity for a school's science club to take a project into space and to be able to monitor information about their project included in the spacecraft telemetry string."
Proposals should be documented as comprehensively as possible and be emailed to SA AMSAT at saamsat@intekom.co.za. The closing date for proposals is 28 February 2014
LANDMARK IN SOUTH AFRICAN VHF DXING
December saw a landmark in South African VHF DXing when Jan Pienaar ZS6OB applied for the DXCC award using only contacts made in the two metre band. Jan becomes the first amateur in Africa and the second in the southern hemisphere to achieve this feat. DXCC is issued by the American Radio Relay League for proven contact with at least 100 entities on a list. Most of these entities are countries, with a few additions that are regarded as separate, mostly for geographic reasons.
More than two thirds of two metre DXCC holders are in Europe, with their concentration of almost 70 countries in close proximity. North America features about a fifth of applicants, with about a tenth in Japan. ZL3TY was the first in Oceania and the southern hemisphere, with ZS6OB being first in Africa. South America has yet to produce its first winner.
Jan used digital modes with a four-Yagi station. He has been working on his DXCC for a decade. His single-band award brings the number of bands on which South Africans have earned DXCC to eleven. Jan reports that several South Africans are working on repeating the feat on the 430 MHz band, but all are still a long way off. Only three stations have conquered this band, with all of them being in Europe.
LEAGUE NEWS
VHF REPEATERS IN MPUMALANGA
Frik ZS6FZ, the SARL's VHF Manager, appointed Piet Badenhorst, ZS6G, to compile a report on the state of amateur radio repeaters in Mpumalang, after Piet volunteered for the job.
Piet requests that all clubs and individuals in Mpumalanga that are involved with amateur radio repeaters or has information pertaining to repeaters, contact him by email and give him the information.
After completion of the report, the SARL will communicate with the interested parties to discuss the extension of the repeater network in Mpumalanga. The information required, is:
. The repeaer's position (coordinates where available);
. The frequency;
. The repeater's output power (if available);
. The license number for the repeater (if available);
. The club or organisation responsible;
. Contact details for the club or organisation;
. Information about any UHF links between repeaters;
. Any other information regarding the repeater that may prove useful.
Information is to be sent to Piet ZS6G as soon as possible, at email address mprepeaters@gmail.com with a copy to repeaters@sarl.org.za
CLUB NEWS
PRETORIA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB MEGA FLEA MARKET 1 FEBRUARY 2014
The first ZS6PTA Mega flea market for 2014 will be held on Saturday 1 February 2014, at the Pretoria Motor Club in Silverton from 08:00 to 11:00. Everyone is welcome to attend. For more information or to book a table please contact Johan, ZS6JHB on 079 333 4107.
EAST RAND RADIO CLUB FLEAMARKET
East Rand Radio Club Fleamarket 1 Februarie 2014 Bring all your unwanted goods and sell it or come and buy something, who knows just maybe you will find what you looking for. There will be boerewors rolls for the hungry and cold drinks for the thirsty
1 February 2014
Starting 12H00 till 15H00
Arrowe Park Benoni
Ebenezer rd
For any info contact Hennie, ZS6RHL, 0833803334. For table booking contact Judy 0797302030
CONTEST NEWS
THE PEARS NATIONAL VHF/UHF CONTEST IS NOW IN FULL SWING
The VHF/UHF contest will end today, Sunday, at 14:00 CAT. So make an effort to come on the VHF bands and give the participants some points. You might even enjoy the thrill of making some long distance contacts yourself. There are five bands to choose from - VHF 50, 70 and 144 MHz and UHF 432 and 1296 MHz. Watch out for Rover stations who could hop from one high site and grid square to another. Enjoy the contest and keep VHF alive in South Africa!
THE SUMMER QRP CONTEST
The QRP contest is intended to be a fun activity 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.
The contest runs from 12:00 UTC to 15:00 UTC on Saturday 25 January and the first hour is limited to the 40 m band only, the remaining two hours the contesters are free to use any HF (non-WARC) band as they see fit. Please comply with the contest preferred segments as detailed in the general rules. It would be advantageous to use the standard QRP calling frequencies as the starting point.
The exchange is a RS(T) report and your Grid locator. Each contact counts 1 point. There are Prefix / Country multipliers and Station type multipliers. The closing date for your log is 1 February and you are requested to include a photo(s) of the station (in JPG format). Send you log to contest@sarl.org.za
THE ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION CW ACTIVITY DAY
The aim of the CW Activity Day is for participants to contact as many amateurs as possible on the 20, 40 and 80 m amateur bands. The event takes place between 10:00 UTC on Saturday 1 February to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 2 February.
The frequencies to use are 14 000 to 14 060 kHz; 7 000 to 7 040 kHz; 3 510 to 3 560 kHz and you can participate in one of four categories - Single Operator All Band, Low Power, b) Single operator All Band, QRP, c) Single Operator Single Band, Low Power or d) Single operator Single band, QRP.
The exchange is a RST report, operators name and Grid Square locator. Contacts count 1 point for low power and 2 points for QRP. Logs must be submitted by 17 February to andyzs6ady@vodamail.co.za
HF PROPAGATION REPORT
Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity is at low levels. None of the sunspots facing the Earth harbours enough energy for strong flares.
If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 60.
All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 15 m providing the best openings with 20 m not far behind.
Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.
DIARY OF EVENTS
19 January - PEARS National VHF/UHF Contest
21 January - Last day for prospective youth week panellists to submit their contact details to youthweek2014@sarl.org.za
25 January - SARL Summer QRP Contest
31 January - Last day to submit amateur radio video
31 January - closing date for nominations for SARL Councillors and motions for the AGM
28 February - Closing date for Youth Essay Competition
15 March - Last day to submit proposals for papers for the 2014 SA AMSAT space symposium to saamsat@intekom.co.za
The 2014 SARL Diary of Events is available for download from www.sarl.org.za. Get a copy and keep it handy in your radio shack.
SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and short-wave 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 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. The website also lists various other retransmissions. Reception reports, comments and suggestions are invited. Send an email to artoday@sarl.org.za. Sentech sponsors the transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League compiled and edited by Louis Kirstein, ZS1LK.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
