SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2014

Good morning and welcome! You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ……………………………………….. (Name, call sign and QTH).

You can tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on Sunday morning at 08:15 central African time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 central African time local time in English on HF and on many VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a relay. A podcast is available from the South African Radio League webpage.

This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the South African Radio League webpage at www.sarl.org.za. You can find this bulletin and previous bulletins in text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the South African Radio League webpage. While you are there, you can sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

IN THE NEWS TODAY

5 MHz BEACON REMINDER

SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE DEFENDS AMATEUR UHF FREQUENCIES AT ICASA HEARING

RHENISH GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WINS SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE AWARD

and

BOOK NOW FOR THE CAPE TOWN RTA AND GET A DISCOUNT

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting stories

** The October RAE will be written on Thursday evening 16 October at many venues across the country. Candidates are wished all of the best for the examination.

** As reported in several South African Radio League News bulletins over the past few weeks, the beacon frequency of 5 250 kHz has been replaced by 5 290 kHz. Note that it is now illegal to operate on 5 250 kHz. All WSPR operation must now only take place on the new frequency of 5 290 kHz. The SSB voice frequency of 5 260 kHz remains unaltered. Note that only South African Radio League members may operate on 5 MHz as the license has been allocated to the South African Radio League.

** On Friday 10 October, the South African Radio League supported its earlier submission to ICASA in response to the publication of the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) draft roadmap at the hearing held in Sandton.

On Tuesday 8 October, the South African Radio League submitted its response to the draft plan. Commenting on the 450 to 470 MHz band, the South African Radio League said that although the amateur service is not in this band, the problem for amateurs would arise if the intended migration of some existing users in the 450 to 470 MHz into the amateur band, prior to them moving to a new frequency band once they obtain suitable equipment. It is felt that no user in the 450 to 470 MHz should be permitted to migrate to/or through the 430 to 440 MHz band.

The South African Radio League also pointed out to ICASA that the statement that amateurs only use 1 MHz of the 430 to 440 MHz is incorrect. The band is extensively used for terrestrial and space communications.

Commenting on the 2,3 Gigahertz band, the South African Radio League told ICASA that the Amateur Service uses this band, albeit as a secondary user, therefore the amateur service along with all other users in this band should seek protection from IMT. The South African Radio League requested that extra protection is secured in the table of frequency allocation for narrow band weak signal reception in the 2 300 to 2 305 and 2 320 to 2 322 MHZ ranges. This request is in line with IARU and CEPT discussions on shared access for 5G LTE.

The South African Radio League document also requested an allocation in the 3,5 GHz band, specifically 3 400 to 3 410 MHz on a bi-directional basis (ground satellite and satellite to ground). In both Region 2 and Region 3, the spectrum 3 400 to 3 410 MHz is allocated to the amateur and amateur satellite services.

No mention of an amateur allocation in the 5 Gigahertz band could be found in the IMT Roadmap document. The South African Radio League drew ICASAs attention to the extensive amateur use of this band in South Africa with currently more expansion of networks in the planning stage. The South African Radio League told that in line with its submission to the first and second draft Frequency Migration plan, the South African Radio League seeks retention of the current allocation of 5 650 to 5 850 MHz and upgrade to primary in the band 5 650 to 5 670 and 5 830 to 5 850 MHz. The South African Radio League also requested that the S-E and E-S restrictions be deleted. Several international amateur satellite projects are in the planning stage.

Full details of the discussion will be posted on the South African Radio League web in the next two weeks.

** Larissa Tredoux, a grade 10 student at the Rhenish Girls' High School in Stellenbosch won the Hendrik van der Bijl Award sponsored by the South African Radio League for her entry of a Morse code encoder and decoder program. The South African Radio League presented the R5 000 award at the annual special awards evening held in Boksburg on Thursday last week.

The South African Radio League exhibited at the Science Expo with its display drawing in many young people attending the event. Stay tuned for a full report next Sunday

** United Kingdom full licensees to get bigger 2 m band. On Friday morning 10 October, Ofcom, the UK regulator, published a statement that included an intention to release 1 MHz of additional spectrum to radio amateurs on the 2 m band on a temporary basis.
The frequencies, from 146 to 147 MHz, will be available via a Notice of Variation to full licence holders only. From the end of October, applications for NoVs can be made via the RSGB website.

You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League and we now continue with news from the league

** Book now for the Cape Town RTA and get a discount. The Cape Town Radio Technology in Action symposium will be held on Saturday 1 November. If you book for the RTA before 28 October, you only pay R100 if you are a member of the South African Radio League. After 28 October, it increases to R130 for members. Non-members are charged R200 to attend the event. The full programme and booking details can be found on the SARL web using the link on the home page.

** Application for membership of the South African Radio League has been received from the following persons:
Pieter Geldenhuys, ZS6PTB, and
Zena Madondile, ZSL1120

Any objections against the acceptance of the applications must reach the Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin. Membership of the South African Radio League currently stands at 1 475 members and 32 affiliated clubs

** There are two SOTA activations today. From 09:00 UTC, Theo, ZS6TVB, Pierre, ZS6PJH and Jaco, ZR6CMG, will activate Bronberg, ZS/GP-012 on 40, 20, 15, 10 and 2 metres SSB. At 10:00 UTC, Paul, ZS1V, will active West Peak, ZS/WC-045 on 40, 30 and 20 metres SSB and 2 metres FM.

** The second leg of the Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio or RaDAR Contest takes place on Saturday 1 November starting at 14:00 UTC and ending at 18:00 UTC approximately two hours during the day and two hours at night within the South African time zone. Use can be made of all amateur bands, excluding the WARC bands, including cross band contacts via amateur radio satellites and using CW, SSB, AM, FM and/or any digital mode. QSOs via terrestrial repeaters will NOT be allowed.

** The second leg of the South African Radio League National Field Day and the South African Radio League VHF/UHF Contest will take place from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 15 November to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 16 November.

Both these contests are great for Club outings and can even be combined into one event. Start planning your Club weekend, get the tents and caravans ready and check the radio equipment, antennas and batteries.

The rules for these contests can be found in the 2014 SARL Contest Manual.

** Geoff Levey, ZS6C, the South African Radio League Contest manager requests that members submit suggestions and/or changes to the South African Radio League contests for 2015. Geoff and his team are discussing the 2015 Contest manual. Send your input to contest@sarl.org.za by 15 November 2014.

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low to moderate levels. Sunspot AR2182 has a complex magnetic configurations and may produce M- class solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 52.

The 20 to 10 m bands will provide lots of DX fun with some exciting 10 m openings possible. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

And now the Diary of events

Today – two SOTA activations in Gauteng and the Western Cape
16 October – the Radio Amateur Examination
17 to 19 October - the 57th Jamboree on the Air and the 18th Jamboree on the Internet
18 October - CQ Hou Koers
25 and 26 October - the CQ WW DX Phone Contest
28 October – early bird booking for the Cape Town RTA
1 November - RADAR Contest
9 November - PEARS HF Contest
10 November – closing date for 2015 contest input
11 November – Armistice Day
15 and 16 November - the South African Radio League National Field Day as well as the South African Radio League VHF/UHF/Microwave Contest

We end this bulletin with a quick recap of the leading story:

As reported in several South African Radio League News bulletins over the past few weeks, the beacon frequency of 5 250 kHz has been replaced by 5 290 kHz. Note that it is now illegal to operate on 5 250 kHz. All WSPR operation must now only take place on the new frequency of 5 290 kHz. The SSB voice frequency of 5 260 kHz remains unaltered.

That brings us to the end of this news bulletin.

You are invited to submit news items of interest to the South African Radio League by following the news inbox link on the South African Radio League webpage. News items for inclusion in the bulletin, should reach the news team no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.

You can also join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 central African time. The programme can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide, on 7 082 kHz lower side band and on 7 205 kHz and 17 660 kHz AM. There is also a podcast by Dick, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast may be heard on Monday evenings at 18:30 central African time on 3 230 kHz AM.

We welcome your signal reports, comments and suggestions; send it in an e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za. Sentech sponsors the radio transmissions on the non-amateur frequency bands.

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dennis Green, ZS4BS, and read by ……………………………………………….

Thank you for listening, and from the entire news team, best wishes for the week ahead, 73’s.

/EX