SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 24 MAY 2015

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

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

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

We regrettably start this bulletin with a silent key:

We would like to notify friends and colleagues from the radio ham world of the passing Derek Lambert, Call sign ZS1DAL. Derek became a Silent Key last week Wednesday after having been ill and in hospital for some time. He lived in the Klaradyn Retirement Village in Brackenfell, Cape Town, and is survived by his wife Dina and son Keith. He had not been active lately as an amateur.

We extend our condolences to his family and friends

PAUSE 5 SECONDS PLEASE


IN THE NEWS TODAY:


Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting stories.


** The SARL will be showcasing amateur radio as a hobby of interest at the 2015 GAUTENG OUTDOOR EXPO from Friday 29 May to Sunday 31 May 2015 at the Waterfall Polo Estate in KyalamiIf you have an interest in the outdoors, then this expo promises to be a most interesting, enjoyable event.

For more details visit the website at www.gauteng.outdoorexpo.co.za. Do not forget to visit us at the SARL stand, see you there!


** Changes to Radio ZS. One of the agenda points discussed at the 2015 Strategic Meeting of the Council was the way forward with Radio ZS. It has been decided that from the July 2015 issue, there will be eleven issues per year. Further, Radio ZS will only be available from the League in an electronic format as a PDF document. You as the reader are welcome to print your own copy.

The editor wishes to thank Kevin Mc Donald, ZS6KMD, Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN, and Frik Wolf, ZS6FZ, who have come forward and will be providing regular columns for Radio ZS. Thanks to the Sasolburg Amateur Radio Club with the first article for the Club Corner. Clubs are invited to submit an article about your Club - history, activities, meeting times, bulletin times, etc. Also thanks to Pine Pienaar, ZS6GST, for his regular Afrikaans articles.

Anybody willing to look after VHF/UHF, satellites, Youth, SWL, etc. Our ladies, what about a YL column? Send the editor an e-mail to radiozs@sarl.org.za

So the ball is in your court, League member, Radio ZS is YOUR journal, please provide the material to ensure that a bumper issue is available each month.

** Radio ZS Photo competition. Following a suggestion by Pierre, ZS6A, on the Zone 38 Facebook page, the editor of Radio ZS is challenging members to provide a photograph to grace the cover of Radio ZS. What is required is a portrait size photograph, not a ‘selfie’ of the operator, but of the station setup, possibly including the operator, capturing the magic and the ambience of Amateur Radio. Adventure Radio such as RaDAR, Islands On The Air, Summits On The Air, Castles On The Air, CQHouKoers, Jamboree On The Air, etc., will get preference. There isa smallantenna relatedprize for the covers of the next five issues of Radio ZS.

** Then a reminder that the annual SA AMSAT Space Symposium will be held on 20 June at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria. Book your seat now to take advantage of the early bird registration fee. Details and booking form is on www.amsatsa.org.za
** The May Radio Amateur exam took place on Thursday 21stof May 2015 from 19:00.
All is reported to have gone well and we look forward to welcoming the new guys on the air soon. Best wishes for the wait ahead guys

** The SARL has started mailing subscription invoices. We call on all the existing members to pay your subs as soon as possible. For those who are not members you may join the SARL now and take advantage of the substantial saving. By joining now you get more than a month extra for the nominal fee of just R 460-00. The SARL has its bargaining power in the number of amateurs it represents.
If you are not yet a member is it not time you join. Application forms are available on www.sarl.org.za or call the office on011 675 2393.
You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio league and we now continue with a few bits of VHF News.
** D4C was heard on 144,426 MHz at PJ4VHF over a distance of 4686 km. The band was open for 90 minutes as reported by Marcos PY1MHZ.

** Kenyan amateurs are now permitted to use 50 MHz. The Communications Authority of Kenya has allocated 50 to 52 MHz to the amateur service with maximum power of 150 Watts DC input or 400 Watts PEP.

** New 2 metre transatlantic beacon is on the air from Ireland. The EI2DKH beacon at locator IO51d transmits JT65b on 144,488 MHz with a CW identification on every minute. The beacon listens for responses on 144,155 MHz on every odd minute, and during major meteor showers will switch to FSK441 mode.

** You are tuned to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.

** Over the weekend of 30 and 31 May, you can participate in the CQ WPX CW Contest with activity on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. The exchange is a RST report and a serial number. Find all the rules at www.cqwpx.com/rules.htm

** The second SARL Digital Contest will be run on Sunday 31 May from 13:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC with PSK and RTTY activity on 80, 40 and 20 metres. The rules are on page 45 of the 2015 Contest Manual.

** The ZS3 Sprint was well supported on the 3rd of May 2015. We received 24 logs from which three were used as control logs.
1st: ZS3SVD, Sian van Deventer, 139 points.
2nd: ZS3R, Christo van Rensburg, 109 points.
3rd: ZS4JAN, Jan Botha, 92 points.
4th: ZS4A, Rickus de Lange, 85 points.
The Northern Cape Amateur Radio Club thanks everybody that took part and sent in their logs.

** The Westrand Amateur radio club is hosting its next flea market at 12:00 next Saturday 30 May 2015 at their clubhouse in KrotonStreet, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information contact Nick ZS6NCK on 082 454 1272.

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will be at low levels. None of the Earth facing sunspots poses a threat for strong solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 32.

The 20 to 15 m bands will provide lots of DX fun, especially during the late afternoons and in the evenings.

Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

30 May - Westrand Flea market from 12:00.
30 and 31 May – CQ WPX CW Contest.
31 May – South African Radio League Digital Contest.
6 June – KARTS and AWA open day.
20 June – SA AMSAT Symposium at the INOVATION HUB in Pretoria.

** To end this morning`s newscast, a quick recap of our main story.
** The SARL will be showcasing amateur radio as a hobby of interest at the 2015 GAUTENG OUTDOOR EXPO from Friday 29 May to Sunday 31 May 2015 at the Waterfall Polo Estate in KyalamiIf you have an interest in the outdoors, then this expo promises to be a most interesting, enjoyable event.
And that brings us to the end of this news bulletin.
You are invited to submit news items of interest to the SARL by following the news-inbox link on the SARL webpage. Newsitems should reach the news-team not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date for inclusion in the bulletin.

You may also join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 local time.The programme may be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and also on 7082kHz lower side-band and on 7205kHz and 17660kHz AM.There is also a podcast by Dick ZS6RO.A replay may be heard on Monday evening’s 18:30 local time on 3230kHz AM. Theradio transmissions on the non amateur frequency bands are sponsored by Sentech.
You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dawie Conradie ZR6DHC, edited by Richard Stratford ZS6RO and read by .......................................
Thank you for listening, and from me and the entire news team, Best wishes for the week ahead, 73’s.

/EX