SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2016

Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ................ [your name, call sign and QTH]

You may tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on Sunday mornings, at 08:15 Local Time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 Local Time in English, on HF as well as on many VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay.

This audio bulletin may be downloaded from the League website at www.sarl.org.za where you will find this as well as previous bulletins in text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the web page. While you are there, you may sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

It is with regret that we start this bulletin with news of two silent keys:

It is with deep regret that we must announce that he key of Thomé Theron, ZS2TF, of Middelburg went silent on Monday 12 September.

And it is also with deep regret that we announce that the key of Theuns Barnard, ZS6TJB, went silent on Wednesday 14 September.

We extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of these two gentlemen

(PAUSE)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

YOTA 2016


NEWS FROM COUNCIL


CLUB NEWS


Please stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items



** Dennis Green ZS4BS reports that during the month of December, several youngsters will activate call signs with YOTA as the suffix. This is according to the IARU Region 1 webpage.

The idea of this is to show the amateur radio hobby to youth and to encourage youngsters to be active within the hobby! Consider giving a demonstration at a school or local club, gather together with your friends, grab a pizza and make some QSOs or enjoy a great pile-up. Let us show this great hobby to the world!

Feel free to make a QSO with the youngsters, they are happy to get some attention and exchange information. Licensed and unlicensed youth will be making QSOs, be aware this could be their first radio contact ever, so give them a chance to experience a possible new hobby without getting impatient - we all remember our first contact.

Like previous years, there will be a special award available for persons who worked several YOTA stations. Read the full story with rules and registration information at http://tinyurl.com/yota2016


**** SARL President Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, says that one of the initiatives that Council started with is a regular Newsflash to members to keep them informed and to provide feedback on council work and proceedings.

As discussed and promised during the recent SGM the Treasurer's report-back to member’s features in this week's news flash that was e-mailed to members. The Newsflash may also be found on the SARL website.


**** Mike Bosch, ZS2FM, sent us this interesting bit. The theme for the South African Radio League this year is "A Gateway to Science". Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, the new president of the SARL, said he believes that this theme should remain the overarching theme for the next few years, and direct the activity of the South African Radio League in taking Amateur Radio forward to 2020 and beyond.

This is a far-reaching decision and could also mean that Amateur Radio should advance and try and keep up with modern radio developments. Amateur Radio comprises many facets that will appeal to many enthusiasts as well as the younger generation. We have to keep up with modern developments in radio science such as the new Software Defined Radio (SDR) systems that will become the future radio technology. Fortunately there are already many kits available for the younger generation to experiment with.

The greatest science project to be constructed in the 21st Century is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which is shared between Australia and South Africa. The Low Array covering 50 - 350 MHz will be constructed in the Outback of Australia, while the Mid Array will be built in our own radio backyard - the Karoo, covering 350 MHz to 14 GHz and comprising thousands of dishes. It will be the most sensitive radio telescope in the world that could penetrate to the edge of the observable Universe. Just imagine the numerous and unknown discoveries it could make. Then as usual some aspects of this professional radio technology could filter through to amateur radio science and advance it further.


**** The committee members of the Pretoria Amateur Radio Club who was elected at the Annual General meeting on 27 August allocated the following portfolios during their first committee meeting:

Graham Reid ZS6GJR - Chairman and Web coordinator.
Johan de Bruyn ZS6JHB - Vice Chairman, Rallies, Social and Repeater.
Louis de Wet ZS6SK - Secretary, Watts & RAE.
Andre van Tonder ZS6BRC - Treasurer.
Louis de Wet ZS6SK - Secretary, Watts and RAE.
Etienne Naude ZS6EFN - Public Relations, Bulletin Co-ordinate and RAE.
Pieter Fourie ZS6CN - Clubhouse Manager.
Whitey Joubert ZS6JJJ – Social.

Co-opted members:
Pierre ZS6PJH and Jaco Cronje ZR6CMG – Contests.
Almero du Pisane ZS6LDP – Fleamarket.
Tjerk Lammers ZS6P - Historian, Archives and Awards.
Tony Crowder ZS6CRO – Auditing.

Congratulations to the newly elected committee and our thanks to Johan ZS6JHB for this information.


** Dennis Green, ZS4BS, secretary elect of the Bloemfontein Amateur Radio Club reports that at the Annual General Meeting of the Bloemfontein ARC held on Saturday 10 September, the following members were elected to service on the committee for 2016/2017.

Chairman: Andre van Rensburg, ZS4APA.
Vice Chairman: Hennie Greyling, ZS4HG.
Treasurer: Neil Nathan, ZS4NN.
Secretary: Dennis Green, ZS4BS.
Members: Michael Roodt, ZS4BHF, and Brendon Muller, ZS4BM.


**** The Kempton Park Amateur Radio Technical society hereby extend a personal invitation to all Amateurs and their families to join us on Saturday the 24th September 2016 for our yearly flea market at 46 Rooibos street, Kempton Park.

This is the usual venue at Impala Voortrekkers, behind the Impala Primary School.

Exhibitors arrive 10:00 and the gates open 11:00 for our guests.

Hamburgers, boerewors rolls, coffee, tea and cold drinks will be on sale.

For those who want to clean out their shacks and sell their surplus goodies, tables and exhibition space will be available at no cost.

To book your space contact: Hannes Scheepers, ZS6EMS, at 071-676-3600 - Hannes also sent us the information of this event.


PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to remain at low levels. No major solar flaring is expected.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 10.

The 15 to 20 meter bands will provide lots of DX fun.

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

Some upcoming events:

18 September - All Africa DX Contest.
18 September - SARL VHF/UHF Contest.
24 September - KARTS Flea Market.
24 - 25 September - CQ WW RTTY Contest.
1 October - Spring QRP Sprint.
6 October - SARL 80m QSO Party.
8 - 9 October - AWA Valve QSO Party.
9 October - SARL Youth Net.
20 October - RAE Examination.


** Dennis Green ZS4BS reports that during the month of December, several youngsters will activate call signs with YOTA as the suffix. This is according to the IARU Region-1 webpage.

Feel free to make a QSO with the youngsters, they are happy to get some attention and exchange information. Licensed and unlicensed youth will be making QSOs, be aware this could be their first radio contact ever, so give them a chance to experience a possible new hobby without getting impatient; we all remember our first contact.


And that brings us to the end of this bulletin.


** Clubs and individuals are invited to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners, if possible, in both English and Afrikaans, by following the news inbox link on the South African Radio League web page. News items for inclusion in the bulletin should reach the news team no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin date.

You are welcome to join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur radio magazine program 'Amateur Radio Today' at 10:00 Central African Time. The program can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and on 7 082 kHz lower side-band and on 7 205 kHz and 17 760 kHz AM. There is also a podcast available from Dick Stratford, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast can be heard on Monday evenings at 18:30 Central African Time on 3 230 kHz AM.

We welcome your signal reports, comments and suggestions; please send these by e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za. Sentech sponsors the radio transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dawie Conradie, ZR6DHC, edited by Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by ..............

From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.


/EX