SARL NEWS – SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2009

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 ARMI 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 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 28,325; 14,235; 10,130, 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB, as well as 52,750; 438,825 and 1 296 MHz FM in the Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to suit.)

In the news today:

RAE – ZU SPONSORSHIP

SADC RECIPROCAL LICENSE PROPOSAL

IARU SAYS WRC-12 PREPARATIONS ARE ON TRACK

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

2009 RAE – ZU SPONSORSHIP

Kobus Conradie of LetsPlayRadio in Cape Town informed SARL News that the ZU sponsorship has been awarded to Ben Erasmus, ZU1TN. The sponsorship comprises a VX2E twin-band handheld, a soft case, an antennae adapter, a speaker-microphone and a dual-band magnetic antenna, sponsored by two anonymous benefactors. Congratulations Ben!
The SARL thanks LetsPlayRadio for its support of amateur radio in South Africa and in particular, its support to the development of the youth.

ICASA TO PUT SADC RECIPROCAL LICENSE PROPOSAL TO CRASA

At the quarterly ICASA/SARL Liaison Committee meeting held on Thursday, the SARL requested that ICASA consider a reciprocal licensing agreement with SADC countries. Some SADC countries are already issuing licenses to South African visitors and the SARL requested ICASA to do so reciprocally and to include all SADC countries.
ICASA responded positively and will set the wheels in motion from both a South African, as well as a SADC perspective. The concept will be put to the Communication Regulators' Association of Southern Africa (CRASA).
CRASA is an association of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) regulators and other stakeholders in the information and communications industry in Southern Africa. CRASA was founded in 1997 within the framework of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology.
This was a response to the SADC leadership’s common vision, which recognised that the individual information and communications sectors in the region were too small to have a comparative advantage in the global arena – and furthermore to attract adequate investment to build modern infrastructure for provision of universally accessed ICT services. In essence, our historical linkage to our regional economic community – the SADC – positions us better to lobby for a conducive regulatory environment to investment throughout the region.
Other issues discussed included the table of frequency allocation, access to 135,7 to 137,8 kHz, expansion of the 160 metre band, a new allocation around 5 MHz and various issues regarding the microwave bands. It was also agreed that in future, ZS9 call signs would only be allocated to competition stations.
The next meeting will be held in mid-February.

IARU SAYS WRC-12 PREPARATIONS ARE UNDERWAY

WRC-12 will commence in January 2012. The year 2012 seems far away, but it is only slightly more than two years from now. Preparations within national telecoms administrations have been under way for some time. Regional telecoms organisations have been meeting to discuss the WRC agenda items and to arrive at regional positions on each issue.
IARU Secretary Rod Stafford, W6ROD, said that every IARU member society capable of doing so, should take the initiative to liaise with their own administration and let the administration know what the IARU’s position is on those WRC agenda items that influence the amateur radio service.
The SARL is participating in the WRC preparatory meetings and will attend a WRC capacity-building workshop on ITU-R procedures and processes on 7 and 8 December.
The most significant WRC agenda items are:
1. Agenda Item (AI) 1.14 – Implementation of the radiolocation service in the range 30 to 300 MHz;
2. AI 1.15 – Possible allocations in the range 3 to 50 MHz to the radiolocation service for oceanographic radar applications;
3. AI 1.19 – Software-defined radio systems;
4. AI 1.22 – The effect of emissions from short-range devices; and
5. AI 1.23 – To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the band 415 to 526,5 kHz to the amateur service on a secondary basis, taking into account the need to protect existing services.

OCTOBER 2009 RAE STATISTICS

The last Radio Amateur Examination (RAE) of 21 October saw an excellent pass rate of 86% for the Class A examination and a Pass rate of 90% for the Class B examination.
The oldest candidate was 66-year-old, BR van Heerden, ZR3BVH, from Prieska and the youngest was 11-year-old MC Boschoff, ZU3C, who hails from Upington. The highest Class A score was achieved by two candidates who achieved a whopping 93% overall; these candidates are E Isted, ZS6EDI, and PJ Delport, ZR6BVS, both from Gauteng. Congratulations to these two candidates.
Six candidates, all of them achieving 100% in their Class B examination, share the highest Class B score. They are S Erasmus, ZU1SE, F Rahim, ZU5FHR, N Barnes, G Fisher, ZU5DF, G Koster, ZU1GC, and J Ashworth. Congratulations to these candidates.
There are still a few candidates who have not yet submitted some of the required documentation to the SARL office, so their call signs have been withheld. Please submit your outstanding documentation to the SARL office within the next week. The SARL cannot submit the relevant paper work to ICASA and this will result in frustrating delays in issuing of your licenses and loading your information on the SARL call sign book.
Listen out for the new call signs and extend a warm and hearty on-air-welcome to the new radio amateurs.
For those who did not make it this time around, do not give up. In May 2010 there will be another opportunity for you to take the examination, so study hard and set yourself a challenge to have your name honoured as one of the top achievers and stand a chance to be in line for an award.
Should you have any queries, please contact Mariska at the SARL office on 011 675 2393 or e-mail her to admin@sarl.org.za.

SARL OFFICE CLOSED OVER THE HOLIDAY PERIOD

The SARL office at the National Amateur Radio Centre will be closed from 15 December 2009 and reopen on Monday 11 January 2010. During that period any urgent matters should addressed to the secretary to secretary@sarl.org.za.

SARL MEMBERSHIP TOUCHES THE 1 300 MARK

The membership of the SARL stood at 1 294 on Thursday last week. We set the target of 1 300 by end November which we are likely to reach. Our target for 31 December is 1 400.
If you have not joined the national body for amateur radio – the South African Radio League – we invite you to do so now. New members can join at the half-year rate and get December free, including the November/December Radio ZS, which is currently at the printers. It is packed with interesting article and projects. To join get the form from www.sarl.org.za or call Mariska at 011 675 2393. If you still have not paid your current subscription, which was due on 1 July, please do it as soon as possible.
This week we welcome the following new members: Michael Sender, ZS1MBM, Colin Porter, ZS1RS, Juan Genovart, ZR6DAY, and Paul Odendaal, ZS6PCO.

SATELLITE ACTIVITY WEEKEND RESULTS ANNOUNCED

The overall winner was André, ZS2BK, with 192 points. He made 192 QSOs, receiving one point per contact. He is the winner of the TinyTrak4 prize. Some of the points were achieved at 02:00 UTC.
The winner of the TinyTrak3 prize for Best Portable Station goes to Sian, ZS3SVD, who operated from a rare grid location near Christiana (KG22). He completed 59 QSOs over the contest period and achieved a very commendable 177 points.
Sian told SARL News that he was in Christiana for the weekend. The exact grid locator is KG22NC. "I used a Kenwood TS-B2000 mounted in the Jeep with SATPC32 on the laptop with CAT control. The antennas were a Diamond X-50 vertical on a 7 m portable mast and a Diamond NR770 mobile on a magnetic base mounted on the edge of the roof – tilted 45 degrees. The NR770 on the roof outperformed the X50 by far, so I dismantled down the X50 and its mast Saturday morning and only used the NR770." It goes to show that even with modest equipment satellites can be fun.
Some interesting long range QSOs were between Pierre, ZS6BB, and SV1EEK in Greece and with Jim, VQ9JC, in Diego Garcia, both on AO7, using SSB. Hal, ZS6WB, also made a contact with Jim. Congratulations to all participants. The full results are available on www.amsatsa.org.za.

CONTEST NEWS

SARL VHF/UHF Digital contest.

The contest committee received only two logs for the September leg of the VHF/UHF Contest. The results are as follows:
1st place and overall winner, André Botes, ZS2ACP, with 32 109 points, and
2nd place – and Division 6 winner – Bert Howes, ZS6HS; 885 points.

The annual PEARS HF competition starts at 14:00 and ends at 18:00 CAT on Sunday 6 December. It is a phone competition with activity on 7,060 to 7,100 and 7,130 to 7,200 MHz as well as 3,603 to 3,650 and 3,700 to 3,800 MHz.
There are four classes of participation:
Novice – stations with ZU prefixes;
Restricted – stations with ZR prefixes;
Unlimited – stations with ZS prefixes, and lastly;
DX – stations outside South Africa.
The exchange is the operator’s call sign, a signal report and the operator’s name. Full details are available on the PEARS website at www.zs2pe.co.za as well as in the 2009 SARL Competition Handbook.

The ARRL 160 m contest will be on the weekend of 5 and 6 December and the ARRL 10 m contest over the weekend of 12 and 13 December.

HAMNET GAUTENG SOUTH

Hamnet Gauteng South and the Ekurhuleni Disaster Management Specialised Communication Volunteers were once again in action when the Austin Jordaan Night Race was held last week. The race consisted of a five, ten and fifteen km race and all water points and major intersections were monitored. Michelle, ZS6TO, ran the Joint Operations Centre and the volunteers were able to practice their radio procedures. With the 2010 Soccer World Cup just round the corner, these radio amateurs are making use of every opportunity to sharpen their skills and make sure that the command and control structures are in place. All those involved with the event are thanked for their participation.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that solar activities are still at low levels. The surface of the sun has been void of any sunspots for the majority of the week.
15 and 20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoons onwards. During the late afternoons and early evenings, it will be moderate towards Europe. In the afternoons there are good possibilities of contacts with the USA on 15 m. Contacts with New Zealand and Australia will be possible for a short while on 15 m during the mornings. During the afternoons and evenings, 15 and 20 m contacts may be possible with Brazil.
Local conditions will be good on 40 m during the daytime. 80 m may perform well during the early mornings and late afternoons over the shorter distances. 30 m will perform well over the longer distances during the middle of the day. With summer here, 20 m is once again becoming very useful for contacts over the longer distances. 80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings.
Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

30 November – closing date for SARL Council nominations;
5 December – West Rand Flea market;
6 December – PEARS HF Contest;
18 December – closing date for the PEARS raffle;
15 January 2010 – closing date for the essay competition;
15 to 17 January 2010 – the PEARS VHF/UHF Contest.

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 only 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 Mirror International every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria-area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 860 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on 'ARMI' and follow the links. A repeat transmission can be heard on Mondays at 21:00 CAT on 3 215 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 Dennis, ZS4BS. The editor was Jannie, ZR6PHD.
Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX