SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 31 OCTOBER 2010

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. 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 news reader this morning is (name), (call sign), on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news readers change as applicable).

In the news today:

BURSARIES FOR MAY 2011 RAE

RADIO UGANDA ON 7 195 KHZ RELUCTANT TO MOVE

SARL MEMBERSHIP

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

BURSARIES FOR MAY 2011 RAE

The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust is making bursaries available for students under 25 years of age who are planning to write the May 2011 Radio Amateur Examination

Each bursary pays for the examination fee, student membership of the SARL for one year and contributes to the tuition fees. The bursary is valued at R1 000.

The bursaries have been made available by the family of Tony Reumerman, ZS6AOG, from the proceeds of the sale of equipment. Tony is incapacitated and is no longer operational on Amateur Radio. The bursaries are in recognition of Tony's contribution to innovation in Amateur Radio.

Application forms are available on www.amateurradio.org.za. Applications close on 15 January 2011 and successful applicants will be informed by 20 January and receive their bursary by electronic transfer.

The SA Amateur Radio Trust bursary fund is financed for donations. For more details who you can contribute to the fund go to www.amateurradio.org.za.

RADIO UGANDA ON 7 195 kHz RELUCTANT TO MOVE

An Ugandan broadcaster is playing hardball and is refusing to leave the amateur only portion of 40 metres. This, even after notification from the government, Radio Uganda continues to operate on the amateur radio frequency of 7 195 kHz.

Following notification by 5X1JM, the Uganda Communications Commission informed Radio Uganda the broadcaster is not permitted to use the frequency within the amateur radio exclusive spectrum. So far, the station has continued to use the frequency and its believed that it may be some time before they move out.

Observers say that at least the point has been made and action initiated by Ugandan government telecommunications authorities against the now unauthorized use of the frequency.

Fred Scheepers, ZS1FCS, is requesting your participation in monitoring the 40 metre amateur band and report any intrusion by unauthorised stations to the SARL - IARU monitoring service by email to intruder@sal.org.za. Please include as much information as possible such as time of operation, station identification and, if available, an mp3 recording of the station identification which can normally be heard on top of the hour and on the half hour.

SARL MEMBERSHIP

This week the membership of the SARL stands at 1 382, just 78 members short of this year's target of 1 460. If your renewal is still outstanding please make a payment this weekend or call Mariska on Monday at 011 675 2393 for details. If you are not a member yet, please join now and support your hobby with membership of the SARL. Application forms are available on www.sarl.org.za or call Marika on Monday morning 0n 011 675 2393.

CONTEST NEWS

CONTEST RESULTS

2009 CQ WW CONTEST

During the 2009 CQ WW DX CW Contest, Bernie van der Walt, ZS4TX, participated in the single operator, all band, high power category and made 8 167 500 points. This placed him in the 6th place in the world in this category. Well done, Bernie!

2010 SARL HF CW Contest.

Nine logs were received for the HF CW Contest, representing five clubs and three call areas. The complete results have been published in HF Happenings 426. Occupiers of the first three places, with point scored are as follows:

Single Operator
1st Vidi la Grange, ZS1EL, 94 points
2nd Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR, 84
3rd John Kramer, ZS5J, 64

Multi-operator
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 100 points

Bruce Dunn, ZS5XT, achieved the highest score on a single band with his 48 points on 40 metres.

The combined scores of the HF Phone and CW contests:
1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 262
2nd Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, 226
3rd Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR, 223

Club Competition results are:

Phone:
1st ZS Contest Group, 451 points
2nd West Rand ARC, 325
3rd Highway ARC, 305

CW:
1st Boland ARC, 146 points
2nd West Rand ARC, 126
3rd Pretoria ARC, 84

Phone and CW combined:
1st West Rand ARC, and ZS Contest Group, 451 points
3rd Pretoria ARC, 383 points
4th Highway ARC, 305 points

Results of the 2nd leg of the UHF/VHF Contest on the 18th-19th September 2010.

Winner, Field station, Multi operator
ZS6PTA/4, 113 210 points

Single operator, Home Station
1st, ZS6OB 30 252 points
2nd, ZS6BB 9 584 points

Winner, Single operator, Home Station Digital
ZS2ACP, 70 805 Points

NEXT CONTEST

The second RaDAR Contest will take place on Saturday 6 November from 12:00 UTC to 18:00 UTC. It is a multi mode contest on all the amateur bands but excluding the WARC bands and including satellite.

The contest is for everyone, at home, in your car, in the field. Any mode, CW, SSB, FM or digital modes. Support your friends in the field, you never know, you may work a really rare grid in the process!

The event is aimed at promoting the use of Rapid Deployable Amateur Radio stations and antennas preferably without relying on normal mains power (Eskom).

The exchange is your call sign, name, QTH and grid locator. The points system is so structured as to encourage portable operation. Score multipliers are used to reward and favour the portable stations and stations using temporary antennas and alternative power supply sources.

Read the complete set of rules on page 27 of the 2010 SARL Contest Manual or visit www.nwinternet.za.org/zs6bne/RaDAR/. Please use the logbook format available as links on the websites.

There may be International participation (The RaDAR Concept has been adopted in other countries too), please look out for the DX stations. Most important, enjoy the contest!

YL NET

Young ladies are reminded of the YL net that starts at 15:00 CAT this afternoon on the Magalies 145,750 MHz repeater. All YLs are welcome. If you do not want to talk at first, please attend the call in. If you have any interesting news or suggestions please call Anette, ZR6D, at 073 199 9032 or e-mail her to zr6d@ymail.com.

YLs in the Western Cape who would like to set up an YL net can contact Corrina, ZS1CC, by e-mail to corinna@lpt.co.za.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low levels. Big Sunspot 1 117 has produced C-Class flares thus far and may produce an M-Class event. This region continues to grow but is unfortunately turning away from the Earth. The effective sunspot number is expected to be less than 25 for this week.

20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 15 and 10 m. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset. During the afternoons conditions will be good towards Europa, firstly on 10 m, later followed by good 15 and then 20 m openings. Late afternoons and early evenings 15 m contacts with the USA are at last possible again. Contacts with Australia and New Zealand are possible at sunrise on 20 m and on 40 m after sunset. 15 m openings to Brazil and South America are possible during the afternoons. With the good 15 and 20 m openings 17 m will also be full of surprises.

For the CW and digital enthusiasts 30 m may be very rewarding with openings to many parts of the world.

Locally 40 m is the work horse for contacts around the country with 20 and 30 m also being very useful for contacts over the longer distances. 80 m will be best during the early mornings, late afternoons and early evenings as well as over the shorter distances.

Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

31 October –YL net gets off. the ground at 15:00 on 145,750 MHz in Pretoria;
6 November - RaDAR Contest from 12:00 UTC to 18:00 UTC.
20 January 2011 – Closing date for submission for application for May 2011 RAE bursaries, visit www.amateurradio.org.za for application forms.

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 to www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp, not later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin.

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 17 560 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 22:05 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 George, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX