SARL NEWS SUNDAY 7 JULY 2013

You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official radio station of the South African Radio League, the national body for amateur radio in South Africa. The SARL broadcasts 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 'Amateur Radio Today' and follow the links for details. For audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za and also subscribe there to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

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

IN THE NEWS TODAY:
THREE SA RADIO AMATEUR RECEIVE THE MTN RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AWARDS
PROFESSOR TIM GIBBON TO DELIVER THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE RTA IN PORT ELIZABETH
NEW ERA OF AMATEUR RADIO

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

THREE SA RADIO AMATEURS RECEIVE THE MTN RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Three South African Radio Amateurs were presented with the MTN Radio Amateur of the Year Awards at a gala lunch event held in Midrand last Thursday. The annual event is hosted by MTN to encourage radio amateurs to give back to their community and amateur radio.

Ryan Gould, MTN SA General Manager Brands and Communication, said that MTN is once again privileged and honoured to be able to support the MTN Amateur Radio Awards. "The awards are the only ones in South Africa which recognises those individuals and organisations that have done well in the amateur radio field and that amateur radio is still appreciated in the community. We seek to continue encouraging participation within the amateur radio community as this field continues to grow in South Africa."

The MTN Garth Milne Technology Award was presented to Deon Coetzee, ZR1DE, for his support of the SA AMSAT KLETSkous cubesat project. Deon has designed and developed a space frame that meets international standards and can be launched from the cubesat launch carrier. To date he has built two prototypes and is currently building a third prototype which could become the flight model. In addition he is also working on a mechanism that will allow solar panel to be deployed which will provide a great deal more available power to operate the payload.

"Although space frames can be commercially bought, Deon is saving SA AMSAT a great deal of money which can now go towards the launch cost" KLETSkous Project Manager, Hannes Coetzee said at the recent SA AMSAT space symposium. "In addition, the local designed and built space frame allows us to customise it to meet our requirements, such as fold-out solar panel and antenna deployment mechanisms.

The MTN Radio Amateur of the Year Award was presented to Dawie Conradie for his contribution to the promotion of amateur radio both in the amateur radio community and the community at large. He produces the weekly 30 minute programme "Amateur Radio in Aksie "and every alternate week Amateur Radio Today. He has also promoted amateur radio on Bosveld Stereo and produced a 30 second commercial about amateur radio in English and Afrikaans.

The MTN Amateur Radio Community Service Award was presented to Glynn Chamberlain, ZS6GLN, for his staunch support of SARL HAMNET and in particular for his effort in a mission to find an aircraft that crashed in Mozambique.

Glynn coordinated and assisted the team of volunteers which had to communicate from 06:00 to 18:30 every day. He showed stamina and determination in co-ordinating the team and ensuring that communications were effected every 15 minutes from South Africa to Beira. This was the first major operation in which he took the lead.

Congratulations to all three winners. You can see more on www.amateurradio.org.za

PROFESSOR TIM GIBBON TO DELIVER THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE RTA IN PORT ELIZABETH.

Tim Gibbon, Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Manager of Optical Fibre Research Unit at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University will deliver the keynote address at the SARL Radio Technology in Action Symposium to be held in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 27 July 2013. His topic will relate to the Signal and Data aspects of SKA Radio Astronomy.

Booking for the event is now open and details can be found on www.sarl.org.za.

Pre-booking is essential if you want to order the SDR VFO kit, the CD and a digital multi meter. Walk in registration will be taken on the day at a substantially higher cost with no guarantee that the mentioned items will be available.

HAM RADIO NOW PRESENTS HAM RADIO - THE CONVENTION

And speaking about Europe's Ham Radio exposition, you can find out more about its inner workings in a new video produced by Gary Pearce, KN4AQ. In a one on two interview with show planner Petra Rothgerber, who runs Ham Radio, and Kelly Hall, K1LLY, the Dayton Hamvention's Co-chair of International Relations you can find out how the two conventions differ in their planning and execution.

It should be noted that Petra Rothgerber is not a radio amateur. By profession she runs trade shows. As such she explains the way in which Ham Radio is a professionally managed event. By contrast, the Dayton Hamvention is an event that's run by a dedicated corps of volunteers. So listening to the two talk and comparing notes is an interesting experience to say the least. KN4AQ has titled this show “Europe's Biggest Hamfest”. Episode 84 of his Ham Radio Now series can be viewed on-line at www.arvideonews.com/hrn

NEW ERA OF AMATEUR RADIO

Radio amateurs of the past pioneered the way and laid a very successful foundation for amateur radio which expanded during the 20th Century. But at the beginning of the 21st Century there was already a noticeable drop in amateur activity and it was also observed by some radio clubs that it was mainly the older generation who attended meetings. Why? An analysis from overseas indicates that amateur radio came to the crossroads and had to make a choice to go forward or return to the past, and for some strange reason they made the latter choice. See "Ham Radio's Lost Future" on AmateurRadio.com

Radio technology has developed a great deal over the years, and today we can find some of the most advanced radio developments in the field of radio astronomy. Sophisticated digital-processing techniques have been in use for many years to detect astronomical radio signals that are a million times weaker than the noise generated in the receiver. Megawatt radar transmitters are employed to map the obscured surfaces of planets such as Venus, or measure distances to asteroids and comets, or establish microwave communications with orbiters and rovers on other planets. This is when a radio astronomer, Professor Joe Taylor, K1JT, invented a simplified version of digital data modes for amateur use.

Our younger generation of radio amateurs, who are very familiar with computers, will have the honour of advancing the Amateur Radio Service into the radio world of tomorrow, operating hi-tech SDR equipment for digital data and voice communications on the VHF, UHF and Microwave bands, Moon repeaters will follow providing 12 hour DX on Earth daily, and ultimately also extending the amateur radio range in the solar system.

CLUB NEWS

OVERBERG AMATEUR RADIO CLUB MEETING AT SANSA
The Overberg Amateur Radio Club will be having a club meeting at SANSA in Hermanus with a short presentation on 13 July at 10:00. After the meeting we will go to Kleinmond for a tower party and the braai at the QTH of OM John, ZS1WJ. Tower lifters are welcome.

WEST RAND ARC ELECTS NEW COMMITTEE
The West Rand ARC held its AGM on the 1st July 2013 and the following members were elected to the committee.

Chairman - Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL
Vice Chairman - Nick Dreyer, ZS6NCK
Secretary - Noel Hammond, ZR6DX
Treasurer - Dave Cloete, ZR6AOC
Club House Manager - Marinus Brand, ZS6BM
Members:
Romeo Nardini, ZS6ARQ
Willem Weideman, ZS6WWJ
John Brock, ZS6WL

Thanks to the previous committee for the work and commitment given to the Club during the past year.

CONTEST NEWS

IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIPS
The IARU HF Championships will be on the air from 12:00 UTC Saturday 13 to 12:00 Sunday 14 July with CW and phone activity on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. The exchange is a RS or RST report and your ITU Zone, for South Africa that is Zone 57. IARU Member Society HQ stations will give a RS or RST report and Society abbreviation, while IARU official will give AC, R1, R2 or R3.

Geoff, ZS6GRL, is still looking for operators for ZS9HQ. You do not have to be in the Johannesburg area. Contact Geoff at contest@sarl.org.za or 082 546 5546


HF PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to be at low levels. Sunspot AR1785 has a beta-gamma-delta magnetic field that harbours energy for X-class solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 72.

All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 20 m providing the best openings with 15 m not far behind. There can also be some 10 m openings on east-west sunlit paths.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

13-14 July – IARU HF Championships
19 July – Closing date for entry to RTA in Port Elizabeth
20 July – SARL Winter QRP Contest
27 July – RTA in Port Elizabeth
3 - 4 August - Hamnet Winter Challenge

SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and short-wave 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 date.

The SARL also invites you to listen to Amateur Radio Today every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205, and 17 660 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on 'Amateur Radio Today', go down the green column and click on 'LISTEN ON THE WEB'. A repeat transmission can be heard on Mondays at 16:30 UTC on 3 230 kHz. The website also lists various other retransmissions. Reception reports, comments and suggestions are invited. Send an email to artoday@sarl.org.za. Sentech sponsors the transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.

You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League compiled and edited by Louis Kirstein, ZS1LK.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX