SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 22 DECEMBER 2019
Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ................ [your name, call sign and QTH]
The South African Radio League broadcasts a news bulletin each Sunday in Afrikaans as well as in English at 08:15 and 08:30 Central African Time respectively on HF and on various VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. The bulletin is relayed on Echolink by Johan, ZS6JPL. A podcast is available on the League website. Audio and text bulletins may be downloaded from the League website at www.sarl.org.za where you can also sign up to receive future bulletins by e-mail.
In the news, today:
WHERE ARE THE NOMINATIONS?
95 YEARS AND GOING STRONG
and
THE SARL REGISTERED AS A CLUB ON CLUBLOG.
Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items.
WHERE ARE THE NOMINATIONS?
Part of the SARL Nation Convention is the AGM and the Awards Dinner. To date, the SARL Secretary has received no nominations for any SARL Awards and Trophies and no motions for discussion at the AGM. The relevant documentation is available for download from the AGM Documents page on the Members Only part of the League website. Do not wait until 30 January, do it now! The closing date for motions and award nominations is midnight on Friday 31 January 2020 and can be submitted to: secretary@sarl.org.za
THANK YOU, PETER, ZS1PHD
The SARL Council and members would like to thank Peter Hers, ZS1PHD for his valuable work in arranging the move of the League website to the new ISP and the testing of the various e-mail systems. Members will be aware of receiving SARL News more than once these past Saturdays, as the problems were identified and corrected. Peter, thank you very much.
95 YEARS AND GOING STRONG
The SARL will be 95 years old in 2020 and is still going strong, every year we are reliving the magic of radio, a technology that has transformed the world and is still doing so every day. As Radio Amateurs we are privileged to be part of this.
For many years the focus of the world was on the HF spectrum but as we are entering our ninetieth year of organised amateur radio in South Africa, this focus is fast-changing and shifting to the VHF, UHF and microwave spectrum. While the commercial world believes that this portion of the radio spectrum has so much more to offer, this is no different to amateur radio. The VHF and higher spectrum open many new opportunities to Radio Amateurs to show the world that what motivated us in 1925 is still alive and growing.
With the holiday season upon us, providing us with opportunities to complete those projects that so many of us have on the back burner. It is a time when we can enjoy talking to our fellow amateur friends and have more time to spend with family and friends.
This year we have been privileged to experience the many opportunities that the amateur radio service provides us with. From the exhibition stand at Hobby-X in March this year, interacting with the general public showcasing the radio amateur service, to networking with the RAE candidates including the many achievements of individuals and groups along with clubs, to our Technology day and AGM held during April in Stellenbosch.
The SARL is blessed to have a dedicated team of volunteers, members and affiliated clubs who, with their unbelievable loyalty and support, have helped us to make 2019 another memorable year. Your hard work, participation and support ensured that we were able to live, laugh, grow, experiment, operate and learn together.
Council and I wish our members and their families a safe and festive holiday with the warmest of Season’s Greetings. May you and your loved ones experience an enjoyable holiday season and a New Year filled with peace, joy and success.
THE JANUARY 2020 RADIO ZS
The January 2020 issue of Radio ZS will be uploaded to the League website by Friday 27 December. In this issue you can read about getting out of your shack and discovering new opportunities; Jonathan, ZS1ARB discusses QRP and Motorbikes - lessons learned from 1 500 km of dirt road and Dennis, ZS1AU tells us about ZS1LP/MM and the 1982/83 BOC Around-The-World Yacht Race.
Dennis, ZS4BS gives you all the information about the Southern African Fauna and Flora Programme or Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) and the four certificates that are available for activating parks during 2020. We have a look at the 6 metre Band Plan after WRC-19, RF pollution from solar panel installations and Electrostatic discharge (ESD).
Eddie, ZS6BNE gets his grandson involved with the weather satellites in the RaDAR column, then in the Museum Piece we look at the sinking of U-197 and Brian, ZS6YZ tells about the Bethlehem 2 metre beacon. And there is more in the 70 page plus issue.
You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.
THE SARL REGISTERED AS A CLUB ON CLUBLOG.
Thanks to the initiative of Nickus de Vos, ZS6J, the SARL has registered as a Club on ClubLog which will allow our members to measure their standings against their peers. Existing SARL ClubLog members who wish to join, are invited to log into ClubLog, go to settings, then clubs and select SARL to request membership. The administrative side of the “SARL Club” on ClubLog will be taken care of by Nickus, ZS6J who can be contacted at shack@zs6j.co.za.
A brief introduction to ClubLog. ClubLog is an online database with a suite of powerful tools supporting active DXers. Once you have registered on ClubLog and uploaded your log, you will be able to generate personal reports, showing which DXCC countries you have worked and/or confirmed, when you first worked them, which ones you still need, and which are the most likely to QSL (ClubLog’s reports are both comprehensive and flexible).
You can see how you stand relative to your peers in various league tables and challenges (again, the reports are very flexible - for example with a few clicks you can generate a specific league table listing how many DXCC countries or CQ zones have been worked by various African amateurs on 20 m CW in the past year almost as easily as a global league table covering all bands, all modes and all years since 1945... and much more).
We are convinced that Nickus’ initiative will further spurn the competitive spirit of our members.
ACTIVITIES IN JANUARY 2020
Apart from the celebration of SARL 95 in 2020, it is also 200 years since the arrival of the 1820 Settlers in South Africa. On 17 March 1820, the first Settler ship arrived in Cape Town. About 60 different parties landed in Algoa Bay between April and June 1820. They were granted farms near the village of Bathurst in the Eastern Cape and other settlements in the area. A group of the 1820 Settlers continued on to Natal. Here is an opportunity for a Club to activate a special event station to celebrate this event.
The ARRL Kids Day will be on the air on Saturday 4 January. The first leg of the SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint will be on the air on Wednesday 15 January, with the PEARS National VHF/UHF contest over the weekend of 17 to 19 January. The Summer QRP contest will run on Saturday 25 January.
RAE CLASSES IN THE BELLVILLE AND CAPE TOWN AREA
Karl, ZS1KC will be commencing with RAE classes again late January 2020 at the Rescue Medics, 21 1st Avenue Boston/Bellville. These classes will be offered every Tuesday from 19:00 to 21:00 and there is place for 12 students. Interested parties must contact Karl, ZS1KC on 083 955 7177 or 021 205 5827 or by e-mail to: karlc@ipsecurityservices.co.za
Finally, a diary of some upcoming events:
Today - Summer Solstice
23 December - The Ursids meteor shower
25 December - Christmas Day
26 December - Family Day
31 December - The end of the 2019 CQ DX Marathon and the YOTA month
1 January – New Year’s Day; the start of the 2020 CQ DX Marathon and the Southern African Parks-on-the-Air programme and download the 2020 Blue Book
4 January – The ARRL Kids Day
4 and 5 January – The ARRL RTTY Roundup
15 January – The SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Sprint and the closing date for submitting the synopsis of papers for the AMSAT SA Space Symposium
17 to 19 January – The PEARS National VHF/UHF Contest
To conclude our bulletin, a quick overview of our main news item:
Part of the SARL Nation Convention is the AGM and the Awards Dinner. To date, the SARL Secretary has received no nominations for any SARL Awards and Trophies and no motions for discussion at the AGM. The relevant documentation is available for download from the AGM Documents page on the Members Only part of the League website. Do not wait until 30 January, do it now! The closing date for motions and award nominations is midnight on Friday 31 January 2020 and can be submitted to: secretary@sarl.org.za
This concludes our bulletin for this morning.
We invite clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners, in both English and Afrikaans if possible, by following the news inbox link on the South African Radio League web page. News items to include 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 radio 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. A rebroadcast by Andy, ZS6ADY can be heard on Monday evenings at 19:30 Central African Time on 3 620 kHz. We welcome your signal reports, comments and suggestions; please send these by e-mail to artoday@sarl.org.za.
You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dennis Green, ZS4BS, edited by Herman Erasmus, ZS6CTA and read by ..............
From the news team, we wish you and your family a Blessed Christmas and Happy Hanukah to our Jewish members!
Goodbye.
