SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER 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:

RADIO AMATEUR TO MANAGE THE HERMANUS MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY

LEARNERS AND TEACHERS INVITED TO "FLY A FILE" ON ARISSAT-1

OPPORTUNITY TO DO SPACE WEATHER RESEARCH AT SANAE

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

RADIO AMATEUR TO MANAGE THE HERMANUS MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY

Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell, ZS2LAW, has been appointed as acting Managing
Director of the HMO during the absence of the current MD, Sandile
Malinga who has been seconded to the Space Agency. Sandile Malinga was
appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology to serve as
caretaker Chief Executive Officer of the South African Space Agency for
a period of 18 months from 1 January 2010.

Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell is well known for her participation in the SARL
Radio Technology in Action programme where she has made many
presentations over the past three years. Lee-Anne, despite her busy
schedule will again be joining the RTA in 2010. Congratulations to both
Lee-Anne and Sandile.

LEARNERS AND TEACHERS INVITED TO "FLY A FILE" ON ARISSAT-1

Learners and teachers are invited to have their work flown in space in
a new satellite project called ARISSat which replaces the originally
SuitSat 2 project which was a disused spacesuit fitted with amateur
radio equipment.

"The ARISSat-1 Team wishes to include a memory stick of files prepared
by learners," explained Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) International Chairman, Gaston Bertels, ON4WF. "This
should be a .jpg or a PDF of things the student has prepared." He gave
such examples as a paper or a study done on a STEM (science,
technology, engineering, math) topic, a drawing of spacecraft or a
schematic, a journal kept on a STEM topic, a story or news article
about a STEM subject or a photo of the class doing a hands-on STEM
activity. Having the students' work be a part of ARISSat-1 means the
student is a part of the satellite project and along for the spacewalk
and deployment of ARISSat-1."

"The quantity of files and the size of a file are unlimited, since
memory sticks provide for a very large amount of file space." Bertels
said that files must be either in .jpg or PDF format -- no Microsoft
Word documents will be accepted. Files can be in any language, as long
as an English translation is also included as a text file.

South African entries will be coordinated by SA AMSAT and also placed
on a local website. Entries should reach by 28
February 2010.

IF SPACE WEATHER RESEARCH IS YOUR INTEREST, HERE IS A CHANCE OF A LIFE
TIME

The Hermanus Magnetic Observatory in collaboration with several other
research institutions and universities in South Africa, will be
responsible for the execution of several experiments related to Polar
Space Weather studies. The experiments will be conducted on board the
SA Agulhas, at the South African National Antarctic Programme's (SANAP)
base in Antarctica and on the South African Bases at Marion Island and
Gough Island.

The HMO requires a suitably qualified (B.Eng, B.Tech or equivalent)
Electronic Engineer with at least two years relevant experience or a
M.Eng, MSc or M.Tech degree for a two and a half year contract
appointment in the South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE
50) team to Antarctica for 2011. The minimum contract period will be
from 1 May 2010 to 30 September 2012, but may commence sooner and
extend later if necessary. The applicant will be trained at the HMO and
may also be involved in short-term expeditions to Marion Island and
Gough Island to set up instrumentation for the HMO during the training
period at the HMO.

Applicants should complete the required HMO application form, submit a
detailed CV together with the names and contact details of three
referees, and covering letter summarizing the reasons for applying to
The Antarctic Officer at to reach the HMO before 1
January 2010. For more information call 028 312 1196.

ARE YOU UNDER 18 AND LICENSED?

If you have a callsign and are under 18, share with us your experience
what it is like as a radio amateur. Write a short story of how you
became interested in amateur radio and how it is helping you in your
schoolwork and everyday life. We will record the best stories for a new
website dedicated to promote amateur radio to young people. There are
big prizes to be won so get cracking. Email your story with your name,
callsign and telephone number to .

CONTEST NEWS

The contest committee received 13 logs for the November leg of the SARL
HF Field Day made up of 12 contest logs and a check log. The
provisional results of a

Field Stations

1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, 116 412 points; 2nd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 77 712
points; 3rd Boland ARC, ZS1TB, 71 504 points; 4th Highway ARC, ZS5HAM,
61 048 points; 5th Sandton ARC, ZS6STN, 31 120 points; 6th Pretoria
ARC, ZS6PTA, 30 488 points; 7th Hibiscus Coast ARC, ZS5HAC, 24 072
points; 8th Zululand ARC, ZS5ZLB, 19 542 points; 9th Oakdale ARC,
ZS1OAK, 16 632 points; 10th Bloemfontein RAC, ZS4BFN, 2 760 points.

General Stations

1st Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT, 41 172 points; 2nd Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC,
3 972 points.

Check log - Stephanus Blignault, ZS6XB.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. An impressive sunspot cluster made its appearance on Wednesday.
The solar flux level reached a new high of 83 for the current solar
cycle. From another source it was learnt that about two days ago
sunspot 1 035 was as wide as seven planets Earth. The fast-growing
active region burst into view on 14 December with a magnetic polarity
that clearly identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. If the
expansion continues apace, it could soon become the largest sunspot of
the year. Check http://spaceweather.com for movies, photos and updates.


20 and 15 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 Europa. In
the afternoons there are good possibility of contacts with the USA on
15 m. Contacts with New-Zeeland will be possible for a short while on
15 m during the mornings. Contacts with Australia will be possible on
20 m during the afternoons. During the afternoons and evenings 20 and
15 m contacts may be possible with Brazil.

Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the day time. 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 also once again
very useful for contacts over the longer distances, especially during
the mornings. On Wednesday, when the new sunspot cluster made its
appearance, propagation was experienced on frequencies as high as 15 m
between Pretoria and Hermanus.

80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

1 January - Final date to apply to do polar weather research at SANAE
for the HMO, obtain information from ; 1 January -
Straight key night on OSCARs; 15 to 17 January 2010 - the PEARS VHF/UHF
Contest; 23 January - Home Construction course in Cape Town; 31 January
- President's net at 19:30; 28 February - New closing date for the
Sumbandilasat essay competition; 28 February - Final date for entries
in the ARRISSSAT project to be submitted to .

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 George, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX