SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 17 JANUARY 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 for details. 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.)

SILENT KEYS

It is with deep regret that the passing of two radio amateurs must be
announced.

Meyer Koch, ZS5MK, became a silent key on 13 January. Meyer had been a
staunch member of Midlands ARC and served on the Committee for several
years. Our sincere condolences are extended to his wife Norma and
family.

Maurice Dobson, ZS5BCA, of Margate passed away in July 2009. We extend
our sincere condolences to his wife Nell and family.

PAUSE

In the news today:

BACAR TAKES TO THE AIR NEXT SUNDAY

BOOK EARLY FOR NATCON-2010

SARL HELD WORKSHOP WITH ICASA

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

BACAR TAKES TO THE AIR NEXT SUNDAY

BACAR 2010 will be launched from the Worcester Airport on Sunday 24
January at 11:00 CAT. The duration of the flight will depend on the
direction of the prevailing upper air wind. Spectators are welcome to
join the launch at the airport. Commentary of the launch will be
covered on 7 082 kHz. More frequencies will be announced in next week's
SARL News.

BACAR 2010 has an extensive payload:

A 5 W FM parrot repeater 145,550 MHz FM working with a rubber duck
antenna. The repeater receiver and transmitter use the same frequency.
Transmit simplex and listen to your signal returning. The beacon is
activated if the repeater is not used for a period of one minute. The
beacon sends the following in voice: ID, GPS location, altitude and
temperature.

The 20 m transmitter operates on 14,285 MHz SSB at 0,5 W peak envelope
power (or PEP).

The 40 metre transmitter operates on 7,090 MHz SSB at 0,5 W PEP.

The 2 Meter SSB transmitter operates on 144,350 MHz SSB at 0,5 W PEP.

The 2-, 20- and 40 m transmitters will - for test purposes - send a
DSB-suppressed carrier transmission in order to evaluate its use with
simple receivers. The transmitters will transmit every three minutes
with the following information in voice: ID, location, altitude and
temperature.

For more detail about the GPS and camera on board, visit
www.amsat.org.za. Monitor the website during the flight for updates and
pictures. The website will be updated as new information becomes
available.

BOOK EARLY FOR NATCON-2010

Full details of the SARL National Convention to be held in Port
Elizabeth from 23 - 25 April have been published on the web, as well as
a downloadable booking form. Early birds will be entered into the draw
for an ARRL Handbook. Book accommodation and flights early, as Port
Elizabeth is also hosting the Iron Man competition over the same
period.

SARL AWARDS

Have you considered nominating someone from your club for one of the
SARL annual awards? Full details can be found on the SARL website at
www.sarl.org.za. Click on 'News' and then 'Clubtalk'. Nominations close
on 31 January.

THE BPL WAR: SWEDEN WITHDRAWS SOME BPL/PLT MODEMS

The score is 1-0 for amateur radio in the BPL war. The latest issue of
the EUROCOM newsletter has a welcome item on the withdrawal by Sweden
of polluting power line adapters.

The 5 January edition notes that Sweden has withdrawn some
broadband-over-powerline (or PLT) modems from the nation's market. The
Swedish administration argued that the devices did not meet the
protection provided by the harmonized standard. It also noted that in
many cases, harmful interference could actually be measured. It said
that in those cases, reception in accordance with the ITU Regulations
was no longer possible and therefore, the essential requirements
violated.

Locally, there is still no news about the interim PLT regulations,
which are awaiting approval by ICASA.

SARL HELD WORKSHOP WITH ICASA ABOUT LICENSING

On Friday last week, the SARL presented a workshop on "What is Amateur
Radio?" at the head office of ICASA in Sandton. The aim of the workshop
was to give the licensing staff insight into the various aspects of
Amateur Radio. The two-hour workshop was lead by Hans van de
Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, and Francois Botha, ZS6BUU. Francois used the
opportunity to explain the importance of amateur radio during major
disasters and used the Haiti earthquake as an example. Mark Zank, who
could not attend, provided valuable input Power Point to presentation,
covering the examination process.

LICENSE RENEWAL NOTICES NOT IN THE MAIL YET

ICASA has not yet mailed the amateur radio license invoices. The
invoices are currently being printed and should be in the mail soon.

CONTEST NEWS

The 2010 Diary of Events and the 2010 SARL Contest Manual (both in PDF
format) and the 2010 Log and Summary Sheets (a zipped file) have been
uploaded to the Contest page on the SARL website.

The first of six SARL 80 m Club Contests will be run on Wednesday 27
January from 19:30 to 20:30 CAT. This will be a phone-only contest; the
exchange is a RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at
001. Each contact counts one point and stations may only be contacted
once during the session. The individual scores count towards a radio
club's overall score.

In March, the SARL 80 m Club Contest will feature PSK and RTTY.

CLUB NEWS

The West Rand Amateur Radio Club is busy compiling a history of the
club since its establishment in 1938. If you have any information,
stories and photographs regarding the history of the club, please send
it to Willem, ZS6WWJ, whose e-mail address is . Your
contribution will be acknowledged in the book the West Rand ARC intends
publishing at the end of 2010.

PROPAGATION

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. 2010 started with a useful amount of sunspot activity.
Currently sunspot region 1 040 is exciting HF enthusiasts. A new record
solar flux of 95,4 for Cycle 24 was reached on Tuesday. The effective
sunspot number is expected to be between 20 and 30 for the coming week.
Overall conditions are on the rise.

15 and 20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX. Conditions to
India will be good from the afternoon onwards. During the late
afternoon 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 will be possible for a short stint on
15 and 20 m during the mornings. Contacts with Australia will be
possible on 20 m for a short spell during the mornings and the
afternoons. During the afternoons and evenings, 20 and 15 m contacts
may also be possible with Brazil.

Local conditions are going to 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 also once again
very useful for contacts over the longer distances, especially up to
two o'clock in the afternoons. 80 m is the frequency of choice in the
evenings.

Visit www.spaceweather.co.za for detailed predictions.

DIARY OF EVENTS

15 to 17 January 2010 - PEARS VHF/UHF Contest; 23 January - Home
Construction course in Cape Town; 24 January - BACAR launch in the
Western Cape; 27 January - SARL 80 m Club Contest; 31 January -
President's Net at 19:30; 31 January - Closing date for AGM motions; 6
and 7 February - AWA CW Activity Day; 28 February - New closing date
for the SumbandilaSat essay competition; 28 February - Final date for
entries in the ARRISS-SAT project to be submitted to ;
27 March - 2010 SA AMSAT Space Symposium.

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 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 bulletin editor was Jannie, ZR6PHD.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX