SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 1 August 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.
PLEASE NOTE: for audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za
and also 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 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.

SILENT KEYS

It is with deep regret that we must announce that two radio amateurs
went silent key during the past week. They a Bennie Schoeman,
ZS6ABS, on Tuesday 27 July, five days after his 95th birthday on the
22nd July and, Craig Bergsteedt,ZS6CKB, on Thursday 29 July after a
long battle with cancer.

We extend our sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of the
deceased.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

RULES FOR CONTESTS

YOU FORGOT TO PAY YOUR SUBSCRIPTION?

ARRL CEO CALLS FOR AMATEURS TO OBSERVE AND RECORD PROPAGATION ANOMALIES


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

RULES FOR CONTESTS.

As mentioned before a revised draft version of the Blue Book for 2011
needs to be completed by the end of August 2010. This is an appeal for
all interested parties to go through the present Blue Book V2 2010 and
highlight any rules / statement that need to be changed / modified.

The main area of focus should be Section 1 "General Rules"

Please send suggestions to Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL ,to email address
.

This is the only way that transparency can be achieved.

YOU FORGOT TO PAY YOUR SUBSCRIPTION?

If you have not yet paid your subscription for the 2010/2011 year
please do it now. By the end of August members who have not renewed
will lose their benefits and we are sure that you do not want to be one
of them.

We hear so often what does the SARL do for me? There are a few actions
we would like to remind you of. It was the SARL's interaction with
ICASA that gave us access to a bigger slice of the 40 metre band ahead
of many other countries. It was the SARL that recently had an intruding
repeater removed from the 70 cm band.

Our voice needs to be strong, only your membership can do that. Let's
turn the question around and ask ourselves "what can I do for the SARL
and Amateur Radio? The answer is obvious, join the National Body for
Amateur Radio, support SARL events and initiatives. Get full details on
www.sarl.org.za or call 011 675 2393. If you are already a member and
have paid, thank you for doing the right thing. We value your support.

ARRL CEO CALLS FOR AMATEURS TO OBSERVE AND RECORD PROPAGATION ANOMALIES


In an his editorial in the August edition of QST the ARRL Chief
Executive Officer, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, called on radio amateurs to
continue to observe and record propagation anomalies. He wrote "we are
about the only people who still are. There was a time when anyone with
a TV set could view the effects of sporadic E, whether they wanted to
or not; it's what interrupted the baseball game when the picture from
your local station was knocked out by one from Miami or St Louis."

In every generation there are people who seek a better understanding of
natural forces that shape life on our planet. For more than a century,
amateur radio has provided an outlet for such curiosity. It still does
today - and it will tomorrow.

The SARL is working with the Hermanus Magnetic observatory to have
space weather conditions streamed in real time. The first step is to
set up a display at the NARC in time for the September Radio Technology
in Action 2010, after that it will also become available on the SARL
web.

The SARL will also be setting up a reporting system to record unusual
propagation conditions. If you experience an unusual propagation
condition, record all the details and mail a report to
.

IARUMS TO CONCENTRATE ON CLEANING UP METRES

The SARL's councillor for the IARU Monitoring System (IARUMS), Fred
Scheepers, ZS1FCS, invites radio amateurs and shortwave listeners to
join a campaign to remove non amateur stations from the 40 metre
amateur band. It requires many persons to monitor the band from 7 000 -
7 200 kHz for intruders and record their details such as the station
ID, the frequency and time. Many intruder broadcast stations will
broadcast their ID on the hour and half hour. If you cannot understand
the language make an mp3 recording or a wave file and add it to your
report. Fred has set a special email address that is easy to remember.
It is .

COMPETITION NEWS

CLOSING DATES FOR LOG SUBMISSIONS

Clubs and individuals who host their own contests, can you please let
Geoff, ZS6GRL, know if you are prepared to change the closing date for
log submissions from 15 days to 7 days after the contest. The UHF/VHF
contest is not included in this change.

At the moment the results of the contests are coming out once everyone
has forgotten about them. The following email address can be used
.

SARL HF PHONE CONTEST 1 AUGUST 2010

The aim of the SARL HF Phone Contest is for participants to contact as
many amateurs in Southern Africa as possible on the 20, 40 and 80 m
bands. The HF Phone contest takes place on Sunday 1 August 2010 from
13:00 to 16:30 UTC.

The following frequencies may be utilized - 14 125 to 14 350 kHz; 7 060
to 7 100 and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz; 3 603 to 3 650 and 3 700 to 3 800 kHz.
There are four categories of participation a) Single Operator Single
Band; b) Single Operator All Band; c) Multi Operator Single Band or d)
Multi Operator All Band.

The exchange is a RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at
001. A multi-operator station transmitting on several bands
simultaneously may at their discretion use separate number sequences
for each band. Each contact counts 1 point, each call area worked on
each band counts 2 points and each station contacted on all three bands
counts 2 points. Contacts with stations outside these areas are
allowed, QSO points may be claimed but no zone or three-bander points
may be claimed.

More details including the call areas are available in the contest
manual, which can be downloaded from www.sarl.org.za. There are
trophies and certificates awarded for the highest overall score as well
as the highest score on a single band. Logs must be submitted within 15
days to the Bloemfontein Radio Amateur Club, Box 12104, Brandhof, 9324
or sent by e-mail to . The closing date for the
log submissions is 16 August 2010.

Participants under 18 years old and participants over 19 years old will
take part in two separate draws for a 2010 ARRL Handbook and an ARRL
Antenna book respectively. Get those antennas in order and get radio
active in the SARL HF Phone contest on 1 August.

RESULTS OF THE 2010 WINTER QRP:

1st ZS3Y - Volker 460 points; 2nd ZS2ACP - Andre 414 points; 3rd ZS4JAN
- Jan 390 points; 4th ZS6BB - Pierre 264 points; 5th ZS2J - Derek 210
points; 6th ZR1AAH - Allen 208 points.

The full results will be published in HF Happenings.

CLUB NEWS

At the AGM of the Zululand Amateur Radio Club, held on the 11h July
2010 in Richards Bay, the following Committee members were elected to
serve the members of the club for the forthcoming year:

Chairman: John Kramer, ZS5J; Vice Chairman: Andrew Jansen ,ZS5AND;
Treasurer: Willie Axford, ZS5WI; Secretary: Dawn Snyders, ZS5ME;
Members: Jo Snyders, ZS5PO, News Editor;

Thys v Rensburg, ZS5ZS;

Warren Snyders, ZS5WOZ;

Brian Utterson, ZS5AE.

We wish them well during their term of office, and thank the outgoing
members for their hard work during their term of office.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. Sunspot 1 089 is decreasing in area but hopefully the new
Sunspot 1 092 will contribute to higher solar activity. During 2009,
71% of the days were without sunspots. For 2010 up to now 17% of the
days were sunspot free. The effective sunspot number is expected to be
less than 20 for the coming week.

20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 40 m.
Conditions to India will be good from the late afternoons till after
sunset. During sunset it will be good towards Europa. Contacts with the
USA are still challenging. Contacts with Australia and New Zealand are
possible at sunrise on 20 m and on 40 m after sunset. Weak 15 m
openings to Brazil and South America are possible during the
afternoons.

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

For the SARL's contest this afternoon 20 m will produce the best
results at the start of the contest, especially over the longer
distances. Propagation on 40 m will be good during the a long part of
the afternoon. 80 m will take over near sunset.

80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

Today 1 August - SARL HF Phone Contest 13:00 to 16:30 UTC; 2 August -
Closing date for PIC course in Pretoria on 14 August; 2-7 August -
National Science Week at Sci Bono and ZS6SCI on the air from 09:00 till
14:00 CAT; 9 August - SARL YL Sprint on 40 m 09:00 to 10:00 UTC; 12 -
14 August - International EME Conference, Dallas, Texas; 14 August -
PIC course in Pretoria; 16 August - Logs for SARL HF phone competition
must be in; 21 August - RTA symposium in Port Elizabeth.

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 17 560 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 Gustav,ZS6BWN, and edited by George, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX

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