SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2011

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.

In the news today

ICASA CHANGES ITS MIND ABOUT REGULATIONS

INNOVATION COMPETITION - FIRST PHASE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

THREE RADIO AMATEURS KILLED BY SOMALI PIRATES OFF THE COAST OF EAST
AFRICA

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

ICASA CHANGES ITS MIND ABOUT REGULATIONS

The Council of ICASA has decided that the authority will not go through
a second public review process but that the final regulations will be
published in the Government Gazette soon. No final date was given at
this week's SARL/ICASA liaison meeting but it will be before the end of
March 2011.

At the liaison meeting the question of reciprocal agreements between
SADC countries was also discussed. The SARL delegation pointed out that
the SARL request to have this resolved is now long overdue and that
some urgent attention should be given to this. The Chairman of the
meeting, Phil Molefe, gave instructions to staff attending the meeting
to respond to the SARL within a week. He chaired the meeting on behalf
of Dumisa Ngwenya who is attending the WRC preparatory meeting in
Geneva.

While not yet Gazetted, the license fees will not go up on 1 April
2011, but only in 2012. The license fee for the period 1 April 2011 to
31 March 2012 will remain R27.

The SARL delegation also discussed the gazetting of the allocation of
135,7 - 137,6 kHz. The allocation is included in the table of amateur
radio frequency allocations which will be gazetted with the new
regulations. ICASA however agreed to investigate the possibility of
issuing a separate gazette.

INNOVATION COMPETITION - FIRST PHASE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Eight Entries were received in the Innovation Competition sponsored by
Multisource and Icom. Two winners were selected by the SA Amateur Radio
Development Trust.

Deon Coetzee, ZR1DE, submitted a proposal for the development of a
platform for a tracking Directional Antenna. The project proposal
describes the development of an operational platform of both the
mechanical structure as well as the electronic system required for the
control of directional antennas such as for instance a parabolic dish
type tracking a moving signal source such as a satellite.

Hannes Coetzee submitted 6 proposals of which one was chosen for
immediate further development. The others will be developed as articles
for Radio ZS later this year. His proposal for a simple, innovative
ground station using modern, state-of-the-art RF IC's in conjunction
with a Personal Computer equipped with a sound card is proposed for the
reception of satellite downlink signals. Software Defined Radio (SDR)
offers the opportunity to join the fun, learn about the future of radio
and enjoy all the power of Digital Signal Processing offered by a PC
without having to break the bank.

Both entrants have until 15 May to finalise their designs and produce a
prototype to be presented at the annual SA Amateur Radio Development
Trust Award function to be held in Midrand on 6 June 2011. The winner
will be presented with an ICOM7000 HF transceiver by the Managing
Director of Multisource, Richard Smuts-Stein.

THREE RADIO AMATEURS KILLED BY SOMALI PIRATES OFF THE COAST OF EAST
AFRICA

Three Radio Amateurs Scott Adam, K9ESO, his wife Jean, KF6RVB, and Bob
Riggle, KE7IIV, have been murdered by Somali pirates. Also killed with
them was Phylis Macay.

The four were on board the Adam's owned yacht the Quest off the coast
of Oman, East Africa, when pirates boarded their vessel on Friday,
February 18. Officials were in the process of negotiating for their
release when gunfire was heard around 01:00 on Tuesday, February 22.

United States Naval forces responded to the gunfire. Navy Seals then
boarded the yacht only to discover that all four hostages had been shot
by the pirates.

According to a statement from the US Central Command, despite immediate
steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately
succumbed to their wounds.

Somali-based pirates have plagued the shipping industry off East Africa
for years, but the violence used during the attacks and the money
demanded in ransoms has increased in recent months. Sea going bandits
are currently holding some 30 ships and more than 660 hostages,
however, this is first time American hostages have been killed by a
Somali pirate raid.

SARL CONVENTION

Remember the SARL Amateur Radio Convention on 16 April. Register before
the end of February to make use of the discounted price for the Friday
boat cruise and dinner, as well as the Saturday's Gala evening. This
will be a highlight of the year! Visit www.qsl.net/zs4srk to register
you place! The beautiful Vaal awaits!

HAMWAN MEETING

A HAMWAN meeting will be held for all interested radio amateurs. HAMWAN
stands for HAM Wide Area Network. HAMWAN is a HAMNET initiative and
involves a WiFi network used on amateur radio frequencies.

Details are as follows: Time: 19:00 Place: Echo Charlie in Plantation
Road in Springs QRV: 145,675 MHz East Rand Repeater If you get lost:
Call Chris on 083 543 5668 for directions.

The purpose of the meeting is to determine how and when they will
assemble the equipment they already have in hand. Your assistance and
knowledge will be highly appreciated.

CONTEST NEWS

Sunday 6 March 2011 - SARL Hamnet 40 m Simulated Emergency Contest.
This SSB Contest is open to all Radio Amateurs in South Africa,
Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, Marion
Island and South African Antarctica. Only contacts with these areas
will count. The contest will run from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC. Participate
as a Single operator stationary mobile; Single operator portable;
Multi-operator portable or Single operator base station.

Saturday 12 March 2011 - SARL March Madness YL Sprint. This is a fun
activity to celebrate International Women's Day (8 March) between radio
amateurs in Southern African countries. Call "YL Sprint." The Sprint
will run from 09:00 to 10:00 UTC. The exchange is a RS report and YL or
OM.

Provisional results of the SARL National Field Day. The committee
received 26 logs via email made up of 11 from Class A, 3 each from
Class C and D and 9 from Class E. One of these logs is a check log.

Class A. 1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 96 600 points 2nd Northern Cape ARC,
ZS3NC, 85 860 points 3rd Sasolburg ARC, ZS4SRK, 56 400 points

Class B, no entries

Class C. 1st Wessie Wessels, ZS2A, 43 200 points 2nd Pierre van
Deventer, ZS6A, 40 560 points 3rd Paul van Spronsen, ZS1PVS, 25 536
points

Class D. 1st Geoffrey Lotz, ZR6XZ, 56 160 2nd Pieter Nel, ZS1PN, 2 160
points

Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE, made 10 710 points in this class as a check
log.

Class E. 1st Pieter Jacobs, ZS6XT, 30 700 points 2nd Derek Stuart,
ZS2J, 9 360 points 3rd Renier Burger, ZU6HOT, 7 236 points

The final and full results will be published in HF Happenings 445 in
the coming week.

CLUB NEWS

NEW REPEATER ON MARIEPSKOP

The OTL Club has installed a repeater on Mariepskop. Coverage should be
close to 200 km into the Kruger National Park. The frequency 145,712 5
MHz. No tone is needed.

Tests have been done with Schalk, ZS6DVD, in Skukuza, a distance of 80
km. He was using an external antenna and received the repeater S9+60
dB; also got reception reports from ZS6G in White River at S9 plus.

In Skukuza area you can use 145,637 5Mhz which is also linked to:
Mariepskop on 145,712 5 MHz Middelburg 145,737 5 MHz Machadodorp
145,762 5 MHz Roos Senekal 145,662 5 MHZ Ermelo 145,700 MHz These
repeaters are all linked together.

The Pretoria/JHB amateurs will now be able to talk into KNP if they can
contact the Middelburg 145,737 5 Mhz repeater.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at moderate
levels. New sunspot 1 163 produced a spectacular M3 class solar flare
on Feb. 24th. Sunspot 1 163 will continue turning toward Earth in the
days ahead, setting the stage for more potent geo-effects if the
eruptions continue. The effective sunspot number is expected to be
around 30 for the coming week.

15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 20 m.
Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset.
During the afternoons conditions will be good towards Europe on 15 m,
later to be followed by good 20 m openings. Good 15 m contacts with the
USA are possible during the evenings. Contacts with Australia are
possible on 20 m after sunset. 15 and especially 20 m openings to
Brazil and South America are possible during the afternoons. With the
good 15 and 20 m openings 17 m will also be full of surprises.

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

Locally 40 m is the work horse for contacts around the country with 20
and 30 m also being very useful for contacts over the longer distances.
80 m will be best during the early mornings and late afternoons as well
as over the shorter distances.

80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

Today 27 February - First SARL Digital Contest for 2011 from 13:00 to
16:00 UTC on 80, 40 and 20 metres. 28 February - Offers to host a
station at Sun City during IARU Region 1 conference to be in to
. 28 February - Due date for inputs for SARL
Strategic Indaba to . 5 March - ZS6PTA Flea Market at
POMC Club house in Keuning St, Silverton from 08:00. 6 March - SARL
Hamnet 40 Metre Simulated Emergency Contest will be run from 12:00 to
14:00 UTC. 12 March - SARL March Madness YL Sprint from 09:00 till
10:00 UTC. 19 March - RTA, Programming in Windows course in Cape Town,
book at www.sarl.org.za. 25 March - SAiSAT briefing session at the
NARC. 2 April - SA AMSAT Space Symposium at Vodaworld, book at
www.amsatsa.org.za. 15-16 April - SARL National Convention at Vaal
University for Technology.

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 Today every Sunday
morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area, with relays
on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 560 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.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
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