SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 20 MARCH 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

NEW AMATEUR RADIO REGULATIONS IMMINENT

RUSSIAN FEDERATION ADOPTS CEPT LICENSING

SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM FINAL PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB

THREE SABS SUB-COMMITTEES TO DEAL WITH ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY

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

NEW AMATEUR RADIO REGULATIONS IMMINENT

According SARL's contact at ICASA, the ICASA Council is expected to
approve the final regulations at its meeting on Wednesday. This means
that the new regulations and the table of amateur radio frequency
allocations could be gazetted coming Friday or the week after. Which of
the SARL recommendations discussed at the public hearing have been
incorporated remains unknown. The SARL's request for information was
declined.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION ADOPTS CEPT LICENSING

Following on a decision by the Russian State Commission for Radio
Frequencies to join the CEPT Radio Amateur License agreement, it should
soon be easier to use amateur radio gear while visiting the Russian
Federation.

The commission plans to advise CEPT Working Group R A of its decision
in the near future. Working Group R A will be meeting in May and
September. IARU Region 1 says that it considers this a major step
forward to eventually permit worldwide radio amateur roaming. CEPT
licensing means that all nations accepting this recommendation also
accept any other signatory's amateur radio license, subject to certain
limitations as valid in those nations as well. South Africa is a
signatory to the CEPT agreement and on publication of new radio
regulations, will return to full reciprocity.

SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM FINAL PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB

Could South Africa soon have its own satellite launch facilities? Two
new amateur satellites to be designed and built in South Africa,
receiver design for the SKA leads in world technology and RaDAR- Rapid
Deployed Amateur Radio- are just four of the many presentations at the
2011 SA AMSAT Space Symposium to be held on Saturday 2 April 2011 at
Talk 100 Auditorium at Vodaworld in Midrand.

The symposium provides a platform for discussion and interaction on
various aspects of Space for both the professional and hobbyists who
have an interest in the many fascinating aspects of space activities.
The symposium will be opened by Dr Sandile Malinga, the CEO of the
recently established South African National Space Agency (SANSA) with a
key note address.

To register for the Symposium visit www.amsatsa.org.za for details and
the registration form. The cost is R300 if booked before 26 March,
after that R350. Students can register for R275. The fee includes lunch
and refreshments.

THREE SABS SUB-COMMITTEES TO DEAL WITH ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY

The SABS technical committee 74 (TC74) has established three
sub-committees which have be tasked with the development and approval
of communication equipment standards. Of main interest for Amateur
Radio is committee TC74D which is tasked with standards for
communication systems utilising the electromagnetic spectrum. TC 74
will remain the oversight committee.

On the PLC front, ESKOM is considering the use of power line
communication in the frequency range up to 500 kHz for remote network
management and metering. Members of the TC62, TC73, TC74 and TC80 will
soon meet to discuss the process to be used to establish a standard.
The issue of Broadband PLT is currently being handled by a joint
workgroup of TC73 and TC80. This workgroup, designated WG6, is chaired
by the SARL representative, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV. It is not
likely that the Broadband PLT work will move to the group considering
the low frequency PLC.

The term PLC and PLT are confusing. ICASA uses PLT for the broadband
application while the power utilities refer to it as PLC. The principal
of operation is the same just the frequency of operation differs.

Low frequency PLC does not pose a material threat to amateur radio
while the high frequency version could potentially create havoc on the
HF bands. Final regulations are still awaiting review by the ICASA
Council. Although the draft regulations do not include the notching of
Amateur frequencies there are acceptable mitigation rules in place
should radio amateurs experience interference from PLT.

CHANGES ON THE SARL COUNCIL

Louw Erasmus, ZS6LME, has resigned from Council and has withdrawn his
nomination for election on the 2010/2011 Council. SARL President,
Dennis Green, informing Council of Louw's resignation at the Strategic
Indaba held last weekend, extended his thanks to Louw for his
contribution to the SARL and amateur radio and wished him well for the
future.

AGM DOCUMENTATION

The Annual General meeting of the SARL will be held during the National
Convention on Saturday 16 April 2011. The Agenda, financial reports and
other AGM documents are now available for download from the member's
only section of www.sarl.org.za. Select the members only button on the
top right hand of the home page and enter your P.I.N.

CONTEST NEWS

The final results of the SARL Digital Contest held on the 27th February
is as follows:

1st ZS6A 494 points 2nd ZS6GRL 443 points 3rd ZS6WR 335 points 4th
ZS6AKU 312 points 5th ZS2I 264 points

The winner of the Lucky Draw prize is Peter Roos, ZS6PGR.

Congratulations to all the winners.

The full results will be published in HF Happenings.

HAMNET SIMULATED EMERGENCY CONTEST 6TH MARCH, 2011-03-18.

Nineteen logs and one check log were received.

Scores are as follows:

Singe Operator Stationary Mobile: ZS4N, 1 896 points ZR4DEF, 1 030
points ZS6AGF, 630 points ZS4BS, 228 points

Single operator Base Station: ZS5ML, 1 320 points ZS2A ,1 260 points
ZS6YH ,1 200 points ZS6ADY, 1 100 points ZS5DU, 1 072 points ZS6ARQ ,1
005 points ZS2J, 882 points ZS6JDV, 780 points ZS6NJV, 465 points
ZS4TW, 370 points ZS2EC, 350 points ZR6MS, 330 points ZR6DHC, 144
points

Single Operator Portable ZS2U, 738 points ZS6BNE, 396 points

There were no multi-operator portable entries.

Winner of the lucky draw is ZS2A.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at moderate
levels. Departing sunspot 1 169 erupted during the late hours of March
16th and hurled a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) over the
sun's western limb. New sunspot 1 173 was numbered on Wednesday and is
located in the southern hemisphere. This region is not yet capable of
producing strong solar flares. 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. With
the higher sunspot activity 10 m will also open from time to time.
Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset.
During the late afternoons conditions will be good towards Europa. Good
contacts with the USA are possible during the evening. Contacts with
Australia are possible on 20 m after sunset. 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 is 40 m 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 20 March - SARL VHF/UHF analogue and digital contest
still on the go and finishes at 12:00 CAT today. 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 George, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
======================= Message Ends ======================= To edit or
remove your entry from this mailing list go to
www.sarl.org.za/members/admin/maildat.asp.