SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 08 MAY 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 news
reader 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:

MAY 2011 RAE EXAMINATION NUMBERS ON THE WEB TODAY

SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM GOES FULL STEAM AHEAD

US STUDY SAYS NO SPECTRUM CRUNCH EXISTS

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

MAY 2011 RAE EXAMINATION NUMBERS ON THE WEB TODAY

The May 2011 RA Examination numbers will be available on the SARL web
page from 12:00 today (Sunday 08 May 2011). Please could all candidates
check their examination venues and should there be any errors or
queries, these need to be directed to Mariska at the SARL office on
Monday morning. A letter will be emailed to all candidates confirming
their entrance into the examination.

SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM GOES FULL STEAM AHEAD

SA AMSAT said that its Space Symposium 2011 will go full steam ahead on
Saturday 21 May. Following an agreement with Sentech the auditorium at
Radiokop will be the venue with the SARL National Amateur Radio centre
being used for refreshment breaks and lunch.

The new arrangement has substantially reduced the registration fee to
R75 for SARL and SA AMSAT members if booked before 15 May 2011. Student
and scholars will enter free if a student card or scholar ID is
submitted at the time of Registration.

The conference will be opened by the CEO of the South African National
Space Agency, Sandile Malinga. John Willescroft, ZS6EF, will
demonstrate the development of a totally new concept which allows a
solar panel to the released from SAiSAT once in Space. For full
details, registration forms and programme, visit www.amsatsa.org.za

US STUDY SAYS NO SPECTRUM CRUNCH EXISTS

The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States has
released a study arguing that there is no spectrum crisis. According to
NAB, the research shows that insufficient analysis and reliance on
faulty information in the formation of the FCC's National Broadband
Plan has led to the overstated assumption of a nationwide spectrum
shortage for future broadband expansion. NAB says that this is not the
case.

The White House, the FCC and numerous in the wireless industry have
cited a spectrum crisis as a justification for policies that would
reallocate TV airwaves for mobile broadband use. But broadcasters have
said that there is no way that they will willingly relinquish even a
single hertz of spectrum to broadband.

The report authored by a former FCC aide was released the week of April
26th. It came on the heels of the NAB's recent statement that the
broadcast lobby group is in full battle mode to stop the reframing of
broadcast spectrum to broadband providers.

In South Africa a similar situation will loom as TV will turn digital
and some of the current frequencies will become available for other
services. At a recent workshop arranged by ICASA. ICASA said that they
have other plans than simply handing it over to broadband suppliers.

ANOTHER SARL

Another organisation is using the abbreviation SARL; they are the SA
Racing League. Their website is www.sarl.co.za. Ours, the South African
Radio League, website remains www.sarl.org.za.

Now two items obtained from this week's WIANews:

INFORMATION SUPER HIGHWAY

A story worth a read is in last Tuesday, 3 May's Yorkshire Post.

"Instead of floating in space, much of the information super highway is
actually under water.

You might be surprised to know that this global communications system
surfaces in the UK near a small village on the Yorkshire coast.

If you think the internet is largely dependent on satellites circling
thousands of miles above the earth, think again.

The global communications system relies on old submarine cable routes
that date from the 1800s.

Two hundred and fifty submarine cable systems provide the backbone for
most of today's communications systems.

Another 19 are due to come online this year.

Less than five per cent of our hi-tech communications network is done
via satellite, with fibre accounting for most of the rest.

The 19th century version of the information super highway would have
struggled to keep up. The first transatlantic cable transmission in
1858 was a 98-word message from Queen Victoria of the UK to President
Buchanan of the US which took 16 hours to transmit.

Fifteen years later, the first commercial transatlantic cable message
was sent. It cost the princely sum of £20 for 20 words, which is
roughly the equivalent of £900 today.

By 1870, information could be transmitted at around 10 words per
minute.

Fans of Tolstoy should note that it would have taken 37 days to send
over one copy of War & Peace.

Today, of-course information moves at lightning pace. Messages can be
sent with the click of a mouse.

It is estimated that there are between 100 and 150 cable faults around
the world each year.

Nearly half of these faults are due to fishing, although earthquakes
can also cause damage and disruption.

Some things haven't changed in the last 150 years.

The method of recovering faulty cables has remained the same.

They are retrieved using a grappling hook on the end of up to five
miles of rope. The rope is more expensive than the cables it helps to
recover.

So the next time you log on, pray that a shark with a power complex
isn't nibbling away at a cable in the deep.

SHOWER POWER SOAP OPERAS

The world's first shower powered radio comes from UK based Tango Group
the same group that commercialised the award-winning Wind-Up Radio.

This radio is powered entirely by your shower water.

The H20 brand, has a patented a micro turbine concept through the
motion of water flowing through a little turbine.

The convenient and energy-efficient shower powered radio, means users
can listen to their favourite radio stations while in the shower.

The radio, and is even more convenient since it is recharged as the
shower runs, dispelling the need for disposable batteries.

The radio even allows users to carry on listening after the shower is
turned off; using any excess energy stored in an integral Ni-Mh
rechargeable cell.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at low
levels. There is currently no chance for strong solar flares. Sunspots
1 203 and 1 204 are the main features on the visible solar disk. New
sunspot 1 207 remains a simple sunspot group. For the people doing
their own frequency predictions the expected effective sunspot number
for the week is about 45.

15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 20 m.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

21 May - SA AMSAT space simposium at NARC at Radiokop. 18 to 22 May -
Follow Dayton Hamvention via W5KUB.com. 25 May - Closing date for
nominations for NSN awards, visit www.amateurradio.org.za. 18 June -
Programming in Windows course in Gauteng. Book at www.sarl.org.za.

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 17 750 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 18:30 CAT on 3 230 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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