SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2012

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 'Amateur Radio Today' 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 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news
readers change to suit).

SILENT KEY

It is with regret that we have to announce that the keys of two radio
amateurs became silent recently. They a

The key of Walter Arnold, or Art, ZS5SU, went silent on the 10th
January 2012 after a short illness. Art had been living in London, UK
for the past decade or so. His other interest was astronomy and he was
also an amateur magician.

The key of Janse van der Merwe, ZS4IQ, on Monday 6 February. Janse was
92 years old. He leaves his YL Annie behind.

We extend our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

AMATEUR RADIO ALLOCATION AROUND 500 kHz ANOTHER FEW STEPS CLOSER

DISCOUNT FOR RAE STUDENTS UNDER 26

CQ SAYS MORSE IS ALIVE AND WELL

SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION BOOKING NOW OPEN

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

AMATEUR RADIO ALLOCATION AROUND 500 kHz ANOTHER FEW STEPS CLOSER

There was a good deal of support for Agenda item 1.23 at WRC12 among
administrations at the SWG level for a secondary allocation to Amateur
Radio just below 500 kHz; however, there was strong resistance by
several administrations to the allocation, based upon a stated concern
that amateur operation in that portion of the spectrum could cause
interference to Non-Directional Beacons.

SWG 4C3 (the SWG dealing with Agenda Item 1.23) met 12 times over a
period of ten days trying to arrive at a consensus. Finally, a
consensus was achieved on the issue by adding various footnotes dealing
with the allocation that satisfied most of the administrations opposing
the allocation. At the end of the day, there were still a couple of
administrations opposing the allocation. As a result, the SWG elevated
the issue to the Working Group level with two options to satisfy the
agenda item.

A secondary allocation to the amateur service in the band 472-479 kHz
with certain operating conditions set forth in footnotes to the
allocation, or No Change (in other words, no amateur allocation).

The proposal that has been agreed to by most administrations that
support the amateur allocation calls for a worldwide secondary
allocation to the Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz with a power limit of
1 W EIRP, but with a provision for administrations to permit up to 5 W
EIRP for stations located more than 800 km from certain countries that
wish to protect their aeronautical radio navigation service
(non-directional beacons) from any possible interference. Proposed
footnotes provide administrations with opportunities to opt out of the
amateur allocation and/or to upgrade their aeronautical radio
navigation service to primary if they wish to do so. In addition to
these protections for aeronautical radio navigation, the Amateur
Service must avoid harmful interference to the primary maritime mobile
service.

At the Working Group meeting, there was no shifting of positions, so
the matter was elevated to the next level: to Committee 4 with the same
two options.

DISCOUNT FOR RAE STUDENTS UNDER 26

Students under 26 planning to write the class A Radio Amateur
examination will get a discount off the examination fee of R100. The
fee will be R350 which includes the license application fee and license
fee to 31 March the following year. For details visit www.sarl.org.za.

CQ SAYS MORSE IS ALIVE AND WELL

Five years after the USA dropped the Morse code requirement, CQ
Magazine Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, has published a very pointed
editorial where-in he notes that both amateur radio and use of the
Morse code are alive, well and growing. This despite the ney-sayers who
predicted the abandoning of Morse testing would bring a sudden end to
the hobby.

In his editorial titled "No-Code Plus Five Years: An Assessment", W2VU,
states that amateur radio is still here. CW is still here and despite
the fears of many CW supporters the universe did not implode on
February 23, 2007.

Rather his article was prepared based on research that checked on signs
of the state use of Morse by today's amateur radio community. It did
this by asking manufacturer of keys and paddles about sales, talking to
the FISTS Morse preservation group, looking at CW contest results and
overall United States licensing statistics.

CW was dropped as a license requirement in South Africa on 1 April 2011
when the ZR license was converted to a full class A license on a par
with ZS.

ARRL & CQ SIGNED AGREEMENT

ARRL & CQ Signed an agreement to provide ARRL's Logbook of The World
support for CQ's awards and ARRL - the national association for Amateur
Radio, have signed an agreement to begin providing support for
CQ-sponsored operating awards by the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW)
electronic confirmation system.

CQ's awards will be the first non-ARRL awards supported by LoTW and
will be phased in, beginning with the CQ WPX award. Additional CQ
awards will follow. The ARRL's LoTW system, an interactive database
recording contacts between radio amateurs was created in 2003 and has
been adopted by 47 500 radio amateurs worldwide. It already has records
of 400 million contacts and grows weekly. The target date for beginning
LoTW support for WPX is April 1, 2012. Amateurs will be able to use
LoTW logs to generate lists of confirmed contacts to be submitted for
WPX credit. Standard LoTW credit fees and CQ award fees will apply.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed that this
step gives radio amateurs throughout the world an inexpensive and
convenient means of gaining credits toward CQ's popular operating
awards. "LoTW has significantly increased interest and participation in
the ARRL's DXCC, Worked All States and VUCC awards programs. We
anticipate a similarly positive response to the addition of the CQ WPX
award. Amateurs will be able to spend more time operating and less time
chasing QSL cards."

SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION BOOKING NOW OPEN

Book now for the SARL National convention which will be held in
Pinetown from 20 22 April 2012. Get all the details at www.sarl.org.za
and link from the home page.

SAAMSAT TO UPDATE ON KLETSKOUS CUBESAT ON SUNDAY

Listen to Amateur Radio Today for an interview with Hannes Coetzee,
ZS6BZP, reporting on the progress made on SA AMSAT's KletsKOUS CubeSat
project, or download the audio mp3 version from www.amsatsa.org.za.

CLUB NEWS

With reference to last week's item about the ZS6KTS repeater, this
repeater was put on the air by the Kempton Park Amateur Radio Technical
Society on 145,162 5/145,762 5 MHz in Birchleigh for a test period.

Please comments/reports to and also to
.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is at low
levels. Fortunately a new sunspot is rapidly growing in the
south-eastern quadrant of the sun.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions the expected effective
sunspot number for the week will be around 47.

All the bands from 20 to 10 m and especially 15 m will provide lots of
DX fun with 10 m only opening sporadically due to the low solar
activity.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

11 - 12 February - SARL Field Day contest 19 February - last day for
submitting logs for SARL field day contest 20 February - Last day for
submission of logs for Antique Wireless Association CW activity day. 29
February - Leap year Challenge from 00:01 till 23:59. 21 March - ZS6ERB
construction day. 20 - 22 April SARL Convention in Pinetown.

Remember, nominations for SARL awards, which will be presented at the
gala dinner which will take place over the weekend of the 2012 SARL AGM
may still be submitted. Send nominations to .

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 17 760 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a
web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on
'Amateur Radio TODAY', go down the green column and click on 'LISTEN ON
THE WEB'. A repeat transmission can be heard on Mondays at 17:30 UTC on
4 895 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