SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 19 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 deep regret that the passing of Victor le Grange, ZR6VLG, on
Tuesday 14 February 2012 at the age of 71 is announced.

We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

AMATEUR RADIO GETS A NEW BAND AND AN AGENDA ITEM ON THE WRC-2015 AGENDA

SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION BOOKING NOW OPEN

SAAMSAT TO UPDATE ON KLETSKOUS CUBESAT NOW ONLINE

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

AMATEUR RADIO GETS A NEW BAND AND AN AGENDA ITEM ON THE WRC-2015 AGENDA

It's official! Delegates attending the 2012 World Radio Communication
Conference have approved a new 7 kilohertz wide secondary allocation
between 472-479 kHz for the Amateur Radio Service. Agenda Item 1.23 had
both its first and second readings in Plenary Session on Tuesday,
February 14; to become part of the ITU's Radio Regulations, each Agenda
Item must be read twice in Plenary Session. While the Final Acts was
signed on Friday, February 17 at the close of the Conference, the new
allocation will not take effect until it is entered into the Radio
Regulations. No date has been set for this, but it is unlikely to be
earlier than January 1, 2013. No amateur may use the band until ICASA
has revised and published the table of amateur frequency allocations.

"This is a fantastic achievement for the Amateur Radio Service," IARU
President Tim Ellam. VE6SH, said. "A new allocation for spectrum is
always something that should be celebrated. The success on this issue
is due to the hard work over the last four years from our IARU
representatives, as well as the volunteers from the numerous IARU
Member-Societies who have worked within the ITU process on behalf of
their national administrations. This is excellent work from our team in
Geneva, and from those who have assisted from their home countries."

Agenda Item 1.23 originally called for a 15-kilohertz-wide spectrum in
parts of the band 415-526,5 kHz, taking into account the need to
protect existing services. The initial idea was 495-510 kHz, but
according to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, this was
in conflict with the Maritime Mobile Service. WRC-12 delegates approved
Agenda Item 1.10, which called for a worldwide exclusive allocation to
the Maritime Mobile Service of 495-505 kHz. Discussion of this
allocation to Maritime Mobile "has been in the works throughout the
conference preparation (i.e. since 2008)," Sumner explained, "and was
the reason why the MF amateur allocation could not be made in this band
as some amateurs had hoped. That's why we had to look elsewhere and is
what put us in conflict with aeronautical radio navigation."

According to Colin Thomas, G3PSM, CEPT Coordinator for Agenda Item
1.23, WRC-12 delegates moved forward early in the Conference with what
he called a "compromise proposal" for the new allocation. "Progress was
made with a compromise proposal on Agenda Item 1.23, drafted to take
into consideration the views of those for and those against an Amateur
Service allocation around 500 kHz. This proposal suggested a
7-kilohertz segment between 472-479 kHz, very close to the CEPT
position of 472-480 kHz."

The new allocation calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the
Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1 W EIRP. A
provision has been made, however, 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.

One of the responsibilities of each WRC delegation is to set the agenda
for the next WRC. WRC-12 delegates approved an Amateur Radio-related
agenda item for the upcoming WRC-15: To consider the possibility of
making an allocation of an appropriate amount of spectrum, not
necessarily contiguous, to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis
within the band 5 250-5 450 kHz. This will be Agenda Item 1.4 at
WRC-15.

"It is always a challenge to have items placed on the agenda for future
WRCs," IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, said. "I am pleased that we
were successful in having an Agenda Item for a potential allocation at
5 MHz on a secondary basis. There will be much work to do over the next
ITU study group cycle. Much appreciation is owed to the IARU and the
national delegation teams in Geneva for their hard work on this issue."


SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION BOOKING NOW OPEN

Book now for the SARL National convention which will be held in
Pinetown from 20 to 22 April 2012. Full details are now online at
www.sarl.org.za, including the registration form. On the Friday
evening, at the "getting to know you" finger supper, there will be an
interesting presentation on how South Africa's electronics Industry
started in Pinetown. The Saturday afternoon session will include two
presentations covering the building of VHF antennas and the Logbook of
the world.

SAAMSAT TO UPDATE ON KLETSKOUS CUBESAT NOW ONLINE

Download an interview with Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP reporting on the
progress made on SA AMSAT's KletsKOUS CubeSat project, from
www.amsatsa.org.za. SA AMSAT has launched a fundraising campaign and is
asking Radio Amateurs to make financial contributions to the project.

TEXAS AMATEURS MAKE WORLD RECORD BALLOON ATTEMPT

A group of Radio Amateurs hopes to establish a world distance record
for an unmanned helium-filled balloon. The BLT-28 balloon will
undertake a journey across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and then
on to Nanjing, China. The South Texas Balloon Launch Team released the
balloon on 11 February from Katy, Texas, just outside of Houston.

During the trans-Atlantic crossing, when out of range of shore based
stations, the balloon's APRS beacon will operate on the International
Space Station (ISS) packet digipeater frequency of 145,825 MHz. The
balloon payload package weighs only about 5 ounces and contains a high
altitude GPS tracking system and a 144 MHz FM APRS Amateur Radio
transmitter. To conserve weight and battery life, no camera equipment
is on board. The maximum altitude is expected to be above 26 km, with
horizontal speeds of between 160-180 km per hour.

NEW SATELLITES REACH ORBIT

On 13 February a European Space Agency Vega rocket lifted off from
Kourou, French Guiana on its inaugural flight. It carried the Laser
Relativity Spacecraft to orbit, along with eight student-built
MicroSats and CubeSats. The student satellites will transmit telemetry
in the VHF, UHF and microwave amateur bands, with one satellite also
including a voice repeater.

Here are the details: ALMASat-1 from the University of Bologna, Italy,
transmitting 1 200-baud packet data at 437,465 and 2 407,850 MHz.
Xatcobeo, a collaboration between the University of Vigo and INTA,
Spain, transmitting telemetry at 437,365 and 145,940 MHz. Robusta, from
the University of Montpellier, France transmitting 1 200-baud packet
telemetry at 437,325 MHz with one 20-second data burst every 3 minutes.
E-St@r, a project of Politecnico di Torino, Italy, sending 1 200-baud
packet telemetry at 437,445 MHz. Goliat, from the University of
Bucharest, Romania, transmitting 1 200-baud packet data at 437,485 MHz.
PW-Sat from the Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, which includes
a voice repeater mode in addition to its telemetry functions. The voice
repeater will listen for transmissions at 435,020 MHz FM and retransmit
at 145,900 MHz SSB. PW-Sat telemetry will be sent as 1 200-baud packet
and CW at 435,020 MHz. MaSat-1 from the Budapest University of
Technology and Economics, sending 625/1 250 bps GFSK data at 437,345
MHz. Ground station software is available here. UniCubeSat GG from the
University of Rome, which will transmit 9 600-baud data at 437,305 MHz.

South African Radio Amateurs are encouraged to listen out for the
satellites and send reports to .

AMERICAN AMATEURS ARE LOOKING FOR CONTACT WITH ANY ONE IN SOUTH AFRICA
ON 17 METER

Recently amateurs in the USA have been requesting contacts with South
Africa on 17 meter, as it is a long time since some of them heard any
one in Africa or South Africa on 17 meter. The 17 meter band is
normally quite open to USA from 21:00 till 23:00 CAT. Sometimes 17
meter is open for longer periods. Recently US stations have been heard
in South Africa with signals of between 59 and 44 depending on the
station. 17 meter is also open from South Africa to the Far East and
Europe between 16:00 and 18:30 CAT.

COMPETITION NEWS

SARL Digital Contest. The first in the series of SARL Digital Contests
will be on the air on Sunday 26 February from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC with
PSK and RTTY activity on 20, 40 and 80 metres. The exchange is a RST
report and a serial number starting at 001 and stations maybe contacted
twice per band, once on PSK and once on RTTY. Find the full set of
rules on page 57 of the 2012 SARL Contest Manual.

SARL National Field Day logs. The closing date for logs for the
February leg of the SARL National Field Day is midnight Sunday 19
February - that is tonight! By Friday 17 February logs had been
received from ZS6XT, ZS6A, ZS6BNE, ZS2EC, ZS4BFN, ZS6STN, ZS4B, ZS3R,
ZS5ZLB, ZS6WR, ZS6AWW and ZS4BS.

If you made 1 QSO or 100 QSOs, please submit your log by midnight. Send
it by e-mail to . You may have the winning entry!

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the Solar activity is expected to
be at low levels with a slight chance of M-class activity. Hopefully
old region 1 408 will improve matters when it rotates into view in the
next couple of days.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions the expected effective
sunspot number for the week will be around 50.

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

19 February, Today! - last day for submitting logs for SARL field day
contest. 20 February, Tomorrow! - Last day for submission of logs for
Antique Wireless Association ty day. 26 February - SARL digital
contest. 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 Gustav, ZS6BWN.

Thank you for listening, 73. /EX

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