SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 18 MARCH 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. 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 it is announced that the key of Jeff Mosmann,
ZR6JPO, became silent on 24th Feb 2012. Jeff suffered a heart attack
while driving from Durban back to his home in Johannesburg.

Our sincere condolences to his relatives and friends.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

BIRTHPLACE OF RADIO BECOMES A CITY

LISTEN AGAIN TO THE INTECNET

EXTRA-GALACTIC MILESTONE FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S KAT-7 TELESCOPE

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

BIRTHPLACE OF RADIO BECOMES A CITY

Chelmsford, acknowledged as the birthplace of radio and home to the
Marconi Company for many years, is one of three new cities created to
mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. This year also marks the 100th
anniversary of the establishment by Marconi of the first purpose built
radio factory in New Street, Chelmsford in 1912. New Street is marked
with a blue plaque noting the historic significance.

LISTEN AGAIN TO THE INTECNET

If you missed last Sunday's INTECNET on antennas, you can listen to it
again. You can download both the audio and PowerPoint files from
www.sarl.org.za, select Amateur Radio TODAY from the left hand menu.

Vincent Harrison, ZS6BTY, discussed HF antennas to work DX, including
dipoles, verticals and small beams. He also focused on the effect of
the height above ground, radiation patterns and take-off angles and
touched on antennas for 80 and 160 metres.

EXTRA-GALACTIC MILESTONE FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S KAT-7 TELESCOPE

South Africa's KAT-7 telescope, a seven-dish array which is a precursor
to the much larger MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo and to the Square
Kilometre Array, has reached another major milestone by observing the
radio emission from the neutral hydrogen gas (HI) in a nearby galaxy.
Hydrogen gas emits radio emission in a spectral line at a very specific
frequency of 1 420 MHz.

The astronomers pointed the telescope towards a galaxy called NGC 3 109
- a small spiral galaxy, about 4,3 million light-years away from Earth,
located in the constellation of Hydra. The observation allowed them to
see the HI radio emission of this galaxy, as well as to see how this
galaxy is moving. Where the gas is moving towards us, the frequency of
the spectral line is Doppler-shifted upwards; where the gas is moving
away, the frequency is shifted down. In this way, astronomers can map
the way in which all of the gas in the galaxy is moving.

"These exciting results achieved by KAT-7 have given us confidence that
we know how to build a cutting-edge radio telescope in Africa to answer
some of the fundamental questions in radio astronomy", says Dr Bernie
Fanaroff, director of SKA South Africa. "Our team in the SKA South
Africa Project and universities has again shown that they can deliver
cutting-edge technology and do excellent science on a very tight
schedule."

BUOYS ON 10 METRES

The source of some mysterious weak signals on 29,684 MHz with an 81,9
Baud and 130 Hz shift have been located. According to the February IARU
Region One newsletter, the signals came from the Spanish coastal area
and were audible across all of Europe but only during band openings and
only by directional antennas.

It turns out the source of transmissions is by Datawell buoys. These
buoys, produced in the Netherlands, are used for measuring water
temperatures and wave heights. They are designed to transmit with 75
milliwatts on frequencies between 27 and 40 MHz.

Dick Van Empelen, PA2GRU, of Heemstede in the Netherlands has since
visited the Datawell Company and has informed them that the buoy
transmissions on the amateur service in the 10 metre band are illegal.
The operations chief undertook to inform all Datawell offices about the
situation. Here is challenge for amateurs in Africa and South Africa to
listen for some very weak signals. The frequency is 29,684 MHz. Make a
recording and send it to .

SARL OFFICE CLOSED

Remember, the SARL office will be closed during March as Mariska Faasen
is overseas on holiday visiting family. Between Henry Chamberlain and
Francois Botha they will attend to emails and telephone messages.
Please send emails to the usual address .

MAINTENANCE TO SARLNEWS AND SARLNUUS MAIL LISTS

This item has been received from Peter, ZS6PHD, who did a lot of
housekeeping on the SARL website: The SARL website contains a facility
to allow anyone to receive a copy of SARLNews or SARLnuus automatically
via email. Some major housekeeping has now been done to the email list,
and many invalid email addresses have been removed.

For technical reasons it is possible that one or two valid email
addresses have also been removed. If you have stopped receiving your
email news bulletin, or wish to sign up, please go to the SARL web site
at www.sarl.org.za, and select News / Nuus by email on the left-hand
side.

Please make this problem known to your friends who may suffer this
problem.

CONTEST NEWS

Results, SARL Digital Contest - February 2012

9 logs were received for this contest. According to the logs the
following band contacts were made 40 m = 108, 20 m = 52. 131 x PSK and
29 x RTTY contacts were also made. It was also nice to receive the
first DX log from VU2UR. The results are as follows 1st ZR6MS 385 2nd
ZS6A 368 3rd ZS6PX 360 4th ZS2J 351 points.

The full results will appear in the HF Happenings.

WESTERN CAPE ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION EXPO

The Western Cape section of the Antique Wireless Association of South
Africa will be holding an Expo which will be open each day for the
whole of the Easter long weekend, 6th to 9th April at the farm QTH near
Stanford of John and Judy Martin, ZS1D, and ZS1JEG. A large display of
radios of yesteryear and associated equipment will be on show and a
classic radio station will be in operation.

GPS coordinates for the farm are 34 25,458S and 19 24,922E. There will
be call in on 145,500 and on the Hermanus repeater on 14,725.

The focal point will be from 16:00 SAST on Saturday which will commence
with presentations by AWA President Richard, ZS6TF, and other members
on some of the equipment and their restoration projects. An interactive
discussion forum will follow for anyone to contribute or for those who
need questions answered or need assistance. There will be a bring and
braai in the evening and for those who wish to camp over on the
Saturday night, just bring your camping kit as there are camping
facilities on the farm.

Please contact organizer and AWA committee member John, ZS1WJ, on 082
673 5337 for more information, and to let him know if you are
attending. Visitors are encouraged to bring an antique radio to
exhibit, maybe a restoration project, homebrew, or "as found" to add to
the interest of the Expo.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the Solar activity is dropping off
now that huge sunspot 1 429 has rotated out of view of the Earth. It
sure was fun while it lasted.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions the expected effective
sunspot number for the week will be around 57.

All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with even
some 6 m openings possible.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

18 March - SARL VHF/UHF Analogue/Digital contest ends today at 12:00
CAT. 30 March - Last day to submit items on regulatory issues for
discussion with ICASA to . 21 March - ZS6ERB
construction day. 6-9 April - Western Cape Antique Wireless Association
Ekspo near Stanford, contact John, ZS1WJ, on 082 673 5337 for more
information. 20 - 22 April SARL Convention in Pinetown.

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

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