SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2014

Good morning and welcome! You are tuned to a news broadcast of the
South African Radio League read by __________________________ (Name,
call sign and QTH).

You can tune in to the South African Radio League news broadcast on
Sunday mornings at 08:15 central African time in Afrikaans and at 08:30
central African time in English on HF and on many VHF and UHF repeaters
around the country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a
relay. A podcast is available from the South African Radio League web
site.

This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the South African Radio
League website at www.sarl.org.za. You can find this bulletin and
previous bulletins in text format under the news link on the left-hand
side of the webpage. While you are there, you can sign up to receive
future bulletins by e-mail.

We start the bulletin on a sad note.

It is with regret and great sadness that we have to announce that the
key of Ian Leonard, ZS6TUB, became silent recently. Ian joined KARTS in
2013 and was part of the technical team that got the 60 m beacon
commissioned.

Our sincerest condolences to the relatives and friends of Ian. We all
will sadly miss him.

PAUSE ....

In the news today

YOUTH NET ON THE AIR AT 15:00 TODAY

EME DXPEDITION IN ZIMBABWE

5 MHZ PROPAGATION RESEARCH PROJECT SHOW UNEXPECTED RESULTS

and

PEARS AND SARL COMPETITIONS OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKENDS

Our leading story this morning

** The South African Radio League Youth net will be on the air this
afternoon at 15:00 central African time on 7 070 kHz. Karel
Bezuidenhout, ZR6K, will be the net host. There is a lucky draw for a
surprize gift for all radio amateurs and their friends under 25 years
old who participate in the net and appear in the log.

** Chris, PA2CHR, Lins, PA3CMC, John, ZS6JON, and Paul, ZS6NK, are
active as Z21CHR, Z21CMC, Z21EME and Z21NK, respectively from 1 to 8
November on an EME DXpedition. They are active on 6 and 2 meters, and
70 and 23 cm. QSL via PA3CMC

** The annual Remembrance Day service will be transmitted as part of
Amateur Radio Today, next Sunday at approximately 10:45 central African
time. All radio amateur are requested to keep radio silence during the
service, which remembers South African who paid the supreme price in
service of their country. Clubs are requested to relay the service on
local repeaters. The audio file will be available from next Saturday.

** There will be ninety-one new amateurs on the air soon. One hundred
candidates wrote the examination of which 91 passed. They should be on
the air soon as in an agreement between ICASA and the South African
Radio League, candidates who passed the RAE and whose call signs appear
on the South African Radio League list of successful candidates
published on the League web, may go on the air immediately without
having to wait for the printed license. Congratulations!

If you were not successful this time, we suggest you try again in May
2015. The highest pass percentage was 98% and this person obtained 100%
for the regulations. If you passed but your call sign is not on the
list, there is still some documentation outstanding. Please send all
outstanding paperwork to the South African Radio League RAE manager,
Gideon Jannasch at to prevent any delay in the
licensing process.

** The 5 MHz propagation research project show unexpected results. One
of the most interesting findings is the inconsistency in the results of
Near-vertical-incidence sky wave propagation (NVIS). Comparing a
communications path between two amateur stations, ZS6KN and ZS6KTS (a
distance of 51 km) it is interesting to note that in June 2014 there
was a good communications path from just after 05:00 until
approximately 16:30 after which the signals disappeared. The pattern
for July was the same, but signals were considerably stronger than
during August and September.

During September, a strong dip in signal strength can be seen. The
other interesting observation from the graph is that propagation
"opens" earlier and closes later as we go into summer which indicates
variations in the ionisation of the D layer of the ionosphere as the
sun rises earlier and sets later. Not enough data has been collected to
make any meaning full conclusions. If the path was a pure ground wave,
the signals would have been more or less constant throughout the day
and night.

The article will be published in the November/December edition of
EngineerIT and is already available on the web. You can find the link
on www.sarl.org.za, click on propagation research. You will find links
to the article as well as a report of the first six months.

** Member States of the International Telecommunication Union have
completed the election process that confirms candidates in the
organisation's five elected posts, as well as the 12 members of the
Radio Regulations Board and the 48 Members of ITU Council, the
administrative body that governs the ITU in between quadrennial
Plenipotentiary Conferences. This took place at the 19th ITU
Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Korea

Houlin Zhao of China was successful in his bid to become the next
Secretary-General of the ITU, after eight years as Deputy-Secretary
General. He will take over from Dr Hamadoun Touré, HB9EHT, on 1 January
2015.

Malcolm Johnson of the United Kingdom was elected as the ITU's new
Deputy Secretary-General.

François Rancy of France was confirmed in a second term as the Director
of ITU's Radiocommunication Bureau. Brahima Sanou, of Burkina Faso, the
incumbent Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, also
contested his bid for a second term unopposed and Chaesub Lee from
South Korea was the successful candidate for the post of Director of
ITU's Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau (TSB).

You are listening to a bulletin of the South African Radio League and
know we now continue with news from the league

** Missing CW? There are still many DX stations around the bands
operating CW. The South African Radio League has received a suggestion
that an informal net is started for people to get some practice on CW.
If this appeals to you, drop us a line at with your
suggestion for day of the week and time. Maybe on a Saturday or a
weekday evening on 80 metres?

** The South African Radio League "No Tears Kit" goes on sale. Now that
all RTA's of the South African Radio League for 2014 have taken place,
the "no tears kit" goes on general sale. It is packaged with the RTA
CD, which includes all the construction details. The Isolated USB
Transceiver Control Interface kit is a fully isolated interface between
a transceiver and computer. It comprises a complete USB to Serial
module and a bi-directional audio link between the sound card and the
transceiver.

The USB control interface supports Icom CI-V, Kenwood and Yaesu CAT
control ports on current transceivers. Visual (LED) indication of
control data flow between the computer and radio and the PTT or CW
status of the radio are provided. The kit is compatible with many of
the current generations of amateur transceivers. The interface provides
complete isolation between the transceiver and the computer, as well as
complete isolation between both functions of the interface. Either side
of the Isolated USB Transceiver Control Interface can be operated
independently of the other.

The cost is for South African Radio League members is R480 plus packing
and posting via Postnet at R120 or via the Post Office econo tracked
parcel R50. Currently the Post Office is not handling parcels but this
is expected to be resumed in the next two weeks. The cost for
non-members is R550 plus the same packaging and postage charges. Read
more about it at www.amateurradio.org.za/RTA.htm. The order form is
also on available here.

** Application for membership of the South African Radio League have
been received from the following persons: John Steyn, ZR6VS, and Loupo
Adi, ZSl1125

Any objections against the acceptance of the applications must reach
the SARL Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.
Membership of the South African Radio League currently stands at 1 490
members not including the newly passed RAE candidates; they will be
included from next week onwards. There are 34 affiliated clubs.

** The Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society HF Contest will be on the
air on Sunday 9 November from 12:00 UTC to 16:00 UTC. It is a phone
only contest with activity on 20, 15 and 10 metres. The exchange is
your call sign and RS report. You can participate as a Single Operator
- base or field station or a multi-operator - base or field station.
Log sheets must be submitted by 24 November 2014 to Port Elizabeth
Amateur Radio Society PO Box 10402, Linton Grange, Port Elizabeth, 6015
or by e-mail to . Read from page 45 in the SARL
Contest Manual.

** The South African Radio League National Field Day and South African
Radio League VHF/UHF Contest take to the air at 10:00 UTC on Saturday
15 November and end 24 hours later. The National Field Day is CW, phone
and digital operation on 160 to 10 metres, while the VHF/UHF Contest
lets you operate on 6, 4 and 2 metres, 70 and 23 cm and even higher.
You can use CW, SSB, FM and digital modes on these frequencies.

Both these contests are great for Club outings and can even be combined
into one event. Start planning your Club weekend, get the tents and
caravans ready and check the radio equipment, antennas and batteries.
SARL News is aware of a number of Clubs who will be camping out for the
weekend.

Read from page 18 (National Field Day) and page 24 (VHF/UHF Contest) of
the 2014 SARL Contest Manual for the complete rules.

** At the annual general meeting of the Bloemfontein ARC held on
Saturday 25 October, the following committee was elected. Portfolios
will be allocated at the first committee meeting.

Dennis Green, ZS4BS Frans Marais, ZS4FM Brendon Muller, ZS4BM Pine
Pienaar, ZS1ZB Andre van Rensburg, ZS4APA

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity will be
returning to low levels. None of the small spots is currently posing a
threat for strong solar flares. If you want to do your own frequency
predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be
around 70.

The 20 to 10 m bands will provide lots of DX fun with some exciting 10
m openings at hand. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za
for further information.

The diary of events for November

Today at 15:00 - the South African Radio League Youth Net on 7 070 kHz
3 and 4 November - CubeSat workshop at the Bellville Campus of CPUT 9
November - Remembrance Day transmission at 10:45; PEARS HF Contest 10
November - closing date for 2015 contest manual input 11 November -
Armistice Day 15 and 16 November - the South African Radio League
National Field Day as well as the South African Radio League VHF and
UHF Contest 29 and 30 November - the CQ WW DX CW Contest

To end this bulletin, a quick recap of the leading story:

The South African Radio League Youth net will be on the air this
afternoon at 15:00 central African time on 7 070 kHz. Karel
Bezuidenhout, ZR6K, will be the net host.

You are invited to submit news items of interest to the South African
Radio League by following the news inbox link on the South African
Radio League webpage. News items for inclusion in the bulletin, should
reach the news team no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin
date.

You may join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur radio
magazine program Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 Central African Time. The
programme may be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and on 7
082 kHz lower side-band and on 7 205 kHz and 17 760 kHz AM. There is
also a podcast by Dick, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast may be heard on Monday
evenings at 18:30 Central African Time on 4 895 kHz AM. We welcome your
signal reports, comments and suggestions; send it in an e-mail to
. Sentech sponsors the radio transmissions on the
non-amateur frequency bands.

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dennis Green, ZS4BS,
edited by Carina Green and read by ...................

Thank you for listening, and from the entire news team, best wishes for
the week ahead, 73's.

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