SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 03 JANUARY 2016

Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South
African Radio League read by ................ [your name, call sign and
QTH]

You may tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on
Sunday mornings at 08 hours15 Local Time in Afrikaans and at 08 hours
30 Local Time in English on HF and on many VHF and UHF repeaters around
our country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay.

This audio bulletin may be downloaded from the League website at
www.sarl.org.za, where you will also find a text version of the
bulletin. While you are there, you may sign up to receive future
bulletins by e-mail.

We start this morning's bulletin with news of a silent key : It is with
deep regret that we learn of the passing of Bertha Kapetijn, the wife
of Hans ZS6KR, after a long illness and in particular the last few
weeks of extreme suffering on 1 January 2016. Our sympathy goes out to
Hans, their children Dennis and Sonja as well as their grandchildren.
May she rest in peace. PAUSE IN THE NEWS TODAY NOMINATIONS FOR THE SARL
COUNCIL AS WELL AS MOTIONS FOR THE AGM INVITED

INTERESTING TIPS FOR FORTHCOMING PEARS VHF CONTEST

V51PJ WILL SOON RADIATE VIA HIGH GAIN VHF & UHF ANTENNA ARRAYS

RAE NEWS

** This is a call for nomination for council. The following councilors
retire after a two year period on the SARL Council. They a Fritz
Sutherland ZS6SF Geoff Levey ZS6C Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV Riaan
Greeff ZS4PR

They have indicated that they are available for nomination for a
further two year period.

Rules for nomination: The requirements are a nomination form, signed by
10 seconders who are all members of the SARL or either by a club of
which has at least 10 members are also members of the SARL. Please
refer to the Constitution - which is available on www.sarl.org.za - for
more information.

This is also a call for motions to be discussed at the AGM. Motions
should be clear and concise and include a motivation and require a
proposer and a seconder.

The closing date for nomination and submission of motions is on 31
January 2016 and should be addressed to the secretary at
or by fax to 0865528487.

** The PEARS National VHF & UHF Contest will take place within two
weeks. Here are a few pointers that will make the contest even more
interesting.

When working on CW adjust your frequency 1 KHz higher in order for SSB
stations to hear you as well.

During periods of high activity on the calling frequencies some
stations move 5 - 15 kHz away from the call frequency, as done during
HF DX contests. Do tune around at times.

The FM category on 144,400 MHz and 145,500 MHz caters for newcomers to
give them a taste of VHF contesting. Here they can score 10 points for
every station worked in their own division or 20 points from other
divisions.

Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, and Ken Victor, ZS2OC, has sponsored prizes
for the FM winners in Div 2 and 6 respectively. Sponsors from the other
divisions are also invited.

** The new high gain antenna arrays from Pine ZS6OB have arrived in
Rosh Pinah, Namibia. Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, confirmed that the antennas
are on site, and assembly has started. One mast will soon carry 2x13 el
2m Yagis, 2x18 el 70 cm Yagis, and a 9 el 6m Yagi. A seperate mast with
4m is also planned for the PEARS VHF contest. Once all masts are up
Pieter will add the elevation units for EME on 6m and 2m.

** Pieter V51PJ also sent an update on Bruce ZD7VC on St. Helena. There
is an EME DX-pedition planned for St. Helena Island. There might be a
possibility of this group leaving their antennas behind. He is working
via ZS4TX who knows the guys personally.

The D4 team is also designing a bi-directional Yagi with 6-9 dB gain in
both directions. Field tests to follow shortly.

** Registrations for the May 2016 RAE opened on 2 January 2016. Before
registering please read the RAE Registration information sheet. This
will save you a lot of time and frustration.

Cost are R 475-00 for persons over 25 years of age and R 375-00 for
those younger than 25

Inquiries may be directed to .

HF Propagation report

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to
be at low levels. Big Sunspot AR2473 is decaying but can be the source
of further M-class solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected
effective sunspot number for the week will be around 40.

The 20 to 15 m bands will provide lots DX fun, with some 10 m openings
also possible.

Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further
information.

Diary of events 3 January - Today, Kids Day activity 6 January - the
NARC opens for business 9 and 10 January - Hunting Lions in the Air 10
January - the SARL Youth Net on 7 070 at 15:00 UTC 15 to 17 January -
the PEARS National VHF and UHF Contest 23 January - Summer QRP Contest
31 January - The closing date for nomination for Council and the
submission of motions for the AGM

That brings us to the end of this bulletin.

** Clubs and individuals are invited to submit news items of interest
to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners, if possible, in both English
and Afrikaans, by following the news inbox link on the South African
Radio League web page. News items for inclusion in the bulletin should
reach the news team no later than the Thursday preceding the bulletin
date.

You are welcome to join us every Sunday morning for the weekly amateur
radio magazine programme 'Amateur Radio Today' at 10 hoursLocal time.
The programme can 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 available from Dick Stratford, ZS6RO. A rebroadcast may
be heard on Monday evenings at 18 hours 30 local Time on 4 685 kHz AM.

Please send us your signal reports, comments and suggestions by e-mail
to . Sentech sponsors the radio transmissions on the
non-amateur frequencies.

You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dawie Conradie,
ZR6DHC, edited by Brian Utterson, ZS6AE, and read by ..............

Best wishes from the news team for the week ahead, good bye.

/EX

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