SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 21 FEBRUARY 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 08:15 Local Time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 Local
Time in English, on HF as well as 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 find this as well as previous bulletins
in text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the web
page. While you are there, you may sign up to receive future bulletins
by e-mail.

IN THE NEWS TODAY

ICASA INCREASES RADIO LICENCE FEES

HAMNET SOUTH GAUTENG INVOLVED WITH TWO MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS

OLD CALLBOOKS REVIVED

SARL HALL OF FAME LAUNCHED

and

THE FIRST SARL DIGITAL CONTEST KICKS OFF NEXT SUNDAY

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items

** The Amateur Radio licence fee will increase from 1 April to R126 per
annum. To safeguard against future increases radio amateurs may take
out a 5 year licence at R525. ICASA advised the SARL that they will
start their billing process next week which means that licencees should
receive their bill in the next few weeks.

When making payment please ensure that you include your licence number
which can be found on your current licence and your call sign. If you
decide to opt for a 5 year licence, please send an email with your
payment details and a request to convert to a 5 year licence to
.

Electronic Funds Transfer, EFT, is preferable. Details of the ICASA
account may be found on www.sarl.org.za

** On Sunday 14 February 2016, Hamnet Gauteng South, Kempton Park
Amateur Radio Technical Society and East Rand Branch, under leadership
of Leon ZS6LMG and Glynn ZS6GLN, assisted with the Dischem Ride for
Sight Cycle Race which took place around Boksburg, Alberton, Midvaal
and Heidelberg.

The 116km long race and 62km short race employed 5 Water points and 18
sweeping operators, distributed evenly along the routes. Roughly 37
Radio Amateurs were involved in the event in various support positions.

With APRS, key vehicles were tracked in near real time at the Joint
Operations Centre. Radio operators provided swift assistance with a
couple of major incidents.

Race organizers decided to halt the race around midday due to high
temperatures. Hamnet Gauteng South will once again be involved with the
Carnival City "Mac Steel" National Classic Cycle Race today the 21st of
February.

** Gary Immelman ZS6YI is busy collecting all the old call sign books
ever published by the SARL, digitizing them and placing them on Dropbox
with a link on the SARL page for all to download and to enjoy. The link
may be found under the general forums on the SARL webpage.

If you happen to have a call sign book, not currently listed,please
allow Gary to copy it. He is trying to compile the complete list of all
call sign books issued by the SARL and to make digital copies available
to all interested people. Contact him on

** The first inductees into the SARL Amateur Radio Hall of Fame will be
announced at the SARL Awards Dinner in April.

The Hall of Fame recognises South African licensed radio amateurs who
have made lasting contributions to the development of amateur radio. It
aims to preserve the history of radio in South Africa.

Nominations to the Hall of Fame must be submitted in the form of an
essay outlining the person's contribution. The inclusion of photographs
is strongly encouraged. The essay should contain between 200 and 500
words.

Sustained activity over a period of at least five years is required.
The outcome must benefit amateur radio as a whole and must last for
decades. Personal operating achievements are not grounds for inclusion
into the Hall of Fame.

Nominations that comply with the requirements outlined above will be
included with the minutes of the SARL Annual General Meeting and
archived on the Hall of Fame home page on the SARL Web site.

Nominations are due before the end of February. Nominations already
received, rules and a template can be found on the SARL Web site. There
is a link under "Activities" on the front page.

Eleven nominations have been received, but there are many deserving
candidates that have not been nominated. Please spread the word. Here
is our chance to recognise those that shaped our hobby!

** Mike Bosch has brought new SARL VHF records established during the
past year to our attention.

40 MHz, 8m, Digital:

Ian Roberts, ZS6BTE, and Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, covered 288 km
using FSK441 via Tropo Scatter on 16 August 2015.

Andre Botes, ZS2ACP, and Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, covered 1184 km
using FSK441 via Meteor Scatter on 6 September 2015.

50 MHz, 6m, Digital:

Ettienne Vosloo, ZS1AX, and Jan "Pine" Pienaar, ZS6OB, covered 1290 km
using FSK44l on 17 January 2015 via Aircraft Scatter that was probably
enhanced by high altitude Tropo Ducting.

144 MHz, 2m, Analogue:

Andre van Deventer, ZS2BK, and Phillippe Mondon, FR5DN, covered 3245 km
using SSB via Tropo Ducting on 7 October 2015.

Please note that the SARL Record Table for 2015 is now being prepared
in a new format, and will soon be posted on the SARL website.

** Applications for membership of the SARL have been received from the
following person:

ZS1AAC: Johan M Becker

The following club has submitted an application for affiliation.

Hammies Amateur Radio Club: ZS2ZU: Port Elizabeth

Any objections to the acceptance of these applications must reach the
Secretary before or on the Tuesday after the bulletin.

Membership of the SARL currently stands at 1631 plus 46 affiliated
clubs

** You can join the SARL for the remaining period of the financial year
for only R240 as a full member. If you are a pensioner and over 65
years of age the rate is R140. If you join now you will be a member
till 30 June 2016 when the SARL will invoice you for the next year's
membership. Full details are on www.sarl.org.za and select membership
in the left-hand column. For more information call Vonnie at the NARC
at 011 675 2393. Join the SARL today, it is the right thing to do if
amateur radio is important to you.

** Frequency Counter kit again available - The SARL frequency counter
kit is now available by mail order or collection from the National
Amateur Radio centre. There are two mail order options, via Postnet or
post office small parcel service with tracking number. The frequency
counter features a maximum working frequency above 40 MHz, a 10 Hz
resolution, low power consumption, and is easy to build. Hurry up and
get this ideal weekend project now before stocks run out.

For those who want to use the basic unit above the normal HF
frequencies, space for a pre-scalar IC circuit is on the PCB layout and
in the schematic layout. This IC is not included in the basic kit but
can be ordered at an additional cost. This kit is ideal to meet the
requirements of the amateur radio regulations which require that every
amateur has a reliable method of measuring the transmit frequency.

Benefit from a "Special Easter" discount for SARL members - order
before 23 March and get an additional discount of 10%. The order form
is available on the SARL web site.

** The first Digital Contest for 2016 will take place from 13:00 UTC to
16:00 UTC on Sunday 28 February 2016 with PSK and RTTY on 80 metres, 3
580 to 3 600 kHz; 40 metres, 7 040 to 7 060 kHz and 20 metres 14 070 to
14 099 kHz. A station may be contacted twice on each band once on RTTY,
once on PSK31.

The exchange is a RST report and a sequential serial number starting at
001. Contacts with stations in Southern Africa are worth 3 points and
contacts with stations outside Southern Africa are worth 1 point. Logs,
in ADIF, Cabrillo or MS Excel format and labelled "your call sign
Digital Contest," must be submitted by 6 March 2016, by e-mail to


** Logs for the National Field Day must be submitted by midnight this
evening to .

** The Westrand Amateur radio club is hosting its next flea market at
12:00 on Saturday 27 February 2016 at their clubhouse in Kroton street,
Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort. Everybody is welcome. For more information
contact Johan ZS6JVV 082 558 5811.

** The SARL news team is constantly on the lookout for new talent to
join our team. You may assist with the actual compilation or
translation, proofreading or recording of the weekly SARL bulletins.

Interested parties may contact Dawie, ZR6DHC, on email


PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to
be at low levels. All the currently visible sunspots are stable with a
very low probability for serious solar flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected
effective sunspot number for the week will be around 39.

The 20 to 10 m bands will provide lots of DX fun.

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

Now for the diary of events:

21 February - Zululand ARC 21st Birthday luncheon 24 February - closing
date for articles for the March 2016 Radio ZS 27 February - the West
Rand ARC Flea Market 28 February - The SARL Digital Contest 29 February
- the Leap Year Challenge 1 March - closing date for AWA CW logs

We end this bulletin with a summary of the main news item:

ICASA Has anounced an increase in the annual licence fee. Amateur radio
licence fees of R 126,00 will be due on 1 April 2016. You may avoid the
impact of these increases by converting your licence to a 5 year period
which provides some protection from annual licence fee increases. More
information available in the printed version of this news bulletin

And 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 10:00 Central African
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 can be heard on Monday evenings at 18:30 Central African
Time on 3 230 kHz AM.

We welcome your signal reports, comments and suggestions; please send
these 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 Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by ..............

From the news team, best wishes for the week ahead.

73 and thank you for listening.

/EX

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