SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 24 APRIL 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 can tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin 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 League's web site.

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

It is with deep regret that we must announce the passing of three radio
amateurs this morning

The key of Neels du Plessis, ZS2ND went silent on 15 April 2016 having
just celebrated his 66th birthday on 10 April. Neels lived in Gamtoos
and was a keen fisherman and bird-watcher. He is survived by his wife,
Susan.

The key of Mike van Niekerk, ZS6BPO, also went silent on 15 April 2016.
He was a founder member of the Wolkberg Branch in Pietersburg and was
awarded the Jack Twine Merit award. We think of his wife and children.

The key of Johan "Mossie" Mostert, ZS4XJ, has also gone silent. Mossie
was a well-known CW operator and contributed a regular column to Radio
ZS. Unfortunately, we could not determine the date of his passing.

We extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of these
radio amateurs

PAUSE

In the news today,

ZS4 SPRINT THIS AFTERNOON

SARL AGM ON SATURDAY 21 MAY

and

VHF DX IS WAITING FOR US

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items.

** The ZS4 Sprint is on the air this afternoon from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC.
This phone and CW contest is a fun activity to promote contacts between
radio amateurs in the Free State and radio amateurs in Southern African
countries. The exchange is a RS(T) report and provincial or country
abbreviation, ZS4 stations will send an RS(T) report and their town
name or abbreviation. CW operation takes place between 7 000 and 7 040
kHz, while phone activity is between 7 063 and 7 100 and 7 130 and 7
200 kHz. Contacts with ZS4 stations count 2 points and contacts with
other stations count 1 point. Contacts with ZS4BFN, ZS4B, ZS4WRC, and
ZS4SRK is worth 5 points each and only one contact per station is
allowed. Logs must be submitted by 1 May 2016 by e-mail to
. See the 2016 Blue Book for all the details.

** Notice is hereby given to all members of the South African Radio
League that the Annual General Meeting will be held at 09:00 on
Saturday 21 May 2016 at the Be My Guest Lodge in Sasolburg.
Registrations for the AGM will start at 07:30. The registration form
and Agenda, together with all supporting documentation, is published in
the member's only section of the League website at www.sarl.org.za.

In terms of the constitution, any member who is not able to personally
attend an AGM, is entitled to appoint any member of the League,
entitled to vote, to attend the AGM and vote on his/her behalf. Any
vote so cast shall be binding as if cast by the member. The provisions
of Rule 1.8 shall apply to any person appointed as a proxy holder. A
proxy form is included with all the supporting documentation on the
website referred to above.

Should you have any other enquiries, please contact the Secretary of
the SARL at .

** The International Amateur Radio Union has announced that Hans
Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, has been appointed to serve as IARU Satellite
Adviser. He takes over from Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, who has
served as Satellite Advisor since 1994 and to whom the IARU is grateful
for his excellent work. Hans, PB2T, has also been nominated as the CEPT
coordinator for WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.1, which will consider a formal 50
MHz amateur allocation in Region 1.

** Radio Amateur Examination news. The Examination numbers have now
been generated and have now been published on the League website. All
students have been notified by e-mail of their examination numbers and
the Chief Invigilators have received a list of the students that will
be writing the RAE at their examination centres.

Best wishes to all students with their preparation for the Radio
Amateur Examination. If any student has not received an examination
number, they need to contact the RAE manager at .

** VHF DX is waiting for us, says Mike, ZS2FM. The start of the minimum
Solar Cycle does not mean the end of DX on VHF so do not pack your
equipment away. There are a number of neighbouring countries or Islands
around our South African borders that have been worked on VHF during
minimum Solar Cycles, as well as worldwide DX via EME and Europe via
TEP. The neighbouring countries are Namibia have been regularly worked
on 50 and 144 MHz via Tropo Ducting, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Marion Island
and Namibia were logged on 50 MHz via Sporadic-E and contacts were also
established on 50 MHz Meteor Scatter with Europa Island, Comoros
Island, Mozambique, Namibia and Marion Island. The latter island has
been worked several times on 50 MHz Tropo Ducting too. Reunion Island
has provided many two-way contacts over the years on 144 MHz analogue
SSB and FM, including digital JT65 on both 144 and 432 MHz during
fantastic openings via Tropo Ducting.

On our west coast we have three islands, Tristan da Cunha, Ascension
and St Helena Island where a very keen radio amateur Bruce Salt, ZD7VC,
resides. He is at present acquiring portable equipment for 144 MHz to
work South Africa and Namibia from a high site on the island, which is
located about 3 000 km from Cape Town. Therefore, start building a high
gain horizontal Yagi for 144 MHz and with 100 Watts you should have no
problem in working ZD7VC on SSB or even FM during the frequent openings
on Tropo Ducting.

Once you have achieved this then you can start thinking BIG and upgrade
your equipment, and join Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, including Kobus vd
Merwe, ZS3JPY, and try to bridge the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil via Tropo
Ducting, where many keen VHF'ers are waiting to work ZS on 144 MHz.
This VHF project will require great skill and effort and is at present
more difficult and challenging than EME, which after many attempts
across the Atlantic has never been accomplished before. However, many
do believe that it will happen in time!

You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League.

** The Wizard-Blocks Tower BalloonSat. Willie Taljaard, ZS6WBT, be
sharing details of the development of his Wizard-Blocks BalloonSat
which is a simple package designed to carry lightweight experiments
into near space. This presentation is all about a Science project for
schools and other students on how to build a balloon satellite called
the Wizard-Blocks Tower. Enjoy science while learning about technology,
radio amateur, engineering principles and earth science. This one of
the many interesting presentations at the AMSAT SA Space Symposium to
be held at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria on 28 May 2016. Get the full
programme on www.amsatsa.org.za and book early to get a discount. SARL
and AMSAT SA members enjoy a lower registration fee.

** The George repeater is back on the air. Members of the Western Cape
Repeater Working Group, assisted by some PEARS members did a lot of
work on the Cape Repeater network down the coast between Port Elizabeth
and Cape Town and the George repeater has been brought back to life. An
article about this work will be in the May 2016 issue of Radio ZS.

** The Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society or PEARS provides
communications for a lot of sporting events and often in areas where
communications are a problem. The Herald Mountain bike race, held
earlier this year, required VHF and UHF repeaters to cover the
mountainous terrain. It was followed the next day with the Herald Road
race - also covered by PEARS. PEARS members covered the entire route of
the recent Iron Man event held in Port Elizabeth. Stations were setup
along the route in various places and operated during the different
stages of the event. The event includes a swim in the ocean, a 180 km
cycle race and a 42,2 km run. PEARS not only handled emergency
communications, but also the relaying of operational information such
as penalty information, the tracking of emergency vehicles, race
leaders and so on.

During the rest of 2016, PEARS members will be providing communications
for a number of mountain bike races as well as motor rallies in the
Eastern Cape.

** The results of the 2016 SARL 40 m Hamnet Contest held on 6 March
2016 have been released. The contest committee received eight logs and
two check logs for the Hamnet 40 metre Contest.

Single Operator Portable 1st Al Akers, ZS2U - 128 points

Multi-operator Portable 1st Dave Higgs, ZS2DH - 576 points

Single Operator Base 1st East Rand Branch, ZS6ERB - 1 224 points 2nd
Johan van Zjil, ZS4DZ - 980 points 3rd Theunis Potgieter, ZS2EC - 792
points 4th Charly du Pont, ZS5DU - 660 points 5th Bill Hodges, ZS2ABZ -
440 points 6th Pam Momberg, ZS6APT - 232 points

** The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club will be hosting three more Flea
markets during 2016. The dates of the Flea Markets are 28 May, 27
August and 5 November. Diarise these dates and make sure that you do
not miss these very pleasant occasions. The Flea markets will be held
at the usual place, at the Pretoria Old Motor Club in Keuning Street,
Silverton. The starting time is 08:00 and everyone is welcome. For any
inquiries regarding the Pretoria Amateur Radio Club's Flea Markets,
please contact Almero du Pisani, ZS6LDP, on 083 938 8955 or send an
e-mail to

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected
to be at low levels. New sunspot AR2533 has a stable magnetic field
with virtually no chance of strong solar flaring. If you want to do
your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number
for the week will be around 10.

The 20 to 15 metre bands and will provide lots DX fun with some 10
metre openings also possible. Please visit the website
spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

Now for the diary of events

This afternoon between 14:00 and 15:00 UTC, the ZS4 Sprint 25 April -
the closing date for the May Radio ZS articles 7 and 8 May - the AWA
Valve QSO Party 8 May - the SARL Youth Net 12 May - the May RAE 15 May
- the ZS3 Sprint 20 to 22 May - the SARL National Convention 21 May -
the SARL AGM in Sasolburg 28 May - the AMSAT SA Space Symposium and the
Pretoria ARC Flea Market

To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.

The ZS4 Sprint is on the air this afternoon from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC.
This phone and CW contest is a fun activity to promote contacts between
radio amateurs in the Free State and radio amateurs in Southern African
countries. Get all the details in the 2016 SARL Blue Book.

** 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; 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS,
edited by Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by ...................

73 and 88, thank you for listening

/EX

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