SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 2 OCTOBER 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.

We start this bulletin with news of a silent key.

It is with deep regret that we must announce that the key of Vince
Iorio, ZS6RU, went silent on Friday 30 September 2016 after battling
for many years with cancer.

We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Gabriela, ZS6S, family
and friends.

PAUSE

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

SARL 80M QSO PARTY

RADIO ZS OCTOBER ISSUE

JAMBOREE ON THE AIR AND CQ HOU KOERS

SECUNDA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB TO LAUNCH BACAR ON 15 OCTOBER

** The aim of the South African Radio League 80 m QSO Party contest is
to create an interest in and activity in the 80 m band. It is a phone
only contest that runs from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC on Thursday 6 October
2016. Only frequencies in the segment 3 603 to 3 650 and 3 700 to 3 800
kHz may be used.

The exchange is your call sign, a RS signal report and operator's name.
You can participate as a single operator or a Short Wave Listener
(SWL). You earn 10 points for every contact with a South African
station and 15 points for every contact with a station outside South
Africa. Log sheets in MS Excel format only must be submitted by 13
October 2016 by e-mail to

** The October 2016 issue of Radio ZS is available for download from
the Members Only section of the League web site. In this issue you can
read more on the questions "What is wrong with the
Off-Centre-Fed-Dipole? and Why the 16,2 m wire antenna? The Sandringham
Scouts tell us about their Field Day weekend and Leon, ZR6LU, helps you
to build a useful HF Dummy Load. Mike, ZS2FM, keeps us up to date on
the VHF, UHF, SHF and EHF News, while Eddie, ZS6BNE, says RaDAR is the
Prodigal Son. The last part of Wireless in the Trenches appears in this
issue and much more.

The closing date for your article for the November issue is Tuesday 25
October and you can send it to

** Professor Stephen Hawking, a renowned British astrophysicist, says
as he grows older he is more convinced than ever that we are not alone
in the Universe. He has advised us earthlings to be extremely wary
about answering any signals from aliens when they eventually come
calling. He was referring to the recently discovered exoplanet, Gliese
832c located only 16 light years from Earth, and said that one day we
might receive a signal from a planet like this, but we should be wary
of answering back. Professor Hawking believes there could very well be
life on Gliese, but imagines a meeting between the two alien
civilizations as something that would resemble Christopher Columbus
meeting Native Americans that didn't turn out so well.

Astronomers at the University of New South Wales have named this
exoplanet Gliese, which is larger than Earth and orbits a red dwarf
star in under 36 days. It receives the same average energy as does the
Earth from the Sun and falls in the habitable zone. This exoplanet is
just the right distance from its sun that could allow liquid water to
exist on the world's surface. It is just a stone throw from Earth in
the cosmic scheme of things, which makes Gliese one of the top three
most Earth-like exoplanets ever discovered and the closest to Earth of
all three.

** The aim of the AWA Valve QSO party is to create activity on the 40
and 80 metre bands. It is a phone only contest using AM and SSB.
Preferably, valve radios, or radios with valves in them may be used. No
linear amplifiers may be used.

The AM QSO Party takes place from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC on Saturday 8
October 2016 and the SSB QSO Party runs from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC on
Sunday 9 October 2016. Activity takes place between 7 063 to 7 100 kHz
and 3 603 to 3 650 kHz. The output power may not exceed 100 w, unless
the rig itself has a higher output power (FTDX400, etc.).

The exchange is your call sign, a RS report, a consecutive serial
numbers starting at 001 and the type of radio used, e.g. HT37 TX. You
score - All valve radio: 3 points per contact, Hybrid radio: 2 points
per contact or Solid State Radio: 1 point per contact. Certificates
will be awarded to the first three places in each category - AM and
SSB. The log sheets must be submitted by 23 October 2016 to
.

** One of the privileges of holding an amateur license is to be able to
experiment and to try new things. Now the question may arise whether
the hobby attracts experimenters, or whether experimenters are
attracted to the hobby. Whichever way it goes, amateur radio operators
seem to be willing to experiment with a variety of things.

As these things go, there is never enough money or enough time and the
inventors must often create innovative solutions to complete their
projects. The "Innovate / I-no-wait" corner of Radio ZS will share some
of these bright ideas with other innovators. What we are looking for is
the innovative application of an unusual or utterly different approach
to solve a problem quickly around the shack or hobby, not necessarily
the radios.

Listeners are invited to send their own innovative ideas for
"I-no-Wait" to Leon, ZR6LU, at or WhatsApp to 082 573
5580 for consideration to be included in the next issue of Radio ZS.
You do not have to write a whole story or take many pictures; just send
Leon what you have.

** The dates for both JOTA and CQ HouKoers are incorrect.

JOTA is from the 14 to 16 October, and CQ You Koers is on 15 October.

** The Secunda Amateur Radio Club will launch BACAR 4 on Saturday 15
October 2016. This is a Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio equipment. The
launch will take place from Trichardt Model Flyers airfield outside
Secunda, Mpumalanga. The event will commence at 05:00.

This is the fourth year Secunda Amateur radio club will be presenting
the BACAR programme to interested schools in the Govan Mbeki Municipal
area. The programme entails the launch of a high altitude balloon
carrying small satellites built by learner teams from the participating
schools and an amateur radio parrot repeater. The programme is designed
to stimulate interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics).

Tune in to Amateur Radio Today at 10 am this morning for an interview
with Christo Kriek and Willie Taljaard.

Get frequencies and other transmission times on the ARTODAY page on
www.sarl.org.za

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected
to remain at low levels. No major solar flaring is expected.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected
effective sunspot number for the week will be around 10.

The 15 to 20 m bands will provide lots of DX fun. There is a chance of
10 m openings on north-south sunlit paths.

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

** Let's look at some upcoming events:

6 October - SARL 80m QSO Party 8 - 9 October - AWA Valve QSO Party 9
October - SARL Youth Net 13 October - RAE Examination 14 - 16 October -
Jamboree On The Air 15 October - CQ HouKoers 29 - 30 October - CQ WW DX
SSB Contest 5 November - RaDAR Challenge

** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item: The
aim of the South African Radio League 80 m QSO Party contest is to
create an interest in and activity on the 80 m band. It is a phone only
contest that runs from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC on Thursday 6 October 2016.

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 pod cast 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 Emile Venter, ZS6V,
edited by Brian,ZS6AE, and read by ..............

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

/EX

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