SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

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 the bulletin this morning with news of a silent key.

It is with regret that we pass on the news that the key of Peter Lunow,
ZR2PEL, went silent on Monday. Peter had just celebrated his 79th
birthday earlier this month. The funeral is set for Monday 27 February.

PEARS would like to offer Peter's family and friends our sincere
condolences and assurances that Peter will be missed.

PAUSE

In the news today:

SARL AMATEUR RADIO HALL OF FAME

SARL HAMNET 40 M CONTEST

RESULTS OF THE PEARS NATIONAL VHF AND UHF CONTEST 2017

HF PROPAGATION REPORT

and

UPCOMING EVENTS

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

** The South African Radio League Digital Contest is on the air this
afternoon from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC with activity on 80, 40 and 20
metres. The aim of the contest is to establish as many contacts as
possible between radio amateurs in Southern Africa using PSK31 and RTTY
modes. PSK31 is preferred at the lower end of the specified frequencies
and RTTY at the upper end. Please note that USB must be used at all
times. The exchange is a RST report and a sequential serial number
starting at 001. See the 2017 Blue Book for all the information.

** The SARL Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honours individuals who have
made lasting contributions to Amateur Radio in Southern Africa and aims
to preserve its history. SARL members elected nine inaugural members
last year. It was decided to allow another batch of up to ten members
this year after which a maximum of two members will be inducted
annually.

Nominations for this year close at the end of this month. The Hall of
Fame page is accessible from the SARL Home Page. More than a dozen
nominations have been received and ten of them have been posted on the
Web.

Several stalwarts of Amateur Radio did not make it in the initial
round, in some cases because they had not been nominated. Let us ensure
that all the Deserving get included, so that their contributions can be
preserved for posterity.

With less than a week to the deadline, there is no time to waste. A
nomination template is available on the SARL Web site. The nominations
already listed can be used as an example of what is required.

** The South African Radio League Hamnet 40 m Simulated Emergency
Contest is on the air next Sunday afternoon. This SSB Contest is open
to all Radio Amateurs in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe,
Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, Marion Island and South African
Antarctica. Only contacts with these areas will count. The Contest runs
from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC on Sunday 5 March 2017 and it is a phone
contest in the band segments 7 063 to 7 100 kHz and 7 130 to 7 200 kHz.
You can participate as a Single operator stationary mobile; a Single
operator portable; a Multi-operator portable or a Single operator base
station. Get the complete rules in the 2017 Blue Book.

** The Contest Committee received twenty-six logs and one check log for
the first leg of the National Field Day. The results will be published
in HF Happenings 743 in the coming week and in SARL News next Sunday.

** The March 2017 issue of Radio ZS will be available for download from
Tuesday 28 February. In this issue, you can find out how to build the
K3NG keyer and a double bazooka antenna. The East Rand Branch and the
Sasolburg ARC share their Field Day weekend with readers. We have a
look at keeping new radio amateurs in the hobby and Mike, ZS2FM, tells
us more about why bridging the Atlantic is still the greatest challenge
on 144 MHz.

** Poor Tropo conditions limited the analogue range to 390 km, as well
as the number of contacts made in the PEARS national contest. ZS3JPY at
Kleinzee and ZS5LEE in Durban stated that they only worked one station
each, ZS3CVB in Port Nolloth and ZS4A at Bethlehem, respectively.
Nevertheless at least 25 logs were received countrywide covering all
six categories of the contest. What Tropo lacked Meteor Scatter made up
for in the Digital contest where new records were established. Last
year the overall analogue winner scored 82 075 points, whereas the
current digital overall winner has now surpassed the 100 000 mark for
the first time in the history of the PEARS contest. PEARS can now claim
to be truly a National VHF/UHF Contest.

Overall Digital Winner Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ (Base) - 101 430 points 1st
Runner-up: Rickus De Lange, ZS4A (Base) - 19 250 points 2nd Runner-up:
Paul Smit, ZS6NK (Base) - 17 552 points

Overall Analogue Winner Cape Radio Group ZS1CRG (Club) - 24 956 points.
(Operated by ZS1DUP, ZS1HE, ZS1ABU, ZS1DWH) 1st Runner-up: Christo
Greyling, ZR6AUI (Field) - 19 680 points 2nd Runner-up: Rickus De
Lange, ZS4A (Base) - 3 261 points

Longest Distance on Digital 50 MHz: Pieter Jacobs V31PJ and Paul Smit
ZS6NK - 1347 km 70 MHz: Pieter Jacobs V51PJ and Paul Smit ZS6NK - 1347
km 144 MHz: Pieter Jacobs V51PJ and Rickus De Lange ZS4A - 1 138 km

Winner Limited Category (Digital): Andre Botes ZS2ACP (Base) - 43 832
points

Rover Category: Winner: Alex Gogos ZR2T (Rover) - 4142 points 1st
Runner-up: Andrew Gray ZS2G (Rover) - 915 points.

Winners of the Divisional FM Category: Division 6: Max Bouckley ZS6MAX
(Base) - 490 points 1st runner-up: Kevin Suckling ZS6KGS (Base) - 280
points Division 2: Dakota Watson ZU2DW (Field) - 180 points 1st
Runner-up: Hugo Ras ZS2HR (Field) - 120 points

Divisional Analogue Winners: Division 1: Cape Radio Group ZS1CRG
(Field) - 24 956 km Division 2: Al Akers ZS2U (Base) - 1 574 points
Mike Higgs ZU2MOO (Field) - 1710 points Division 4: Rickus De Lange
ZS4A (Base) - 3 261 points Division 6: Christo Greyling ZR6AUI (Field)
- 19 680 points

** Now for some beacon news. Listeners are reminded of the Beacon
Workshop to be held at National Amateur Radio Centre on Saturday 11
March 2017 starting at 08:30. There is a small entrance fee of R20 to
cover expenses. Enrolments can be sent to Leon Uys, ZR6LU, via SMS or
WhatsApp on 082 573 5580. If you are unable to attend but would still
like a copy of the papers please contact the organisers who will gladly
send you a copy.

This is also a further call for anybody who is running a beacon
anywhere in South Africa to contact Leon Uys, ZR6LU, with information
about your beacon. He is currently busy compiling a list of beacons and
will publish the first results in March after which the information
will be kept up to date.

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected
to be at low to moderate levels. None of the active regions visible on
the Sun poses any threat for strong flares. If you want to do your own
frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the
week will be around 12. The 15 to 30 m bands will provide lots of DX
fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further
information.

** Let's look at some upcoming events:

Today - the SARL Digital Contest 4 March - CTARC Bumper Flea Market 5
March - SARL Hamnet 40 m Contest 11 March - Beacon Workshop at NARC 11
- 12 March - SARL VHF / UHF Contest 11 - 12 March - RSGB Commonwealth
Contest 25 - 26 March - CQ WPX SSB Contest

** To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item: The
SARL Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honours individuals who have made
lasting contributions to Amateur Radio in Southern Africa and aims to
preserve its history. Nominations for this year close at the end of
this month.

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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS, and read by ..............

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

/EX

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