SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 3 JUNE 2018

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

The South African Radio League broadcasts a news bulletin each Sunday
in Afrikaans as well as English, at 08:15 and 08:30 Central African
Time respectively, on HF as well as on various VHF and UHF repeaters
around the country. The bulletin is relayed via Echolink by ZS6JPL. A
podcast is available on the League website.

Audio and text bulletins may be downloaded from the League website at
www.sarl.org.za where you can also sign up to receive future bulletins
by e-mail.

We start the bulletin this morning with news of two silent keys.

It is with deep regret that we must announce that the key of Reg
Barnes, ZS6AHB went silent on 21 May 2018. Reg from Hurbarn Electronics
was an agent for Heathkit and Bird Electronic Equipment. He leaves a
daughter Lynn. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the family and friends
at this sad time.

It is with deep regret that we must announce that the key of Andre De
Jong, ZS5AKQ from Kwambonambi, went silent on 30 May 2018. Condolences
to his family and friends from the Zululand Amateur Radio Club

PAUSE

In the news, today:

CURRENT REGULATIONS REMAIN IN FORCE

IARU REGION 1 VHF MANAGER WARNS OF THE DANGER OF VHF/UHF/MICROWAVE
SPECTRUM GRABS

and

HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON LAUNCH ON 9 JUNE

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

CURRENT REGULATIONS REMAIN IN FORCE

The publication of the National Radio Frequency band plan has created
some confusion and a lot of speculation. Here are the facts:

The current regulations remain in force. The frequencies and conditions
as published in addendum I of the 2015 Radio Frequency Spectrum
Regulations remain in force. View a list of amateur radio frequencies
at www.amateurradio.org.za/Annexure%20I.pdf

ICASA has started a process to amend the regulations and bring them in
line with the National Frequency Band Plan. A draft will be published
in the Government Gazette in due course for comment. Although ICASA
Councillor, Peter Zimri, told the SARL that ICASA is fast tracking the
new regulations, it will likely be some months before the draft is
gazetted for comment. The SARL will monitor the situation.

As far as 5 MHz is concerned, the allocation is not in the current
addendum I. However, ICASA agreed that all licensed radio amateurs ZR,
ZS and ZU may use the frequencies provided they operate with the
maximum power of 15 Watts eirp. The SARL has made representation to
ICASA to consider a limit of 20 dBW or 100 watts. This process will
mostly likely only be considered after the draft regulations are
published for comment.

There is currently no band plan. Before a band plan for South Africa is
considered research should be undertaken what other countries that have
100 kHz of the 5 MHz have agreed on. In some countries, additional spot
frequencies outside the WRC allocation have been allocated to the
amateur service. These should also be considered as they could present
some DX opportunities.

If you have views on a band plan, please send them to
so that an informed recommendation can be made to
Council and ultimately voted on electronically. A list of the 60 Metre
Allocations World-wide can be found on the front page of the League web
site where this article is posted or from the League Secretary.

IARU REGION 1 VHF MANAGER WARNS OF THE DANGER OF VHF/UHF/MICROWAVE
SPECTRUM GRABS

The chairman of the International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU
Region 1) VHF/UHF and Microwave Committee, Jacques Verleijen, ON4AVJ,
has highlighted extant threats to the Amateur Radio spectrum above 30
MHz. In an editorial that heads the latest edition of the IARU Region 1
VHF-UHF-µW Newsletter, issued on 29 May, Verleijen invited all IARU
Member Societies to consider ways to "promote, defend, and use our
frequencies." The VHF Newsletter can be downloaded from the League web
site, click on News on the left-hand side and then SARL Newsletter.

"They are wanted by others, both government and commercial users,"
ON4AVJ wrote. "So, this is a wake-up call to be aware that if we are
not using those bands, we will lose them." If that happens, he
continued, it would not be the fault of IARU Region 1, but of the
amateur community that "often has more commitment to HF" than to VHF
and higher bands. Conceding that the HF bands "are the easiest to use,"
ON4AVJ said Member Societies should think outside the box to come up
with ideas to improve VHF, UHF, and microwave activity.

ON4AVJ said the vast amount of Amateur Radio spectrum from 50 MHz
through to 5 GHz makes it an attractive target for commercial and
governmental interests. He noted that 50 MHz is the focus of a key
World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) agenda item,
specifically, to harmonize the 6-metre allocation across all three ITU
Regions. "It would be unfortunate to see a repeat of the WRC-15 result
for 5 MHz, where high hopes and years of hard work actually resulted in
a few kilohertz at 15 W EIRP maximum," ON4AVJ continued. A repeat of
that situation on 6 metres could mean a "far more devastating" loss of
existing spectrum and future opportunities for digital innovation.

The 2,3 GHz and 3,4 GHz bands are highly sought after for commercial
wireless, ON4AVJ said, pointing out that the UK recently auctioned
large segments of 2,3 and 3,4 GHz spectrum once available to Amateur
Radio, "threatening significant activities from
narrowband/Earth-Moon-Earth to digital amateur TV (DATV)."

Two WRC-19 agenda items affect 5 GHz, focusing on Wi-Fi and so-called
"intelligent transport." Amateur Radio, as a secondary service, faces
another difficult challenge in this part of the spectrum and has
"little influence over its direction," ON4AVJ contended. In IARU Region
1, the primary concern is the expansion of Wi-Fi into 5,725 - 5,850
MHz. "Our preoccupation with traditional or narrowband modes does not
justify the amount of spectrum," he said, noting that "some activity
levels are quite low" outside of contests. "Ideally, we need genuine
open innovation and to show amateurs leading in the 21st century,"
ON4AVJ said. "Pressures on amateur bands are nothing new, but we know
that the spectrum pressures above are not helped by poor engagement,
relationships, or lack of a united approach" in some member-societies,
with respect to their administrations.

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

HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON LAUNCH ON 9 JUNE

Tom, ZSL5341 reports that Binaryspace is doing another High-Altitude
Balloon Launch from about 07:00 CAT on 9 June from the Leeukop Farm
Airfield in Deneysville in the Free State. Everybody is invited to join
us for the day to launch and chase the balloon. We are estimating a
3-hour mission from launch to recovery. The Sasolburg Amateur Radio
Club (ZS4SRK) will join us with the tracking and recovery of the
payload. Flexible Use of Airspace has been approved and depending on
weather or technical difficulties, the launch and/or the payload
contents can change at any time.

We have some new equipment to test on Mission - Binary 03. A SSTV
Camera Transmitter (400 - 500 mW) will take a photo and transmit it
every 5 minutes. The call sign is ZR6MUG and will transmit on 144.500
FM, Martin 1 Mode and you will need MMSSTV to decode. A Telemetry
Transmitter (400 - 500 mW) will transmit telemetry data every 30
seconds under the call sign ZR6TG on 144.600 FM and you can use FLdigi
to decode. And an APRS Transmitter (300 mW) will transmit position and
altitude every minute on 144.800 MHz under the call ZR6TG-11. We will
also have a Go-pro camera and a Science Lab (Raspberry pi based with
lots of sensors) in the payload. The payload is estimated to be around
900 g and we are using a 1 000 g white balloon.

There are several prizes and awards available. The first person to
recover the payload will get a prize and footage of the payload coming
down will receive a prize. Special awards will be given to everyone who
captures the SSTV images and RTTY telemetry. Please e-mail the decoded
information, time of transmission (bonus if you can provide a recorded
sound clip), your location and the equipment used to .

UPDATE YOUR AMATEUR RADIO LIBRARY AND SUPPORT YOTA 2018

By purchasing a book from the SA Amateur Radio Development Trust online
bookstore, you will support YOTA 2018 when 80 young radio amateurs from
34 countries converge on South Africa in August this year. The Trust is
working on raising enough funds to supply every participant in YOTA
2018 with an SDR dongle to be used for some of the projects they will
carry out during their week in South Africa. By ordering a book in the
next two weeks you can take off 10% of the published SARL member price
of the book. Visit www.amateurradio.org.za for a complete list of
available books and an order form.

ZS3 SPRINT RESULTS

The ZS3 Sprint was well supported on 20 May 2018. We received 27 logs
of which 3 were used as control logs. The Northern Cape Amateur Radio
Club thanks everybody who participated and submitted their logs. The
results are as follows for the hour on the air:

1st Woody Collet, ZS3WL 114 points. 2nd Volker Otto, ZS3Y 93 points.
3rd Michelle van der Merwe, ZS3TO 61 points.

RESULTS OF THE AWA VALVE QSO PARTY

The May 2018 Valve QSO Party certainly drew a lot of participants, even
with the so called "poor" band conditions. On Saturday 5 May there were
20 stations on the AM session, which was a really great turn out and on
Sunday 6 May there were 58 stations on SSB and all the divisions were
represented. Five 5 logs were received for the AM section and seven
logs for the SSB section.

AM 1st Thanie Gibson, ZS4AZ 40 points 2nd Helge Braithwaite, ZS6HB 38
points 3rd Johan van Zijl, ZS4DZ and Barrie Nugent, ZS2NF 6 points each

SSB 1st Thanie Gibson, ZS4AZ 120 points 2nd Frank Martins, ZS1MF 46
points 3rd Barrie Nugent, ZS2NF 28 points

Congratulations to all for an outstanding effort.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to
be at low levels. Currently there is a single sunspot visible that can
be the source of M-class solar flares. If you want to do your own
frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the
week will be around one. The 15 to 30 m bands may provide lots of DX
fun. Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further
information.

Finally, a Diary of some upcoming events:

10 June - Hammies Sprint 16 June - Youth Day and East Rand Flea Market
17 June - Father's Day, World QRP Day and Closing date for Hammies Logs
21 - 25 June - SARL Top Band QSO Party

To conclude our bulletin a quick overview of our main news item:

The current regulations remain in force. The frequencies and conditions
as published in addendum I of the 2015 Radio Frequency Spectrum
Regulations remain in force. View a list of amateur radio frequencies
at www.amateurradio.org.za/Annexure%20I.pdf

If you have views on a 5 MHz band plan, please send them to
so that an informed recommendation can be made to
Council and ultimately voted on electronically. A list of the 60 Metre
Allocations World-wide can be found on the front page of the League web
site where this article is posted or from the League Secretary.

This concludes our bulletin for this morning.

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 program, 'Amateur Radio Today' at 10:00 Central African Time. The
program 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 Emile Venter, ZS6V,
edited by Dennis Green, ZS4BS and read by ........................

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

Sorry if you got the SARL Communication twice.

/EX

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