SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE

SARL NEWS SUNDAY 24 JUNE 2007

You are listening to Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL of the South African
Radio League, the National Body for Amateur Radio in South Africa, with
a news bulletin that is broadcast every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in
Afrikaans and at 08:30 CAT in English. This broadcast can also be heard
on Echolink by connecting to ZS6FCS. To listen to a web stream go to
www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links. This, and previous
bulletins, can be downloaded from the web site of the SARL i.e.
www.sarl.org.za. You can also read or download previous bulletins from
there and subscribe to receive future bulletins by email.

This transmission is by Hans, ZS6KR, on 145,725 and 7,066 MHz from
Pretoria with relays on 3,695, 10,135, 14,235 and 51,400 MHz as well as
438,825 MHz in the Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to
suit).

In the news today:

A YAESU VX-2R HANDHELD TRANSCEIVER TO BE WON THIS AFTERNOON

BLOEMFONTEIN RTA PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB

SA AMSAT SPACE CONFERENCE MOVED

ANNUAL ACCOUNTS NOW DUE

You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and
other important and interesting news items.

A YAESU VX-2R HANDHELD TRANSCEIVER TO BE WON THIS AFTERNOON

A YAESU VX-2R 2 m / 70 cm micro handheld transceiver is up for grabs
this afternoon when the SARL Digital Contest takes to the air from
15:00 to 18:00 CAT on 40, 6 and 2 metres. The Centre of Activity on the
three bands are 7,037 MHz, 50,225 MHz and 144,138 MHz. The exchange is
a signal report plus QSO number, starting at 001. The rules have been
sent out with HF Happenings and appear on page 8 of the SARL Contest
Manual. Get your log to the Lichtenburg ARC as soon as possible after
the end of the contest.

BLOEMFONTEIN RTA PROGRAMME NOW ON THE WEB

Bloemfontein is the next stop for the SARL Radio Technology in action
road show. The technology day will be held on Saturday 21 July at the
Advanced Training Wing at the School of Armour. The programme includes
the entire main programme as presented at the other venues plus two
additional presentations.

Bernie van der Walt, ZS4TX, will talk about his experiences at the
World Radio Sport Team Championships and share some of his secrets on
how to be a successful DXer and Contester. Phillip Venter, ZS4PV, will
take the lid off the WSJT software and discuss VHF antennas. The full
programme is available on www.sarl.org.za/rta.htm.

Diarise 21 July now, if you live in the Free State, Northern Cape or
Lesotho you do not want to miss this event.

PLT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SYSTEM WHILE INTERFERENCE TO HF IS POTENTIALLY
HIGH

Power Line Telecommunication is not an acceptable system to provide
broadband connections while the interference potential to HF
frequencies remains high. This was the message that the SARL delivered
to the Broadband Conference held at the Sandton Convention Centre
during the past week.

Proponents of 'PLT as the solution to bridging the digital divide' must
think again, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, told delegates. Bridging
the digital divide is about access to Personal Computers and computer
literacy and not about cheap broadband delivery. He said that the SARL
is not against new technologies as long as these technologies are not
at the cost of the HF spectrum, which is a scarce national resource. He
said that in fact Radio Amateurs are embracing new technologies all the
time. It is part of being an experimenter.

With so many successful and more mature technologies, such as WiMAX and
HSPDA available, it is difficult to understand why PLT is still pursued
with such vigour. Currently there is no PLT equipment type approved by
ICASA and no licenses have been issued.

SA AMSAT SPACE CONFERENCE MOVED TO 15 SEPTEMBER

Due to the delay in the launch of SumbandilaSat, SA AMSAT has decided
to move the date of this year's Space Conference to 15 September at the
National Amateur Radio Centre in Gauteng. This means that prospective
speakers have until 20 July to submit papers for consideration. More
details will be announced in the next few weeks.

SARL PRESIDENT TO REPORT BACK ON STRATEGY CONFERENCE NEXT SUNDAY

SARL President Graham Hartlett will report back on Sunday 1 July during
the President's Net on the SARL Council strategic session held
yesterday. Annually the SARL Council meets face to face to consider
strategies for the new financial year, which starts on 1 July.

The net is on the air at 19:00 and is followed at 20:00 by the Intecnet
which features an open discussion on home construction.

ANNUAL ACCOUNTS DUE NOW

The SARL Annual subscription accounts were mailed and emailed during
the past few weeks. Please give the account your urgent attention and
send in your payment as soon as possible. The fees have remained the
same as last year with an once off special 20% reduction for pensioner
members. If you pay by internet or electronic banking, please indicate
your call sign and name on the transaction or fax a copy to the SARL
Head Office. Please note the new fax number is 088 011 675 2793. Please
use all 13 digits when faxing the SARL.

CONTESTING NEWS

The provisional results of the SARL 80 Metre QSO Party held in April
have been released. The Contest Committee only received 2 logs out of a
possible 51. First place goes to Jan, ZS4JAN, with 530 points and
second place to the East Rand ARC, ZS6ERB, with 480 points.

The provisional results of the SARL Hamnet 40 Metre Contest held in
March have been released. Eleven logs and one check log was received.
The full results are, in the Single Operator Stationary Mobile
category: 1st Andy, ZS6ADY, with 1 260 points followed by Barry, ZS2EC,
with 984 points and Roger, ZR3EC, with 588 points. In the Single
Operator Portable category Al, ZS2U, took first place with 1 980 points
with Alan, ZR1AAH, on 1 386 points and Dennis, ZS4BS, on 1 188 points.
In the Single Operator Base Station category, Jan, ZS4JAN, leads the
field with 2 988 points, followed by Francois, ZS6BUU, with 1 836
points, Carel, ZS3OBE, with 1 638 points, David, ZS1LL, with 1 350
points and Jan, ZS1VDV, with 912 points.

The annual IARU HF World Championship will be held during the 24-hour
period from 12:00 UTC Saturday 14 July to 12:00 UTC Sunday, 15 July. It
is a phone and CW contest on 160 to 10 metres. The complete rules will
be sent out with HF Happenings.

CLUB NEWS

The Sasolburg Radio club had a successful day providing radio
communications support to the 1st Sasolburg Scouts on Youth Day.

An Echolink VHF link was set up from Vanderbijlpark to the Scout Hall
in Sasolburg, and a connection was made to a Dutch Scouting station,
operated by Scout leader and new ham Leo, PD1LEO. A large number of the
youngsters had QSO's with Leo, and many interesting questions and
answers were exchanged. The youngsters were enthralled and amateur
radio received good publicity. Approach your local Scout group to find
out how you could assist during their centenary celebrations in August
and the 50th JOTA in October.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the expected solar activity will
be at low to very low levels. The geomagnetic field is expected to be
quiet in general while reaching active levels on 30 June until 1 July.
The expected Effective Sun Spot number for the coming week will be less
than five.

20 and 40 metres will provide best opportunities for DX. There is a
possibility of 20 metre openings towards India from about 15:30 CAT. 20
metres may open towards Australia from 08:00. From about 08:00 and
again at 16:00, there may be 20 metre openings towards Europe. At about
16:00 short 20 metre openings towards the West Coast of the USA is
possible. Otherwise, contacts to the USA are going to be very
challenging. For the CW and digital enthusiasts, it will also be worth
monitoring 10 MHz.

Locally, 40 metre is going to be the band to be on for the PSK31
contest with good propagation throughout South Africa until at least
16:00. Remember that HF always has the capability to surprise you. You
will never know what you are missing unless you switch your rig on,
listen and call CQ.

Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

24 June - SARL Digital Contest; 30 June - Closing date for updating of
SA DX Survey; ZS6PTA Flea Market; 1 July - President's Net and
Intechnet; 20 July - Last day to submit papers for SA AMSAT Space
Conference; 23 August - Class B RAE; 15 September - SA AMSAT Space
Conference; 18 October - Class A RAE.

SARL News depends on clubs and individuals for news items of importance
and interest to radio amateurs. The one and only way to ensure that
your contribution will reach the SARL News team, is to place it in
www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp not later than the Thursday preceding the
bulletin date. It will be appreciated if you will do it in both
Afrikaans and English.

The SARL also invites all listeners to listen to the program Amateur
Radio Mirror International this Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750
MHz in the Pretoria area with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 695 kHz.
Audio is also streamed on www.zs6mrk.org and on Echolink from ZS6FCS as
for this bulletin. A repeat transmission takes place on Mondays at
21:00 on 3 215 kHz. Telkom and Sentech sponsor the ARMI transmissions
on the non-amateur frequencies.

You have been listening to a news bulletin by the South African Radio
League, which was compiled by Dennis, ZS4BS.

A prosperous week to all, 73.

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