SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2010

You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official radio station of the South
African Radio League, the national body for amateur radio in South
Africa, with a news bulletin every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and
at 08:30 CAT in English. To listen to a web stream, visit
www.sarl.org.za, click on 'ARMI' and follow the links for details.
PLEASE NOTE: for audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za
and also subscribe to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

Your newsreader this morning is (name), (call sign), on 145,725 and
7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.

SILENT KEY

Hennie Smit, ZS6ASS, from Vanderbijlpark became silent key on Tuesday 7
September 2010. He leaves his wife, daughter and two sons. Our sincere
condolences to his family and friends.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

CLOSING DATE FOR RAE OCTOBER 2010 ENTRIES

RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ON SATURDAY PROMISES TO BE A BLAST

SUBSCRIPTION REMINDER

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

CLOSING DATE FOR RAE OCTOBER 2010 ENTRIES

Please remember that entries for the October 2010 RAE close on 24
September 2010. When you submit your RAE entries, please check that you
have completed the following documentation: 1) RAE Application form
(remember to indicate your examination centre and a choice of three
call signs). 2) Proof of payment. 3) Copy of ID document. 4) Fully
completed ICASA application form. (If you are unsure of any details on
the form please refer to the example application form which can be
obtained on the Radio Amateur Examination portion of the SARL Web.) 5)
A completed HF assessment. 6) A completed SARL membership application
form (optional but recommended).

Failure to submit any of the above documentation could disqualify you
from sitting the RAE examination.

Should you have any queries, please contact Mariska at the SARL on
email: or alternately you can phone the office on 011
675 2393.

No late entries will be accepted.

RADIO TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ON SATURDAY PROMISES TO BE A BLAST

You cannot afford to miss the SARL Technology in Action 2010 to be held
on Saturday 18 September at the National Amateur Radio Centre in
Gauteng.

Dr Robin Drennan, Executive Director of the National Research
Foundation, will deliver the opening address and inaugurate the
real-time space weather display that is being installed in
collaboration with the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory. The hardware has
been donated by Acer South Africa.

As in the past, the RTA lectures are presented in such a way that they
will cater for the interests of people from a wide range of
backgrounds. You will learn about digital signal processing and how to
enhance signals and bring them out of the noise. Space weather is
another fascinating subject and for the first time you will be able to
see real-time space weather updates. A look at the CPUT satellite
project, the 85 years of Amateur Radio in South Africa and how to build
direction-finding gear will provide great insights into these
activities. You can also learn more about D-Star, the latest amateur
radio digital communication system, and try out the system.

Another interesting feature is the display and demonstration of the
re-engineered beacon project, which will soon be rolled out.

The full programme can be downloaded from www.sarl.org.za; click on RTA
and follow the links. If you would like a copy in your mailbox, send an
email to with RTA in the subject line. The cost to
attend the RTA is R50, which includes refreshment and lunchtime snacks.
You can prepay for the RTA attendance or pay at the door. Every entry
ticket has a lucky number, which goes into the draw for the attendance
prizes sponsored by RS Components and Microchip. Find all the details
on www.sarl.org.za and select RTA from the left-hand menu.

A new ARRL book, "PIC Programming for Beginners", will also go on sale
at the RTA by the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust. For
more detail of how to order this and other books, go to
www.amateurradio.org.za/books.

SUBSCRIPTION REMINDER

If you have not paid your SARL subscription, do it this weekend. If you
mislaid your invoice or reminder call Mariska on Monday morning at 011
675-2393 for assistance.

INCREASES IN LICENCE FEES

The copy of the Government Gazette announcing the increase in license
fees by ICASA is available on the member pages of the SARL web at
www.sarl.org.za. Click on members only at top right hand of the home
page and enter your PIN.

TAKE YOUR HAND-HELD TO WORK DAY

The annual SARL "take your hand-held to work day" will be held on
Friday 1 October 2010. Show your colleagues what amateur radio is all
about. For those retired and at home, come on the local repeaters and
participate in spreading the story of Amateur Radio. Connect via
Echolink or IRLP and make it a bumper activity.

What about getting one of your colleagues to take a picture of your
activity? There will be some nice prizes up for grabs. Listen to
SARLNEWS next week for more details.

ON THE AIR: AMATEUR RADIO TO CELEBRATE BONAIRE BECOMING A DXCC ENTITY

On the air, the upcoming Bonaire DXpedition by a combined Dutch and
American operating team plans to use the large antenna farm of Radio
Netherlands. This will deliver to the world a truly whopping signal
between 10 and 24 October when they activate the island for the first
time after it becomes a new DXCC entity.

Bonaire is currently part of the Netherlands Antilles, which are
scheduled to be dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October.
The five islands of the former Netherlands Antilles will each attain a
new constitutional status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, thus
creating several new DXCC entities.

To commemorate the event, this group of dedicated radio amateurs will
take to the High Frequency airwaves using the giant Radio Netherlands
antenna system constructed on the island back in 1969. As of Tuesday, 7
September, a large shipment of equipment has been loaded into a sea
container in Miami, Florida. The shipment consists of Yagi antennas,
masts, amplifiers, coax, band pass filters, tuners and a wide variety
of accessories. It was expected to set sail for Bonaire on Friday, 10
September.

You can keep track of the planning for the Bonaire DXpedition and
vicariously join in on the festivities online at the operations
website. Its home in cyberspace is www.bonaire2010.com. Thanks to
Newsline and QRZ for this story.

CONTEST NEWS

The provisional results for two SARL Contest have been released.

SARL YL Sprint. Fifteen logs were received, made up of ten logs from
YLs and five logs non-YLs. There were more YLs active in the Sprint,
but not all of them sent in logs.

The winner of the bouquet of flowers comes from the Western Cape,
Corinna Carstens, ZS1CC. Congratulations Corinna!

1st Collette Rundle, ZS2CR, 240 points 2nd Bridgette van der Rede,
ZS3V, 193 points 3rd Heather Holland, ZS6YE, 140 points

SARL HF Phone Contest. Twenty two single operator logs, two
multi-operator logs and one check log were received for the HF Phone
contest.

Multi-operator 1st West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 162 points 2nd Oakdale ARC,
ZS1OAK, 102 points

Single operator 1st Jan Botha, ZS4JAN, 226 points 2nd Gary Potgieter,
ZS5NK, 184 points 3rd Danie Mans, ZS3D, 144 points

The committee is doing a final check on the logs and the final results
will be published in HF Happenings. The Spring QRP Sprint, which would
have been on the air this afternoon, has been moved to Sunday 23
October 2010.

The SARL VHF/UHF Contest will be run from 10:00 UTC on Saturday 18
September to 10:00 UTC on Sunday 19 September.

The SARL Heritage Day Sprint will be on the air on Friday 24 September.
Clubs are encouraged to set up stations at various heritage sites
around the country.

The 5th SARL Club 80 metre contest will be run on Wednesday evening 29
September. This will be a digimodes contest.

CLUB NEWS

During the weekend of 18-19 September 2010, OTL Club is planning to
take part in the VHF/BHF Competition. The club will be located on
Steenkampsberg, between Lydenburg and Roossenekal. OTL is also planning
to install a repeater on Mariepskop over the weekend of 24-25 September
2010. The frequency will be 145,712 5 MHz. The repeater will also be
linked to the Long Tom repeater to hopefully give coverage in the
Kruger Park on 2 m on a frequency of 145,637 5 as well as all the other
repeaters of OTL Club. Please stand by for a test on this repeater.

The Centurion Radio Amateur Club will commence with CW classes on
Monday 20 September 2010. The classes will start at 19:30 for about an
hour, Mondays to Thursdays, on the Centurion Radio Amateur Club
repeater, frequency 145,775 MHz. All are welcome. Certificates for 5, 8
and 12 wpm will be issued. For further information, contact Jimmy,
ZS6APS, on 012 653 2025.

The Overberg Amateur Radio Club will be hosting a special event station
at the Hermanus Primary School on 25 September coinciding with the
Whales and Wheels festival.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. The earth-facing side of the sun is blank, and there are no
large sunspots. Old Sunspot region 1 100 is now set to return and is
hiding on the eastern limb. The effective sunspot number is expected to
be less than 10 for the coming week.

20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 40 m. With
the change of season, 15 m is also starting to show signs of life.
Conditions to India will be good from the late afternoon until after
sunset. During sunset, it will be good towards Europe. Contacts with
the USA are still challenging. Contacts with Australia and New Zealand
are possible at sunrise on 20 m and on 40 m after sunset. 15 m openings
to Brazil and South America are possible during the afternoons.

For the CW and digital enthusiasts, 30 m may be very rewarding with
openings to many parts of the world.

Locally 40 m is the workhorse for contacts around the country with 30 m
also being very useful for contacts over the longer distances. 80 m
will be best during the early mornings and late afternoons as well as
over the shorter distances.

80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

18 September - RTA symposium in Gauteng; 18/19 September - VHF/UHF
competition; 20 September - Morsekode classes by ZS6APS starts on
145,775 repeater in Pretoria; 24 September - Heritage day sprint 24
September - Enrolments for October RAE close; 25 September - Launch of
HABEX at Klerksdorp. 25 September - Special event station at Hermanus
Primary School; 29 September - SARL 80 m digimodes club competition; 30
September - Closing date for entries for Phase 1 of the Innovation
project;

SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of
interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners. Submit news items -
if possible - in both English and Afrikaans to
www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp, not later than the Thursday preceding
the bulletin date.

The SARL also invites you to listen to Amateur Radio Mirror
International every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the
Pretoria area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 560 kHz. There is
also a podcast by ZS6RO.For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit
www.sarl.org.za, click on 'ARMI' and follow the links. A repeat
transmission can be heard on Mondays at 22:05 CAT on 3 215 kHz. Sentech
sponsors the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.

You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League,
compiled by Gustav, ZS6BWN, and edited by Hester van der Walt.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX