SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 02 JANUARY 2011

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. 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. (Other
news readers change as applicable).

SILENT KEY

It is with regret that it has to be announced that the key of Scotty
Vallance, ZS5SV, a member of the Highway Amateur Radio Club, became
silent on 29 December 2010.

Our sincere condolences to his wife, Merle, family and friends in this
difficult time.

(PAUSE)

In the news today:

SARL PREPARING DOCUMENTATION TO INCREASE 160 METRE ALLOCATION

MAJOR EFFORT TO "CLEAN" SARL DATA BASE UNDERWAY

BOOKING NOW OPEN FOR THE PIC COURSE IN GAUTENG

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

SARL PREPARING DOCUMENTATION TO INCREASE 160 METRE ALLOCATION

The SARL is preparing documentation to have access to more of the 160
metre band for amateur communication in South Africa. You are invited
to make input by sending your views why it is necessary to expand the
very narrow allocation currently available to South African amateurs.
Please include in your motivation items such as propagation studies and
of what benefit an expanded 160 metre allocation will be. Send the
information to by end January. The SARL proposal
will be presented at the next SARL/ICASA liaison meeting planned
February 2011.

MAJOR EFFORT TO "CLEAN" SARL DATA BASE UNDERWAY

A team of volunteers under the leadership of the SARL Data Base
Administrator, Colin de Villiers, ZS6COL, are working on the SARL data
Base in order to update the call book and free-up many call signs that
appear not to have been in use for many years.

The SARL maintains a database of members of the SARL at the SARL
offices at the National Amateur Radio Centre. The database is designed
specifically to administer membership subscriptions, print labels for
the distribution of Radio ZS and conduct the operation of the QSL
Bureau. It is a rather complex database that takes into account
duplicate call signs held by members, Special Event call signs and also
retains details of Silent Keys for a number of years in order to handle
QSL cards that have been known to arrive as much as 10 years after the
contact was made. This is of particular significance to the efficient
operation of the QSL Bureau. It is also used for AGM communications to
members and more recently has an added SMS facility for alerting
members in the various regions of SARL sponsored events in their area.

Please support this effort by doing the following" 1) Please go to the
Web call book and check your callsign details for accuracy. The team
has made many corrections to the database and want to be sure that we
have not introduced any errors.

2) If you find that your call sign is not on the Web callbook and you
know that it was previously there, then this means that you were one of
the 650 people that the team has removed from the callbook as the ICASA
database shows you are not licensed. We hope that you do not find this
to be the case as only call signs where there had been no recorded
activity for 16 years and where ICASA has shown you as being unlicensed
for most of those years were removed.

If you feel that this is not correct i.e. you have a valid paid up
licence for 2010, you are invited to send Colin a scanned copy of your
licence for further investigation. The email address is
.

3) Please do not communicate on behalf of somebody else unless you are
able to send a copy of their licence. Please note that only
communications that are accompanied by this proof will be actioned or
responded to.

For detailed discussion on the process, visit www.sarl.org.za. You find
all the information on the home page.

BOOKING NOW OPEN FOR THE PIC COURSE IN GAUTENG

The SARL will be presenting the popular course "learn how to work with
Microchip PIC's, how to programme them and use them in projects" on 29
January in Gauteng.

During 2011 only two PIC courses will be presented, Gauteng on 29
January and in Cape Town on 16 July. Booking for the Gauteng course is
now open. Visit www.sarl.org.za and select RTA on the left hand menu
and follow the links.

ARE YOU A SHORTWAVE LISTENER?

With many changes for Amateur Radio Mirror International planned for
introduction later this month, including a name change, new web pages,
and new features, the SARL is looking for a keen Shortwave Listener to
present a 5 minute slot on all aspects of shortwave listening. If you
are the person to take up the challenge and have your own regular radio
column send an email to with your telephone number and
we will contact you to discuss the details and logistics.

SATELLITE MEETING IN GAUTENG

Eddie Leighton,ZS6BNS, will be anchoring a meeting on satellites on
Saturday 15 January at the National Amateur Radio Centre. Learn more
about operating amateur satellites, how to build a simple satellite
antenna, how to track and all the ins and outs of this fascinating part
of Amateur Radio. It starts at 10 am. Find out how you can get involved
in the SA AMSAT CubeSat project.

The NARC is situated at Sender Technology Park, Octave road, Radiokop,
Roodepoort.

HUNTING LIONS IN THE AIR

The radio amateurs and the Lions Club of Eshowe are planning to observe
Saturday 15 January as an opportunity for Lions Clubs to exchange
greetings on the air via Amateur Radio. The birthday of the founder of
Lionism, Melvin Jones, born in 1879 at Ft. Thomas, Arizona USA is
commemorated on 13 January.

The Eshowe Lions will be on the air from 14:00 CAT and want to
exchanging greetings with other Lions and radio clubs in South Africa
and/or the rest of the world - no prizes - but exchange QSL cards and
'make friends.'

If there are Lions and radio clubs around the country interested in
joining the radio amateurs and the Eshowe Lions Club on Saturday 15
January 2011, please contact Willie, ZS5WI, at , and
give him your information.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. 2010 came to a close with a flurry of new sunspots. One region
rotated into view on the eastern limb, and at the same time, three new
sunspots have suddenly popped up. One of these regions located in the
northern hemisphere appears to be growing at a good pace. Another
region in the south is existing region 1 139. May 2011 be full of
sunspots for all of us! The effective sunspot number is expected to be
less than 20 for the coming week.

15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 20 m.
Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset.
During the afternoons conditions will be fair towards Europa on 15 m,
later to be followed by fair 20 m openings. Early evening 15 m contacts
with the USA are possible. Contacts with Australia are possible on 20 m
during the late afternoons. 15 m openings to Brazil and South America
are possible during the afternoons. With the good 15 and 20 m openings
17 m will also be full of surprises.

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 work horse for contacts around the country with 20
and 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

15 January - Hunt Lions on the Air from 10:00 CAT; 15 January -
Satellite meeting at 10:00 CAT the NARC; 20 January 2011 - Closing date
for submission for application for the May 2011 RAE bursaries; visit
www.amateurradio.org.za for application forms; 20 January - Closing
date for submission of proposals and synopsis of papers for 2011 SA
AMSAT Space Symposium to ; 29 January - PIC course
at the NARC in Gauteng; 30 January 2011 - Closing date for phase 1 of
the construction competition; 31 January - Proposals for extension to
160 m-band to be in to .

SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit terms 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.

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 George, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX