SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016

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

You can tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on
Sunday mornings at 08:15 Central African Time in Afrikaans and at 08:30
Central African Time in English on HF and on many VHF and UHF repeaters
around the country. Echolink listeners can connect to ZS0JPL for a
relay. A podcast is available from the League's web site.

This audio bulletin can be downloaded from the League's website at
www.sarl.org.za. You will find this bulletin and previous bulletins in
text format under the news link on the left-hand side of the web page.
While you are there, you can sign up to receive future bulletins by
e-mail.

We start the bulletin with news of a silent key.

It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of Alf Joubert,
ZS6ABA, previously a member of the SARL and the Pretoria Amateur Radio
Club went silent on Monday 12 September 2016.

We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Alta, family and friends.

PAUSE

In the news today,

THE SPRING QRP CONTEST NEXT SATURDAY

MORE NEWS ABOUT YOTA DECEMBER 2016

and

A RECORD BREAKER ON 630 METRES

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

** On Saturday 1 October, you can participate in the Spring QRP
Contest. The contest will be run from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC with CW and
phone activity on 160 to 10 metres using 5 watts or less. During the
first hour, stations may only operate on 40 metres; thereafter they may
use the other HF contest bands.

The exchange is an RS or RST report and your grid locator. Each QSO
counts one point, but please check the rules in the 2016 Blue Book for
the multipliers. Send your log and summary sheet by midnight on 9
October to . Remember the photo of your station in
action that must be sent with your log.

** In last week's bulletin, news from the IARU Region 1 December YOTA
event was announced and this week we provide more news regarding the
event from a SARL perspective. From Thursday 1 December to Saturday 31
December 2016, the annual Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) event takes
place and YOTA stations will attempt to make many contacts worldwide
with each other. This is an excellent opportunity to get young amateurs
in their teens and early 20s to talk with their counterparts on the
air.

Remember that this is not a formal contest, but a way to get youngsters
on the air and to let them realize that there are hundreds of other
youngsters around the world that feel just the same as they do about
the hobby. The main aim is to get our youngsters on the air and for
them to make contact with youngsters all over the world. This is an
excellent opportunity for clubs to run a demonstration at a local
school or church or to gather together with our amateur friends at the
club and display this great hobby to our South African youth!

The League will once again register as a Region 1 Member Society
participant and obtain the special call sign ZS9YOTA that will be
registered as an educational call sign for use by clubs and individuals
during December. Details pertaining to bookings for the special call
sign will be made available during November. For any additional
information or possible questions please forward your e-mails to Koos,
ZR6KF, at or alternatively to Nico, ZS6QL, at
. They will provide you with much more information and
will answer any questions.

** On Thursday 15 September 2016, the first two-way contact on 630
metres between Canada and Australia took place. Steve McDonald, VE7SL,
in British Columbia and Roger Crofts, VK4YB, in Queensland, completed a
contact on 474 kHz between 12:25 and 13:19 UTC using the JT9 digital
mode. The distance covered was approximately 11 265 km. Read more about
this contact in HF Happenings 722, available on the League's web site.

** What is wrong with the Off-Centre-Fed-Dipole? Why the 16,2 m wire
antenna? Why fifty ohms? These are three questions asked and answered
in the October 2016 issue of Radio ZS. The Sandringham Scout Group
tells us more about their Field Day weekend. What did other Clubs do
for Field Day? Send your article, in English or Afrikaans, to
by Tuesday 27 September.

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

** Application for membership of the South African Radio League has
been received from the following persons - Andrew Coetzee, ZS5CEY, G F
Rautenbach, ZR6GR, and Ernest Thabiso, ZSL1170.

Any objections to the acceptance of these applications must reach the
League Secretary by e-mail to before or on
Wednesday 28 September 2016. The League now has 1 445 members and 41
affiliated clubs.

** If you are interested in conducting experiments on Microwaves in the
SHF and EHF spectrum then you can do it at low cost. Gallium Arsenide
Gunn diode oscillators cover 10 - 200 GHz, while the Gallium Nitride
Gunn oscillators operate as high as 3 Terahertz. You could construct a
Gunnplexer comprising a combination of a Gunn diode microwave
oscillator, a microwave diode mixer, an audio amplifier with microphone
and a wideband FM receiver. With a small dish, you could make some
distant FM contacts on 10 GHz (3 cm) from a high site via Line-of-Sight
(LOS) or via Tropo propagation. If you would like to listen for EME
signals on 10 GHz then try a DSTV dish with LNB and monitor the IF
frequency.

** On Thursday 6 October, you can participate in the SARL 80 m QSO
Party which will be on the air from 17:00 to 20:30 UTC. On Saturday 8
and Sunday 9 October, the Antique Wireless Association will run their
Valve QSO Party. More details in SARL News next Sunday.

** Provisional Results of the SARL National Field Day. The Contest
Committee received sixteen logs for the League's National Field Day
held on 10 and 11 September 2016.

Class A - Field station, multi operator 1st Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, 144
360 points 2nd Welkom ARC, ZS4WRC, 115 236 points 3rd West Rand ARC,
ZS6WR, 104 004 points

Class D - Field station, single operator, QRP 1st Johannes van Zijl,
ZS4DZ, 67 878 points 2nd Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, 30 132 points

Class F - General stations 1st East Rand ARC, ZS6ERB, 34 020 points 2nd
Barry Nugent, ZS2NF, 2 736 points 3rd Roy Walsh, ZS3RW, 1 452 points

The provisional combined results for the February and September legs of
the Field Day are as follows.

Class A - Field station, multi operator 1st Highway ARC, ZS5HAM, 256
080 points 2nd West Rand ARC, ZS6WR, 240 084 points 3rd Welkom ARC,
ZS4WRC, 197 436 points

Class C - Field station, single operator 1st Mitchel Mynhardt, ZS6YH,
57 120 points

Class D - Field station, single operator, QRP 1st Johannes van Zijl,
ZS4DZ, 122 472 points 2nd Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, 30 132 points

Class F - General stations 1st East Rand ARC, ZS6ERB, 46 284 points 2nd
Barry Nugent, ZS2NF, 2 736 points 3rd Roy Walsh, ZS3RW, 2 132 points
All the results are in HF Happenings 722, available on the Leagues web
site under Publications.

** The East Rand ARC is holding their next Flea Market on Saturday 1
October starting at 12:00 CAT. The Flea Market will be held at the
Clubhouse in Ebenezer Street, Benoni. The GPS coordinates are -26.172 /
28.283. Contact Johan Steenkamp at for more
information.

** Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected
to remain at low levels. No major solar flaring is expected. If you
want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective
sunspot number for the week will be around 22. The 15 to 20 m bands
will provide lots of DX fun. Please visit the website
spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further information.

Now for the diary of events

Today until midnight UTC - the CQ WW RTTY Contest 1 Oct - the East Rand
ARC Flea Market and the Spring QRP Contest 6 Oct - the SARL 80 m QSO
Party 8 and 9 October - the AWA Valve QSO Party 9 October - SARL Youth
Net 20 October - RAE Examination 21 to 23 October - Jamboree on the Air
22 October - CQ Hou Koers

To end this bulletin, a recap of our main news item this morning.

On Saturday 1 October, you can participate in the Spring QRP Contest.
The contest will be run from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC with CW and phone
activity on 160 to 10 metres using 5 watts or less. During the first
hour, stations may only operate on 40 metres; thereafter they may use
the other HF contest bands.

** 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 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; 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 Dennis Green, ZS4BS,
edited by Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, and read by ...................

73 and 88, thank you for listening

/EX

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