SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2017

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

You may tune in to the South African Radio League news bulletin on
Sunday mornings, at 08:15 Local Time in Afrikaans and at 08:30 Local
Time in English, on HF as well as on many VHF and UHF repeaters around
the country. Echolink listeners may connect to ZS0JPL for a relay.

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

IN THE NEWS TODAY

COUNCIL DINNER AND AWARDS: DATE AND VENUE ANNOUNCED

NEW ICASA LICENSE FEE STRUCTURE

VHF NEWS

RAE NEWS

and

CONTEST NEWS

Stay tuned for more on these and other interesting news items

** At the Council meeting of 17 January 2017, the Council decided that
the 2017 SARL AGM and Awards Dinner would be held on Saturday 6 May
2017 at the Bergvallei Estate on the West Rand. More details to follow.

** In terms of Rule 11.3 of the Constitution and Rules of the League, a
call is made to members to submit motions to be discussed at the 2017
Annual General Meeting. Motions should be clear, concise, include a
motivation and require a proposer and a seconder.

** In terms of Rule 16.9 of the Constitution and Rules of the League, a
call is made to members for nominations to serve on the Council of the
League. Four of the present Councilors will retire at the 2017 AGM, but
can be re-elected if nominated and seconded.

The following Councilors have indicated that they will retire but are
available for re-election. Rassie Erasmus, ZS1YT Geoff Levey, ZS6C Nico
van Rensburg, ZS6QL Shane Bailey, ZS6ZSB.

Etienne Naude, ZS6EFN, who was appointed by Council as the League
Secretary, has indicated that he is standing down, but has not yet
decided if he will be available for election.

The requirements are a nomination form signed either by 10 seconders
who are all members of the League or by a Club of which at least 10
members are also members of the League. The closing date for
nominations and submission of motions is on or before Tuesday 31
January 2017 and must be sent to the League Secretary at
or by fax to 086 552 8487. For more information,
please refer to the League Constitution and Rules, which is available
on www.sarl.org.za.

** Members and Clubs are invited to submit nominations for the
following South African Radio League awards. Send your nominations with
a motivation to the League Secretary at on or
before Tuesday 31 January 2017.

** The awards are Honorary Life Membership; the Willie Wilson Gold
Badge; the Jack Twine Award; the Arthur Hemsley Two metre Trophy; the
Barney Joel Trophy; the Icom Excellence Award; the Joseph White Plaque;
the Bert Buckley Six Metre Trophy; the Radio ZS Four Metre Floating
Trophy; the SAATI Award and the Tinus Lange 7066 Technical Excellence
Award. The relevant information about each award can be found in the
SARL Communication e-mail dated 11 December 2016 sent to all members.

** The Editor of Radio ZS requests members to assist him in awarding
two of the Radio ZS awards for the 12 issues of the 2016 series of the
magazine.

The first is the Gary Immelman RA Heritage Award Floating Trophy for
the best article of a historic nature describing an event that occurred
more than five years previously or an interesting personality that has
played an important part in the development of Amateur Radio in years
gone by.

The second is the JJPienaar Trophy for the best article published in
Radio ZS during 2016. E-mail your suggestions as to who would be worthy
recipients to by Tuesday 31 January 2017.

** The new fee structure for Amateur Radio licences has been announced,
by ICASA. The fees for 2017 will come into effect from the 1st April
and are as follows:

.. 1 year licence R134.00 . 2 year licence R256.00 . 3 year licence
R367.00 . 4 year licence R468.00 . 5 year licence R559.00

Please note, that any licence not renewed by 1 April 2017 will lapse
and the licence holder will have to re-apply for a new licence, and
this will be subjected to extra costs. No fees will be accepted after
the 1st April 2017 ICASA has recommended that Amateur Radio licence
holders apply for a 5 year licence. This equates to a current saving of
R111.00. You will also save the yearly escalations.

You need to apply in writing specifying the licence you wish to apply
for. This must be stated in the subject heading of the relevant email
to ICASA. For example, the required number of years licence, your seven
digit licence number, and call sign. (e.g. 5 year payment, licence
number 544-165-1, ZS6ZU)

If you do not notify ICASA of the required term of licence, you will
receive a one year licence, regardless of the amount paid.

For all those who have already paid using the 2016 fee structure, the
balance outstanding must be submitted to ICASA before the 1st April
2017, otherwise your licence will lapse.

If your surname starts between A to K then you need to email your
payment advice to Mr Kenneth Kgwedi: If your
surname starts between L to Z then you need to email your payment
advice to Mr Pieter Jansen:

All Amateur Radio licence fees need to be paid directly to ICASA and
NOT to the SARL.

** The SARL Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honours individuals who have
made lasting contributions to Amateur Radio in southern Africa, and
aims to preserve its history.

SARL members elected nine inaugural members last year. It was decided
to allow another batch of up to ten members this year, after which a
maximum of two members will be inducted annually.

Nominations for this year are now open. The Hall of Fame page is
accessible from the SARL Home Page. The nomination page already shows
four nominations.

Several stalwarts of Amateur Radio did not make it in the initial
round, in some cases because they had not been nominated. Let's ensure
that all those deserving get included, so that their contributions can
be preserved for posterity.

Nominations close in about six weeks, at the end of February. A
nomination template is available on the Web site. The nominations
already listed can be used as an example of what is required.

** South African Radio League Summer QRP Contest. The QRP contest is
intended to be a fun activity to promote QRP operation between radio
amateurs. Using homebuilt equipment or operating as a portable/field
station and using temporary antennas is encouraged, but is not a
requirement.

The Summer contest runs from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC on Saturday 28 January
2017 with activity on SSB and CW using 5 watts (PEP) output or less.
The first hour is limited to the 40 metre band only and the remaining
two hours, the contesters are free to use any HF (non-WARC) band as
they see fit.

Comply with the contest-preferred segments as detailed in the general
rules. It would be advantageous to use the standard QRP calling
frequencies as the starting point. The exchange is a RS or RST report
and your grid locator. See the 2017 Blue Book for more details!

** The closing date for your article for the February 2017 issue of
radio ZS is Wednesday 25 January and can be sent to
. Articles can be submitted in MS Word or
OpenOffice.

** The Hammies ARC will be hosting a new Class-B RAE course starting on
the 28th of January. If you know of any youngsters who have an interest
in electronics, and who would like to become an amateur radio operator,
then this is an ideal opportunity. This is a fun-filled practical
course for 10 to 16 year olds. The course is held on Saturday mornings
at NARC from 9 am to 12 pm.

For further details please contact Noel ZR6DX via email on
or Graham ZS6GL on 083 442 7777

** In the Western Cape, at the Oakdale Recreational Club, situated
inBloemhof Street, Oakdale, Bellville, a new RAE course will again
start at the end of January. Classes every Tuesday evening 19h00 -
21h00. Start: 31 January 2017. All-comers welcome. Meet Karl ZS1KC on
site from 18h30 on 31 January in front of the Radio Shack.

** Build-A-Thon 2017. Following the huge success of the WSPR Beacon
Build-A-Thon during 2016, the first Beacon Build-A-Thon for 2017 is
planned for Saturday 4 or 11 March 2017 at the National Amateur Radio
Centre. We will start the day with a few short presentations by
previous builders proudly showing off their soldering skills or giving
feedback on how they are operating their setups. To join in the fun,
watch the news or contact Leon Uys, ZR6LU, at for
more information closer to the time.

** The PEARS VHF/UHF contest has been active since Friday evening,
running throughout Saturday, and will end at 14:00 CAT on Sunday
afternoon. Spend the final two hours of the contest looking for
possible Sporadic-E propagation from the north, by watching the V51PJ
beacon on 50,300 MHz CW at Rosh Pinah, Namibia, or ZSJON/b on 50,050
MHz at Krugersdorp, or ZS5TWB/b on 50,044 MHz at Polokwane. Hoping that
you have enjoyed the contest.

** Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, reported that Marcus Turbo, PY1MHZ, of Rio de
Janeiro will be at his seaside QTH from 20 January 2017 to start their
Trans-Atlantic tests again. He rebuilt his Yagi antenna and made it
shorter for less wind resistance and easier handling. At this stage
they are playing digital modes and test Yagi antenna configurations in
Brazil. They have started a Brazilian VHF group that side as well.

There are now more than 200 participants 24/7 across Brazil. They are
starting to break VHF records with Digital and SSB modes on an almost
monthly basis, which is very positive, and they are also changing to
horizontal polarization. They are a very active and busy VHF group on
the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and looking for V5 and ZS contacts
in the future.

** Please be advised the East Rand Radio Club will be having a Flea
Market on the 4 February 2017 12 am at the East Rand Radio Clubhouse
which is situated on Ebenezer Rd in Arrowe Park Benoni. Come and sell
any of your excess Radio kit. You can hire a table or sell from your
car boot. Taste our famous boerewors rolls or have a cold drink or
alcoholic beverage at our Club 675 Bar. Meet all your old friends -it's
a fun social event and a chance to get rid your old kit or have a look
at the new items on the market. See you there.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to
be at low levels. There are currently two visible sunspots. 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 10.

The 15 to 30metre bands will provide lots of DX fun.

Please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za for further
information.

Diary of Events

25 January - closing date for articles for the February Radio ZS 28
January - Summer QRP Sprint 31 January - closing date for AGM motions,
Council nominations, SARL Awards and Radio ZS awards; the closing date
for proposals for papers for the AMSAT SA Conference 4 February - East
Rand Branch Flea Market 5 February - AWA CW Activity 11 February -
closing date for the SDR Workshop registration 11 - 12 February - SARL
National Field Day 18 February - SDR Workshop and SARL Youth Sprint

And that brings us to the end of this rather lengthy bulletin

** 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; 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 Dawie Conradie,
ZR6DHC, edited by Dick Stratford, ZS6RO, and read by ..............

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

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