• SA Radio League News Bulletin for Sunday 7 August 2000

    From Richard Peer@5:7106/22 to SA Radio League on Saturday, August 05, 2000 15:29:00
    SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE SARL NEWS SUNDAY 6 AUGUST 2000

    This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News , a service from the South African Radio League for the interest of all Radio Amateurs, Short-wave Listeners and Electronic Enthusiasts. For a complete
    list of broadcast times and frequencies please send a SASE to Amateur
    Radio News, SARL, P O Box 1721, Strubensvallei 1735.

    This bulletin is also available on the SARL's web pages hosted by Intekom
    at www.sarl.org.za, as well as the packet radio bulletin board system.
    You may also request sarlnuus@mweb.co.za to e-mail it to you in either
    text or MSWord 6.0 format.

    Here are the headlines of today's news:


    SARL HF PHONE AND CW CONTESTS

    NEW MEMBERS

    TWO-WAY MOBILE RADIO OPERATION

    RAE CLASSES FOR NOVEMBER EXAMINATION

    LOOK OUT FOR VK6RBU BEACON ON 144,650 MHZ

    VK ADOPTS 5 WPM MORSE CODE STANDARD

    PROPAGATION REPORT

    You are listening to ZS6SRL, the news follows in detail.

    SARL HF PHONE AND CW CONTESTS

    The League's two premier operating events takes place in August. Today
    the phone contest runs from 15:00 to 18:00 SAST. The CW contest takes
    place on 27 August also from 15:00 to 18:00 SAST. The 20, 40 and 80 metre bands are used.

    All radio amateurs in Southern Africa may participate. Contact as many Southern African stations as you can, and exchange reports and serial
    numbers with each of them. For example, your first contact on phone is
    number 59 001. He might give you something like 57 002, depending on how quickly he got off the mark.

    You should also try to contact as many ZS call areas possible. There are
    two additional areas which are defined in the rules i.e. our easterly and westerly neighbours.

    The activity starts on 20 metres and within half an hour or so, most of
    the participants will move to 40m. Towards the end of the contest, most
    of the activity will be on 80m.

    A full set of rules appear on the League's webpage. We wish all the participants great success.

    NEW MEMBERS

    Council of the SARL wishes to welcome the following new members and trusts
    that their association with the SARL will a long and happy one.

    Andrew Soper ZS2VJZ
    Thomas Cox ZS61516
    Robert Cox ZS61522
    Mark Muuren ZSL039
    Hendrik Marais ZSL040
    John Tansley ZSL041

    MOBILE OPERATION BY RADIO AMATEURS NOT EFFECTED BY NEW LEGISLATION

    Mobile operation by radio amateurs is not effected by the new legislation
    and the whole matter will be reviewed in 12 months time. If by chance you
    are stopped by traffic officials, be courteous and act in a diplomatic way while informing them that two-way radio does not form part of the new legislation.

    RAE CLASSES FOR NOVEMBER EXAMINATION

    Michelle van der Merwe, ZS6TO, informed SARLNUUS that the Alberton Amateur Radio club will conduct RAE classes for the November examination.
    Registration for the classes takes place on 8 August 2000 at 19:00 the
    Alberton Civic Centre and the classes will start on the 15 th August also
    at the Civic Centre. Students intending to attend the classes should
    phone Koos ZS6JPY at 082 461 2819 for more information. SARLNUUS also
    invites other clubs to forward information about their intentions to offer classes for the coming RAE examination so that this information can be
    made known country wide.

    LOOK OUT FOR VK6RBU BEACON ON 144,650 MHZ

    Mike Bosch, ZS2FM, informed SARLNUUS that radio amateurs who are on or
    within 100 km of the seaboard between Durban and Cape town, depending on terrain, are invited to monitor the VK6RBU beacon located in Perth
    Australia. It radiates a 100 watt ERP horizontally polarized FSK signal
    on 144,650 MHz and is beamed to South Africa.

    Some VK amateurs feel that there might be two windows in the year which
    could provide propagation on 2 metres. A small window may exist around
    August and a major one between December and February vie the Reunion High Presure Cell. They suggest we listen from 22:00 SAST (10 PM) until after midnight as this period appears to be the best time for propagation over
    the sea. It might be a good idea to continue listening throughout the
    summer months just incase an unusual propagation could manifest itself.
    After all we are dealing with a completely unknown field. VK6RBU has been heard on two occasions in Reunion Island. If any signals are received
    then please alert ZS2FM on his cellphone no. 082 654 0623.

    SUNSAT SCHEDULE

    The orbital flights of SUNSAT SO35 over Southern Africa are as follows:

    30/07/2000 15:39
    02/08/2000 16:56
    05/08/2000 16:35
    06/08/2000 15:55
    09/08/2000 15:34
    12/08/2000 16:52
    13/08/2000 16:11

    VK ADOPTS 5 WPM MORSE CODE STANDARD

    Australia has become the 7th country to adopt the five-words-per-minute
    Morse code amateur licence test speed for full access to the HF amateur
    Bands.

    In an official announcement in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on
    the 12th of July, the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) changed
    the amateur regulations for the VK Intermediate grade licence that
    requires only 5wpm Morse code proficiency.

    In doing so it lifted the previous HF band restrictions on the
    Intermediate Licence which can now use all bands below 30 MHz.

    The change had been anticipated following a submission to the ACA made by
    the Wireless Institute of Australia in March this year seeking a lowering
    of the code speed.

    Australia is maintaining for the time being, its Unrestricted grade
    licence, that requires the passing of a 10 wpm Morse code test - but this
    is only to satisfy the needs of reciprocal licensing agreements.

    The HF operating privileges and conditions for the Intermediate and Unrestricted licences are now identical. Australia, in adopting 5wpm, has joined Denmark, Sweden, Britain, USA, South Africa and Gibraltar.

    Others including New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, India, Malaysia,
    Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Kenya and countries in Europe are in various
    stages of seeking to lower the code speed to 5wpm.

    UPDATE ON "PENGUIN HUNTING"IN THE WESTERN CAPE

    News from the hunting team, as reported on in last week's bulletin, is
    that they are still not able to put their DF "Fox Hunt" skills into
    practice, despite having yagis and receiving gear .

    The two exclusive penguins are still far from home ! The penguins
    continue to do their own thing out at sea far from home, thus avoiding
    capture on land .

    Peter is 21 miles West of Steenbokfontein between Lamberts Bay and Elands
    Bay up the West coast. Pamela is 20 miles South of the De Hoop Nature
    Reserve, which is a few miles East of Arniston (Waenhuiskrans) in the Bredasdorp district. She's either going further East or just circling
    around on a fishing expedition.

    Two interesting questions arise regarding the question of whether penguins sleep while spending long continuous periods out at sea, and whether they
    stay awake to avoid predators such as sharks, and very occasionally large
    seals

    It seems likely that capture attempts may only occur this week when the
    weather improves, provided that the two birds return home for a rest.
    Their present behaviour is however providing the Department of
    Environmental Affairs plenty of new data in the meantime.

    PROPAGATION REPORT

    Ean Retief, ZS1PR, reports that as expected the Solar Flux reached a low
    point on Tuesday the first with a reading of 148.

    Then it started to rise very slowly, but it is expected that the rate will increase from today and that the 200 mark will be reached by coming
    Thursday.

    Only three small solar flares occurred in the past week and they had no significant effects on HF propagation.

    Today should be a good HF day with quiet propagation conditions similar to those of the last few days. In the late afternoon the propagation to
    Europe and the middle-East should be noticeably good. The "long path" to
    the east will still be good in the afternoons.

    Most international propagation forecasting agencies expect the coming week
    to be quiet as well, but Ean Retief ZS1PR feels that we may experience
    active Geomagnetic conditions on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He is of
    the opinion that we will not have disruption of HF propagation, but that
    noise levels may be noticeably higher.

    DIARY OF COMING EVENTS


    On August 19 the Secunda and Coalfields Amateur Radio Clubs invite all
    Amateurs and there families in the Mpumalanga Province to join them for a informal meeting to discuss Amateur radio in the province. Hans
    Potgieter, the SARL President, will open the meeting on Saturday at 11h00.
    The meeting will take place at the Witbank Technikon. A bring and braai
    will take place after the meeting. For more information contact Teresa at
    013 692 6754 or Syd ZS6AYC at 082 461 3279 e-mail srtyler@mweb.co.za


    The Vaal Driehoek Amateur Radio club will hold their AGM on 19 August.
    The time and venue will be announced next week.

    The Alberton Amateur Radio Club will hold a fleamarket or bootsale on 26
    August 2000 at 08:00 in front of the Civic Center, Ring Rd East Alberton. Please book tables in advance with Koos ZS6JPY 082 461 2819. Refreshments
    will be available. For more information visit our webpage at www.hometown.aol.com/zs6tdk

    The SARL news service invites radio clubs to supply information for
    inclusion in the Diary of Events as well as other items of interest to
    radio amateurs. Email information to sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@mweb.co.za at least two weeks before the event. Please submit it in
    both Afrikaans and English wherever possible.

    The South African Radio League provides this news bulletin as a service to Radio Amateurs and interested listeners on the African Continent. News in
    this bulletin was supplied by the SARL news service, individuals, and
    amateur radio clubs in South Africa.

    Also join us on Sundays at 12:00 for the President's Net on 7082 kHz.

    This bulletin was compiled by Marten, ZS6ZY and read by.........

    A reminder that the interesting program Amateur Radio Mirror International
    is on the air on Sundays at 10:00 SAST on 9750 and 21560 kHz and is
    repeated on Mondays at 20:00 SAST on 3215 kHz. These transmissions are sponsored by Sentech, the common carrier for broadcasting signals in South Africa and Telkom who provides the transmission lines. The following VHF frequencies are also used: 145,375 for the Northern Free State and Vaal triangle areas, 145,650 MHz for the greater Durban area and if conditions permit in Pretoria on 145,750 MHz.

    The address for Amateur Radio Mirror International is armi@intekom.co.za. Include your contact telephone number to allow the producers of the
    programme to call you for a possible interview. Send written reports to P
    O Box 90438, Garsfontein, 0042 and include a self addressed stamped
    envelope, overseas stations two IRC's, so that you may receive a QSL card. Please note the new postal address.

    Thanks to all who gathered news items and have made contributions to this bulletin. We thank all the stations who so reliably relay the bulletins.
    We wish you a pleasant week.

    ZS6SRL now closes down with ZS6... at the microphone.

    Goodbye all.
    /EX
    --------------------------------------------------
    Internet feed from ZS6ZY moved by Richard de ZR6CK

    Regards,
    Richard.

    --- Msged/Q 1.60
    * Origin: QTHR KG44DG, Novell User Group, Pretoria, RSA (5:7106/22)