• SA Radio League News Bulletin for Sunday 20 August 2000

    From Richard Peer@5:7106/22 to SA Radio League on Saturday, August 19, 2000 15:13:00
    SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
    SARL NEWS SUNDAY 20 AUGUST 2000

    This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News , a service by 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:

    RADIO TELEGRAPHY - in or out?

    SARL HF CW CONTEST

    RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION CLASSES IN WESTERN CAPE

    NEW CLUB COMMITTEES

    SUNSAT SCHEDULE

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

    RADIO TELEGRAPHY - in or out? At last September's International Amateur
    Radio Union Region One meeting in Lillehammer, Norway, recommendations were made which were to be submitted to the International Telecommunication
    Union. Amongst these were the basic requirements for amateur radio
    world-wide.

    Most of the national societies attending the Lillehammer meeting were in
    favour of dropping radio telegraphy testing as a requirement for HF
    operation and there was a clear majority vote in the final Plenary Meeting
    at the Lillehammer conference in favour of this position. The final
    agreement made no mention of Morse testing or of any sort of radio
    telegraphy. Directly after the Lillehammer conference, the International Administrative Council of the IARU also voted in favour of the same set of operator qualifications.

    However, when the proposed recommendation was drafted for submission to the ITU, the radio telegraphy requirement had re-appeared under the heading of operating skills, where radio telephony, data and image transmissions were included.

    RSGB President Don Beattie, G3OZF, has written to all Region One member societies present at the Lillehammer meeting, pointing out that the RSGB is concerned that the original and agreed definition document, which included
    the operating skills requirement, had been changed without the consultation
    of IARU member societies. The RSGB is further concerned that the words
    'radio telegraphy' have been added under operating skills. He says that,
    while the international definition of radio telegraphy applies to more than
    the Morse code, the RSGB believes that the words are capable of misinterpretation and should be removed.

    SARL HF CW CONTEST

    Remember the CW contest which comes up on next Sunday the 27th of August.
    The contest runs from 15:00 to 18:00 SAST. All radio amateurs in southern Africa may participate.

    There are four trophies, unique to the CW contest, to be won:

    The Silent Keys Memorial Trophy:
    For the highest CW score

    The Anon Trophy:
    For the highest CW score on a single band

    The AKYAB Trophy:
    The highest score in their first year on CW.

    The contest provides a good opportunity for anyone, regardless of
    experience and skill level, to see what's possible, and to learn to the
    experts

    A full set of rules appear on the League's webpage.

    Logs for both the SSB and CW contests should only be submitted to the
    following address: SARL HF Contest Committee P O Box 48052 Hercules 0030

    RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION CLASSES IN WESTERN CAPE

    Under the auspices of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre, a course of
    lectures for the November RAE will be given as from the middle of September 2000. The course is open to all candidates irrespective of whether they
    belong to the CTARC or any other club or no club at all.

    As in the past, the classes will be held weekly at the Signals Unit near
    Acacia Park in Goodwood, as this is the most central venue for most of the students who have already indicated their intention of participating.

    The course leader is Pierre Tromp, ZR1PDT, who ran the last series of
    classes which resulted in a 100% class pass rate in the May examination.
    He will be assisted by guest lecturers from the Cape Town Amateur Radio
    Centre and the Boland Amateur Radio Club.

    Interested parties are requested to contact ZR1PDT on 083-229-7795 for full details. They must also remember that enrollment entries must reach the
    SARL HQ on or before 9 October 2000.

    NEW CLUB COMMITTEES

    Pretoria Amateur Radio Club

    Portfolios were allocated as follows the members of the Pretoria Amateur Radio Club:

    Chairman Herman Botha ZR6HBA
    Vice Chairman Hans Kappetijn ZS6KR
    Secretary Johan de Bruyn ZR6JHB
    Treasurer Doreen de Bruyn ZR6DDB
    Clubhouse Richard Peer ZR6CK
    Rallies Johan de Beer ZR6YV
    Repeaters Tjerk Lammers ZS6P
    Projects Carlos d'Almeida ZS6AJW
    Flea Market Hans Kappetijn ZS6KR
    Interference Dawid ZS6DSG
    Watts Rudi en Katti Venter ZS6VER en ZS6KVR
    Web Page Don Blackburn ZS6CRT
    Social Doreen de Bruyn ZR6DDB

    North West Amateur Radio Club

    The committee of the North West Amateur Radio Club is as follows:

    Chairman:Johan van Tonder, ZS6TY;
    Vic Chairman/Secretary:Johan Moolman, ZS6AWL;
    Treasurer:Willie Jones, ZR6WHJ;

    Midlands Amateur Radio Club

    The Midlands Amateur Radio Club held its AGM on Wednesday 19th July 2000.
    The following Committee was elected :
    Chairman : Charles Carr (ZS5QR)
    Vice-Chairman : Bill Norval (ZS5KD)
    Secretary : Robin Seal (ZS5MRS)
    Treasurer : Bill Norval (ZS5KD)
    Members : William van Coller (ZS5WC)
    Mick Esterhuysen (ZS5QB)
    Madga Nel (ZS5MN)
    Gail Archer (ZR5CGA)

    The following portfolios were allocated :
    "Hams Haywire News" : Robin Seal (ZS5MRS)
    Membership : William van Coller (ZS5WC)
    Repeaters/Digis : Charles Carr (ZS5QR) assisted by Mick Esterhuysen (ZS5QB) Education : Charles Carr (ZS5QR) assisted by Gail Archer (ZR5CGA)
    Projects and Events : Magda Nel (ZS5MN) assisted by Gail Acher (ZR5CGA) Emergency Communications : Charles Carr (ZS5QR)
    Clubhouse Manager : Mick Esterhuysen (ZS5QB) assisted by Robin Seal (ZS5MRS) and Louis Friedemann (ZS5LF)
    Youth Co-ordinator & ARISAS : William van Coller (ZS5WC)
    Public Relations : Magda Nel (ZS5MN)
    Kits : Mick Esterhuysen (ZS5QB) assisted by William van Coller (ZS5WC)

    Council and Sarlnews extends our thanks to the retiring committees and
    wishes strength to the new committees for the ensueing year.

    PROPAGATION FORECAST

    A typing error in the English copy of last weeks propagation report may
    have raised a few eyebrows. It was stated that the Interplanetary Magnetic Field increased speed and changed direction southward.

    Well it should have read that the Solar wind increased it's speed and that
    the magnetic field changed it's direction southward.

    For the rest last week was a bit of a disappointment as the Solar Flux did
    not reach the expected levels.

    It peaked on Tuesday at a value of 194 and then declined steadily and is currently some 20 points lower than expected last week.

    The positive side of this is that we rapidly entered the "quiet phase" of
    the current monthly cycle with very quiet Geomagnetic conditions from
    Friday.

    Today the Geomagnetic field should be Quiet to Unsettled.

    The Ionosphere is still showing the effect of the higher Solar Flux values
    of the past week and MUF values of five to ten percent above predicted
    values can be expected for today and tomorrow.

    The Solar Flux should continue to decline steadily and the Geomagnetic
    field should remain at quiet to unsettled levels.

    The best DX should be found on 20 and 15 metres. Signals on 15 metres
    should be weaker than 20 metres, but with lower background noise on 15, it
    may be easier to copy weaker signals.

    SUNSAT SCHEDULE

    The passes for SUNSAT, SO35, for Southern Africa is as follows:

    20/08 16:26
    23/08 16:05
    26/08 15:43
    27/08 15:04

    DIARY OF COMING EVENTS

    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, at tel 082 461 2819. Refreshments will be available. For more information visit their webpage
    at www.hometown.aol.com/zs6tdk.

    Remember the International Lighthouse Activity weekend which takes place
    over the weekend of 19/20 August.

    South African amateurs will man stations at the various lighthouses as
    follows:

    CAPE POINT: ZS1FRC/L False Bay Radio Electronics and Computer Club.
    SLANGKOP: ZS1RON Ron, ZR1DQ Deon and ZS1JN Owen.
    DANGER POINT: ZS1OAR/L Overberg Amateuradioklub.
    L'AGULHAS: ZS1BAK/L Boland Amateuradioklub.
    HANGKLIP: ZS1MJJ/L & ZS1PDT/L.
    ROBBEN ISLAND: ZS1DUP/L and team.
    GREEN POINT: ZS1CT/L Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre.
    PORT SHEPSTONE: ZS5R/L Gawie Hoon.
    PELICAN POINT: V59PP/L - V51KC Jack and five other Namibian
    operators.

    The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute
    information regarding Amateur Radio to sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@mweb.co.za. Please submit in Afrikaans and English wherever possible.

    Also join us in the following activities:
    * The President's Net on Sundays 12:00 on 7082 kHz
    * Amateur Radio Mirror International Sundays at 10:00 on 9750 and 21560 kHz which is repeated Mondays at 20:00 on 3215 kHz. Correspondence for Amateur Radio Mirror International is via armi@intekom.co.za. Include your
    telephone number to allow the producers to call you for a possible
    interview. Send written reports to PO Box 90438 Garsfontein 0042 and
    include a self-addressed envelope and sufficient postage so that you may receive a QSL card.

    These transmissions are sponsored by Sentech, the common carrier for broadcasting signals in South Africa and Telkom who provides the
    transmission lines. Various local repeater frequencies on 2 metres and 70
    cm are also used in your area.

    We thank all contributors to this bulletin and all stations who so reliably relay these bulletins. This bulletin was compiled by George, ZS6NE, and
    read by ZS.... in ....... You have been listening to ZS6SRL. This transmission now ends and we wish you a pleasant week.

    The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute
    Information regarding amateur radio to sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@mweb.co.za. Please submit in Afrikaans and English wherever possible.

    This transmission now ends and we wish you a pleasant week.
    /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)