• SA Radio League News Bulletin for Sunday 12 November 2000

    From Richard Peer@5:7106/22 to SA Radio League on Saturday, November 11, 2000 15:09:00
    SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
    SARL NEWS SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12 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.

    SILENT KEY

    The SARL regrets to announce the passing away of Henry Boshoff ZR6HLB on Wednesday 1 November 2000 after suffering a heart attack. To his family and friends we offer our sincere condolences.

    Here are the headlines of today's news:

    SARL TO VOTE FOR PROPOSAL TO LIFT AGM VENUE RESTRICTION

    PEARS NATIONAL VHF/UHF CONTEST

    PHASE 3D GETS FIRM LAUNCH DATE

    2 m BANDPLAN: PROPOSED RESTRUCTURING

    INDABA TO DISCUSS 2 METRE BANDPLAN

    NOMINATIONS FOR RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AWARDS

    REMEMBRANCE DAY SERVICE

    NEW COMMITTEES

    PROPAGATION REPORT

    You are listening to ZS6SRL. The news follows in detail.

    SARL TO VOTE FOR PROPOSAL TO LIFT AGM VENUE RESTRICTION

    SARL members will receive a postal ballot form with their Radio ZS which is currently being mailed. The Council of the South African Radio League is asking members to vote for the reversal of an AGM decision that ruled that annual general meetings must always be held in Gauteng. While the decision
    may have served the SARL well at the time, it is no longer in the interest
    of Amateur Radio's future development in South Africa.

    The Council motion proposes that members and affiliated clubs be asked
    annually to submit proposals to host an AGM. The host will be responsible
    for all expenses associated with an AGM except travel cost for Council.
    With the current national representation on Council this will not represent
    any increase in cost to the SARL.

    Members are asked to follow the instructions on the ballot paper and to
    return it as soon as possible to the address supplied. The final return
    date is 15 December 2000.

    PEARS NATIONAL VHF/UHF CONTEST

    The Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society will again run its popular national VHF/UHF contest in January next year. It will run for 48 hours from 18:00
    SAST on Friday 19 January to 18:00 on Sunday 21 January 2001. Four bands
    may be used: 50, 144, 432 and 1296 MHz. More information in later
    bulletins.

    PHASE 3D GETS FIRM LAUNCH DATE

    AMSAT NEWS SERVICE says it's been informed by "various sources" that the
    Ariane 507 carrying Phase 3D and other satellite payloads aloft will head
    into space Wednesday, November 15, at 01:07 UTC from the European Spaceport
    in Kourou, French, Guiana.

    More in later bulletins.

    2 m BANDPLAN: PROPOSED RESTRUCTURING

    Clubs are reminded to study and discuss the restructuring proposal drafted
    and distributed by the SARL Band-Planner, John, ZS5JF, and to submit their comments to John by the end of this month. His e-mail address is: johnf@futurenet.co.za.

    INDABA TO DISCUSS 2 METRE BANDPLAN

    Some say it is a good plan, other think it is not. Whatever you think,
    please share your ideas during the SARL Indaba on the air. It will be held tonight, Sunday 12 November starting at 20:00 CAT. Clubs that have not yet booked an interactive telephone link have until 11:00 CAT today to do so.
    Send a fax to 012 991 5652 giving details of the telephone to be linked and
    the frequencies on which the club station will be interactive.


    NOMINATIONS FOR SIEMENS RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AWARDS INVITED

    Remember the closing date for nominations for the Siemens Radio Amateur of
    the Year Awards is November 18. The awards will be presented on November
    30. Nominations may be submitted by Clubs or individual radio amateurs.
    Forms are available by sending a request to ARISAS@intekom.co.za of by fax
    to 012 991 5651.

    REMEMBRANCE DAY SERVICE

    Today, Sunday, November 12, the annual remembrance day service in honour of those who gave their lives during two world wars will be broadcast at 10:45
    on the RSG broadcasting service. The service will be conducted by Rev
    Lendus de Villiers, ZS6LLV.

    Clubs are requested to relay the service on their repeaters and radio
    amateurs are requested to otherwise maintain radio silence during these 15 minutes.

    PEARS NATIONAL VHF/UHF CONTEST

    The Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society will again run its popular national VHF/UHF contest in January next year. It will run for 48 hours from 18:00
    SAST on Friday 19 January to 18:00 on Sunday 21 January 2001. Four bands
    may be used: 50, 144, 432 and 1296 MHz. More detail in later bulletins.

    SARL VHF CONTEST RESULTS

    Here are the provisional results for the September leg of the SARL VHF
    Contest. It also appears on the SARL webpage.

    MULTI-OPERATOR FIELD STATION

    1st ZS6PTA 4086 points
    2nd ZS6WR 1933,5 points
    3rd ZS6TDK 1741,5 points
    4th ZS6ERB 1662 points


    FIXED STATION - ALL MODE

    1st ZR6ZL 1342 points
    2nd ZS6EGB 851 points
    3rd ZR6JRN 818 points
    4th ZR6RDU 518 points
    5th ZS6HS 357 points
    6th ZS4NS 201 points
    7th ZS1SUN 139 points

    FIXED STATION - FM ONLY

    1st ZS6XT 373 points
    2nd ZS6BPA 339 points

    The number of logs were slightly up on the March contest but some
    contestants lost valuable points due to sloppy logs containing mistakes in
    the information. One station narrowly missed being excluded under General
    Rule 8 due to mistakes.

    The results will become final in 14 days unless a contester lodges a
    complaint, which must be in writing to the contest committee.

    NEW COMMITTEES

    At the AGM of Suid Kaap Amateurradioklub held on 28 October 2000 the
    following members were elected:

    Chairman: Johan Bekker ZS1 AAC
    2. Vice Chairman: Dawid Petzer ZR1 DJP
    3. Secretary and treasurer: Johan Terblanche ZS1
    4. Additional members: Joe Rosenblatt ZS1 JOE
    Willem van Zyl ZS1 ON
    Hennie Smit ZS1 HBC

    The new Committee elected for the OTL Radio Club at the AGM held on the =
    4th of November is as follows:

    CHAIRMAN ZS6VDW ROELIE VAN DER WESTHUIZEN VICE-CHAIRMAN ZS6CJS BOET SMITH
    SECRETARY/TREASURER ZR6AYG RINA VAN DER WESTHUIZEN
    P.R.O. ZR6AWL TONY LEE
    NEWS BULLETINS ZS6QN ALF CURLINGZ
    ZR6HLP HENNIE VAN DER MERWE
    INSTRUCTOR ZS6GUN MARTIN BLAKE
    TECHNICAL ZS6WW NIC CRONJE
    ZS6DEB DION DE BEER
    TECHNICAL SUPPORTIVE ZR6ASG ALBERT SCHOEMAN
    INSTRUCTOR ZS6HB HELGI BRAITHWAITE
    ADDITIONAL MEMBER ZR6HA HENRI STEYL

    PROPAGATION REPORT

    Ean Retief, ZS1PR, reports as follows:

    In the small hours of Thursday morning a very large Solar Flare occurred.

    With the Solar Flare was a Coronal Mass Ejection. The ejected material left the Sun at a speed of over 2000 km per second, or in other words, at more
    than 7 million km per hour.

    Within minutes the largest amount of protons to date in the current 11-year solar cycle reached the Earth. On several spacecraft the instruments was
    badly affected and had to be shut down. HF communication was disrupted but
    six metre operators made some good contacts on Thursday afternoon.

    Only 31 hours after leaving the Sun the ejected material reached the Earth. This translates into an average speed of nearly 5 million km per hour for
    the journey. On reaching the Earth the speed was still in excess of 3
    million km per hour.

    Fortunately the Earth's magnetic field only received a glancing blow and the effects was not too bad. HF communication was very poor on Friday, improved considerably yesterday but noise levels on the lower bands was still high at night.

    Today and tomorrow the Earth's magnetic field should still be unsettled to active due to a Coronal hole on the sun that will keep affecting the
    magnetic field.

    By Tuesday things should return to normal.


    DIARY OF COMING EVENTS

    The West Rand Amateur Radio club will hold a boot sale on 25 November at the clubhouse in Kroton Ave, Weltevreden Park, Roodepoort. The gates will open
    at 09:00. Plenty to drink and eat will be available. For details contact
    Bill van Zyl, ZS6REV at 011 726-6807 (office) and 011 &26-6892 (home).

    Midlands Amateur Radio Club is pleased to announce a grand
    Fleamarket/Bootsale which will take place at our new Clubhouse at the Natal Carbineers, Greer Street, Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday 25th November,
    starting at 11:00. Talk in on the 750 repeater. No auction - just stacks
    of goodies at bargain prices. No charge for tables, but donations to the
    Club by salesmen welcomed. SARL President Hans Potgieter will attend - why
    not come and meet him? And see the reps from Kenwood, Icom, and Antronic. COME....and enjoy yourselves.

    The Alberton Amateur Radio Club's Year end function and prize giving will be
    on the 2nd of December 2000 from 12:00 at the Alberton Dam, Bloutulp Street, Alberton. It will be a bring and braai and everyone is welcome. For more
    info Phone Michiel, ZS6MDK, at 083 212 5711.

    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. Relays on various 2M repeaters can also be heard. A transmission on 145,400 MHz can be heard again.

    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, especially clubs, to this bulletin and all
    stations who so reliably relay these bulletins. This bulletin was compiled
    by Marten, ZS6ZY, and read by ZS.... in ....... You have been listening to ZS6SRL. This transmission now ends and we wish you a pleasant week.

    /ex
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    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)