• SA Radio League News Bulletin for Sunday 24 June 2001

    From Richard Peer@5:7106/22 to SA Radio League on Sunday, June 24, 2001 14:09:00
    SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
    SARL NEWS SUNDAY JUNE 24 2001

    This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News,a
    service by the South African Radio League, the National society for Amateur Radio in South Africa, 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

    It is with regret that it is announced that Eric Grant - ZS5UB - went silent key on the 20 th June. Eric - or "Uncle Baker" as he was fondly known to his many friends, passed away after complications set in after a fall about 10
    days previously when he broke his hip. Being a bachelor, it was only when
    his great friend and neighbour Andre - ZR5APA - found him more than 12 hours later, that medical help was called for.

    Eric was a founder member of the Natal Country Districts Branch of the SARL, more recently known as Pietermaritzburg Branch and now the Midlands Amateur Radio Club.

    The Midlands, and many other nets in which he participated, will be the
    poorer without his strong signal and characteristic, cheery voice.

    PAUSE

    Here are the headlines of today's news:

    RADIO AMATEUR TAKES UP THE ECLIPSE CHALLENGE

    RADIO RECORDS: ANOTHER 73 kHz ACROSS-THE-ATLANTIC SUCCESS

    ARRL FIELD DAY

    EXPANSION OF THE 40 METREBAND TO BE DISCUSSED TONIGHT

    PROPAGATION REPORT

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

    RADIO AMATEUR TAKES UP THE ECLIPSE CHALLENGE

    Dave Karlsen ZR5DK last week popped into the Zululand Observer in Empangeni
    on his way home. They were closed but he rung the bell anyway as there were still two cars outside. The door was answered by two ladies, one a photographer the other the editor. Dave asked them if they had managed to
    get any photos of the eclipse, the answer was no, they tried all their
    filters and none were suitable. Dave volunteered his photos, they were absolutely ecstatic and wanting to know what make of filters he had used.

    Well very calmly and slowly, so that they would be able to absorb what Dave
    was about to tell them and so that they could write down all the details correctly, he told them the following:

    Photo one of the series - Filter used, 1 x smoky face mask held in front of
    the lens, borrowed - Cost R0.00. Photo two of the series - Filter used, 2 x smoky face masks held in front of the lens, borrowed =96 Cost R0.00. Photo three of the series - Filter used, 1 x CD held in front of the lens, borrowed
    - Cost R0.00. Photo four to end of the series - Filter used, 2 x stiffy disk (Scrap) internals held in front of the lens by special filter carrier made of press-stick - Cost R0.00.

    "The Bottom line, the only photos they have for publication are mine. Simplicity strikes again!" he commented to SARL News. Visit the SARL web
    site, www.sarl.org.za to view the pictures.

    RADIO RECORDS: ANOTHER 73 kHz ACROSS-THE-ATLANTIC SUCCESS

    Following the recent transatlantic successes on 136 kHz, initial tests on the UK-only 73 kHz band have had promising results. During the night of Sunday, the 3rd of June, G3AQC transmitted extremely slow Morse using a 30-second dot period. At around 02:00 UTC, part of his callsign was identified by VE1ZJ at
    a distance of 4408 kilometres, more than doubling the previous distance
    record for this band.

    Further tests will be carried out. (CREDIT =96 Newsline).

    ARRL FIELD DAY

    The following was received from KEN ZR5AAD / W8 Michigan, U.S.A.:

    Just thought I'd let you know that this weekend (June 23 / 24th ) is the ARRL Field Day here in the United States.

    Times : START : SATURDAY 23rd =9618:00 UTC END : SUNDAY 24th =9618:00 UTC

    Our club will be located in the Park Township fairgrounds, near Lake
    Michigan, and there shall be a number of stations operational on all bands in the following modes, -all under the call sign K8DAA:

    -HF 10 / 15/ 20 / 40 / 80 / 160 : PHONE AND CW
    -HF 'WARC' BANDS
    -SATELLITE
    -QRP (2-3 experimental solar powered stations running 5 watts CW on HF)
    -6 METERS
    -2 METERS
    -70 cm

    ** PACKET / RTTY / PSK31 and other digital modes not confirmed as of this
    time of writing but will probably become operational as the contest
    progresses.

    As South Africa is rare DX in this part of Michigan it would be wonderful if
    a few ZS stations could give us some valuable contacts from that region. I will operational on the 6 meters but would welcome hearing from friends back home on other modes. Just ask the operator contacted to call me.

    Thank you and best wishes to you all,

    KEN ZR5AAD / W8 Michigan, U.S.A.

    The competition is already on the go but there is still some time left for
    the Dxers to give Ken a pleasant surprise.

    EXPANSION OF THE 40 METREBAND TO BE DISCUSSED TONIGHT

    The South African Radio League will be presenting the next interactive on-the-air discussion tonight, Sunday 24 June 2001 at 18:00 UTC ( 20:00 CAT). The discussion will be relayed by the courtesy of Sentech on 3215 kHz in the
    90 metreband. Radio Amateurs are invited to interactively participate in the discussion on 3718 kHz or via the many linked 2 metre repeaters. Listeners
    may also call in by telephone. The number will be announced during the programme.

    The subject of discussion will be the IARU's quest to work towards a 300
    kHz allocation around 7 MHz and proposed changes to ITU Regulations S19 and S25.

    Details of the IARU 7 MHz proposals can be found on www.iaru- r1.org

    DATE FOR YARIA SET

    The Youth for Amateur Radio (YARIA) event returns in early September when a number of schools will be linked via amateur radio. The date is Wednesday 12 September from 13:00 =96 15:00. The weekday timeslot was chosen as in most instances learners will not return to their schools on a Saturday or Sunday.

    It is envisaged to link a number of stations to the Telkom Tele- conference Bridge to allow for both HF and VHF communication and minimise HF skip conditions. Clubs and individual radio amateurs are invited to put forward their ideas by email, fax or voicemail. The email address is arisas@intekom.co.za, the fax no 012 991 5651 and the voice mail 088 100
    3400. Please respond before Wednesday this week.

    COURSE FOR EDUCATORS

    The SARL will be presenting a course for educators and teachers at the
    National Amateur Radio Centre from 2 =96 7 July. There are a few vacant positions. If you know of a teacher wishing to qualify for an Amateur Radio Licence send his or her details to arisas@intekom.co.za or fax to 012 991
    5651.

    SARL TO SPONSOR NATIONAL WOMAN'S DAY EVENT

    As reported for the past two weeks the SARL will celebrate National Woman's
    Day with a special on the air event on August 9 focussing on Woman in Amateur Radio. The event will be in the form of a national link up with YL amateurs
    in Southern Africa. The event is being planned for 11:00 am using both HF
    and VHF in an Intecnet type link-up. All participants are requested to
    invite non- Amateur lady friends to their station.

    Clubs are needed to assist with the linking. If your club is interested,
    send an Email to armi@intekom.co.za or a fax to 012 991 5651 as soon as possible.

    PROPAGATION REPORT

    Ean Retief, ZS1PR reports as follows:

    Monday evening at 22:21 SAST saw a reasonably large solar flare. In less
    than eight hours the shock wave reached the earth and by 08:00 Tuesday
    morning a minor geomagnetic storm was in progress.

    During the week the solar flux rose to a value of 221. At the moment it is expected that the value will be in the vicinity of 190.

    Solar sunspot region 9513 put in an appearance on the north- eastern limb of the sun. While the group is not very complex, it's x-ray emission is at a fairly high value, so it may become more active later in the week.

    While we are in the winter, you can expect the higher bands to work well
    during the day, but tend to close at sundown. Best results can be expected
    on 20 metres.

    At night good propagation can be expected on 40 metres, so please do not
    ignore the band in the evenings. Good inland contacts can be expected fairly long after sunset.

    CLUB ACTIVITIES

    A sandwich with JAM is most probably the thought that comes to mind when one hears the term YAM. There is more to it! It as well as a few aspects of 9600Bd is the theme of the talk by OM Roy, ZS6MI, planned for the monthly meeting of SAATI. You are personally invited to attend and find out more
    about it.

    Everybody is welcome, members and others. It is planned, DV, for 25 June
    2001 at the Centurion Information Centre (Library) in Cantonments Road, Centurion. The planned start time is 20:00 and tasty snacks will be
    provided.

    If anybody require more information they are welcome to contact OM Louis
    Kruger at louiskruger@yahoo.com or 082-336-2597. (Via packet radio zr6abc@zs0hbt.gau.zaf.af).

    SAATI also sends news and reminders via e-mail, to subscribe send an e-mail
    to saati-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The same service will soon be available
    on packet radio.

    See you all there!

    The Alberton Amateur Radio Club will be holding a fleamarket the coming Saturday 30th of June. This will be a special event as it is in conjunction with a normal flea market and there will be lots of other items on display
    too. It will thus cater for the whole family. There will also be jumping castles for the kids and lots to eat and drink.

    The venue is the Browsers Market on the corner of Swartkoppies and Lincoln
    ave, Alberton. It will start at 8:30 the entrance fee for visitors is R1 and R10 for exhibitors.

    There will be call-ins on 145,475 and contact person is Koos at 082 461 2819.

    The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute information regarding Amateur Radio to sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@freemail.absa.co.za. It will be highly appreciated if it is done in Afrikaans as well as English and send it as early in the week as 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 are sponsored by Sentech, the common carrier for broadcasting signals in South Africa and Telkom who provides the transmission lines. This transmission is repeated Mondays at 20:00 on 3215 kHz. Several relays on 2 m and 70 cm also take place in your area.

    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 P O Box 90438 Garsfontein 0042 and include a self-addressed envelope and sufficient postage so that you may receive a QSL card.

    We thank all contributors, individuals, clubs and other organisations to this bulletin and all stations who so reliably relay these bulletins. This
    bulletin was compiled by George, ZS6NE, and read by..........from.........

    You have been listening to ZS6SRL.

    This bulletin now ends and Sarlnews wishes you a pleasant week.

    Goodbye to all.

    /ex
    --------------------------------------------------
    Internet feed from ZS6NE moved by Richard de ZR6CK

    Regards,
    Richard.

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