Subj : SA Radio League News Bulletin for Sunday 11 March 2001
To : SA Radio League
From : Richard Peer
Date : Sat Mar 10 2001 03:05 pm
SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY MARCH 11 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
[email protected] to e-mail it to you in either text or MSWord
6.0 format.
Here are the headlines of today's news:
BACAR TO FLY ON MAY 19, FIRST PROJECT BRIEFING ON MARCH 14
INTECNET TO DISCUSS PROPAGATION
AMATEUR RADIO AT HOME
RADIO ZS delayed
RADIO AMATEURS VISITING NEW ZEALAND
PROPAGATION REPORT
You are listening to ZS6SRL. The news follows in detail.
BACAR TO FLY ON MAY 19, FIRST PROJECT BRIEFING ON MARCH 14
BACAR will fly again on Saturday 19 May in celebration of the ITU world
telecommunications day .The South African Radio League recently decided to
re-introduce the BACAR project that was so popular a decade ago. BACAR is
the acronym for Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio, a project that involves the
flight of a weather balloon with several radio transmitters and experiments.
A BACAR information and planning meeting will be held at the SARL National
Amateur Radio Centre on Wednesday 14 March at 18:00. All interested in BACAR
are invited to attend. At the briefing various payloads will be discussed
and project teams established. In you are resident in Gauteng, this is an
ideal opportunity to get hands-on.
The NARC is situated at Sender Technology Park, Radiokop, Roodepoort. For
directions send an Email to
[email protected] or telephone Wally Sime on 011
675-2393 weekdays between 09:00 and 13:00.
INTECNET TO DISCUSS PROPAGATION
The next Intecnet 2001 on Sunday 1 April at 20:00 will discuss radio
propagation. A panel of local and international experts will be looking at
the current cycle. Have we reached mid point? How fast is the decline
likely to be and what is in store after that?
Clubs wishing to link interactively should email their details to
[email protected]. Please state the telephone number to be linked to the
Telkom teleconference bridge and the frequencies on which the club will
transmit interactively.
AMATEUR RADIO AT HOME
To celebrate International telecommunications day which is annually held on
May 17, the SARL is holding a major all day amateur radio event at the
National Amateur Centre in Gauteng on Saturday 19 May.
The programme which is currently being finalised will include an ARISAS event
to prepare school teachers for a week long course to be held in July, a huge
flea market, showing of the film Frequency and an introduction to the Amateur
Radio Monitoring Programme. There will be on the air activity from the Icom
Reno Faber memorial station, food stalls and a beer garden to ensure a fun
day for all. Undoubted the highlight of the day will be the launch of BACAR.
Note the day on your calendar May 19 Amateur Radio at Home at the National
Amateur Radio Centre.
RADIO ZS delayed
The new format Radio ZS has been delayed and will be printed and despatched
as soon as there is some clarity of when postal deliveries will normalise.
Arrangements are being made to have the new Radio ZS available on the SARL
Web at www.sarl.org.za from next weekend. It will be in PDF format, a
software package that ensures a perfect download. A PDF reader is available
as shareware, details and links will also be included on the web.
RADIO AMATEURS VISITING NEW ZEALAND
An extract from Q-NEWS Australia reads as follows:
ZL is one of very few countries in the world where licensed amateurs visiting
from overseas can immediately operate without the hassle of getting a ZL
licence and without paying a licence fee!
A visiting amateur can walk down the airbridge from the arrival aircraft into
the terminal building and start operating on 144 MHz and above with the
callsign ZL / (homecall. This privilege didn't just happen. It was
suggested by NZART and obtained by them working closely with the New Zealand
Administration.
UNITED STATES - AMATEUR RADIO MOUNTS QUICK QUAKE RESPONSE
Hams responded within minutes after an earthquake hit the Seattle area the
morning of February 28.
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service (RACES) teams in the quake zone were mobilised within minutes of the
event. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) and the
Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) also activated.
Amateur Radio operators also set up a temporary 2-meter net to assist the Red
Cross with damage assessment. An unconfirmed report says one ham used an ATV
link from a helicopter to the State EOC--where Gov Locke was on hand--to
survey the damage below.
All were "deeply impressed" by the speedy amateur response. (Q-NEWS)
PROPAGATION REPORT
Ean Retief, ZS1PR, reports as follows: The Solar Flux reached its low point
last Saturday with a value of 130 and then started to rise. It peaked on
Wednesday at a value of 177 and then started to decline rapidly.
It is now foreseen that the peak of the last week was very short-lived and
that the value in the coming week will mostly be around the 160 value.
The last three weeks has been characterised by a quiet Sun with few flares
and other outbursts. From 13 February to the 7th March no major Solar Flares
was noted.
Things changed from Thursday to three M-class Solar Flares and a whole series
of smaller C-class flares was noted.
One was a M-class that occurred at 13:18 SAST and it was accompanied by a
"lopsided" Coronal Mass Ejection.
The general consensus are that the ejected material should strike a glancing
blow to the Earth's magnetic field. This should occur in the 24 hour period
between noon today and noon tomorrow.
No major effects are expected, but you can expect that once the ejected
material has arrived, the noise levels on the lower bands will increase
dramatically for the next two or three nights. The major effects should be
around your local midnight.
From Thursday the 15th onwards the Earths magnetic Field should be quiet
again.
CLUB ACTIVITIES
MORSE PRACTICE BY VARIOUS CLUBS
Isaac Greeff, ZS2ZG, of PEARS club will start presenting morse classes over
the air from Monday 19 March 2001 in the 80 metre band on 3640 kHz. Two
letters will be sent randomly at 12 wpm for the first period, then gradually
adding more characters on subsequent nights. He will periodically read back
on lower sideband what he has just sent. The sessions will run from 18:30 to
19:15 Mondays to Thursdays. At the end of each session, Isaac will listen on
the Eastern Cape 2 metre link for feedback from ZR operators. Unlicensed
listeners and those out of range of the repeater system are asked to report
to him on (041) 371 2160 or e-mail him at
[email protected] to say how they
are progressing.
Mannie de beer, ZS6AK, of Centurion Amateur radio Club presents morse classes
Mondays to Thursdays from 19:00 - 19:30 SAST on 145,775 MHz. He presently
sends 5 letter groups and also short sentences at 5 - 7 wpm. You are invited
to participate in the morse classes.
He also presents RAE classes at his QTH on Saturdays from 14:00 - 17:00 SAST.
Those interested to attend these classes can contact him at (012) 808-5221.
SLOW SCAN TV
A number of amateurs interested in Slow Scan TV are active on Friday evenings
from 19:00 on the 145,750 MHz repeater. You are all invited to participate
and to send those beautiful and rare pictures over the air. Just call in and
be one of the group. This is a very interesting facet of amateur radio.
The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club will be holding a fleamarket and boot sale on
Saturday 31 March at 08:00. This will again be a grand occasion and all are
welcome to visit us at the University grounds as usual. Reserve the 31st for
a nice get-together and bargain hunt. Contact Hans ZS6KR for more
information and table bookings at 012 333 2612.
The Coalfields Radio Club invites all Radio amateurs and clubs to participate
in a food making contest and get-together day that will take place in Witbank
on Saturday the 7th of April 2001 at 15:00 till late. Directions will be
given on repeater frequencies 145.375 and 438.875 MHz and on simplex
frequency 145.500 MHz or you can contact Richard, ZS6RGS on cell no. (082)
500-5621 or at home after 15:30 weekdays at (013) 692-6754. Come and enjoy
this day with us.
DATES TO REMEMBER
A BACAR information and planning meeting will be held at the SARL National
Amateur Radio Centre on Wednesday 14 March at 18:00. All interested in BACAR
are invited to attend.
Centurion Amateur radio Club will hold its AGM on 24 March 2001 at 15:00 SAST
at the club house on the corner of Duncan and Prospect Streets. Potjiekos
will be the special dish.
The next Intecnet 2001 on Sunday 1 April at 20:00 will discuss radio
propagation. A panel of local and international experts will be looking at
the current cycle. Have we reached mid point? How fast is the decline
likely to be and what is in store after that?
The closing date for registration for the May RAE is April 10, registration
fee R135, and for late registration April 17 with registration fee R235.
The SARL AGM will be held in Cape Town over the weekend of 27-28 April 2001.
More details will be announced later.
The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute information
regarding Amateur Radio to
[email protected] with a copy to
[email protected].
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.
Correspondence for Amateur Radio Mirror International is via
[email protected]. 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, individuals, clubs and other organisations 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 bulletin now ends and Sarlnews wish you a pleasant week.
Goodbye to 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)
