SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 24 JANUARY 2010

You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official radio station of the South
African Radio League, the national body for amateur radio in South
Africa, with a news bulletin every Sunday at 08:15 CAT in Afrikaans and
at 08:30 CAT in English. To listen to a web-stream, visit
www.sarl.org.za, click on ARMI and follow the links for details. PLEASE
NOTE: for audio via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

You can download this bulletin and previous ones from www.sarl.org.za
and subscribe to receive future bulletins by e-mail.

Your newsreader this morning is (name), (call sign), on 145,725 and
7,066 MHz from Pretoria, with relays on 28,325; 14,235; 10,130, 7,066
and 3,695 MHz SSB, as well as 52,750; 438,825 and 1 296 MHz FM in the
Pretoria area. (Other newsreaders please change to suit.)

SILENT KEYS

It is with deep regret that the passing of two radio amateurs is
announced.

Dwight West, AD7AQ, ex ZS6NT, became a silent key on 25 December 2009.
We extend our sincere condolences to his wife Lyn, family and friends.

Dave Ingram, K4TWJ, became a silent key on Wednesday 20 January as a
result of complications from a severe heart attack he suffered on 1
January. Dave wrote the Ham Pride column in Radio ZS. We express our
sincere sympathy to his wife Sandy, WB4OEE, family and friends.

PAUSE

In the news today:

A CUBESAT FOR SOUTH AFRICA

BACAR 2010 POSTPONED

NOMINATIONS AWAITED FOR SARL AWARDS

A NEW SARL CONTEST COMMITTEE

You are listening to ZS6SRL. Stay tuned for more detail on these and
other important and interesting news items.

A CUBESAT FOR SOUTH AFRICA

The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has recently
launched the F'SATI post graduate programme in Satellite Engineering
covering the broad field of satellite communication and power systems.
The academic programme has been developed to provide students with a
foundation to pursue research in this field.

F'SATI, the French-South African Institute of Technology, focuses on
Electronic Engineering, Information and Communication Technology
addressing three niche areas. Two of these are offered at the Tshwane
University of Technology (TUT): Enabled Environment and Communication)
while the third, Satellite Systems Engineering is offered at CPUT.

The academic programme is supplemented by practical experiments on a
real satellite. Students will build a 3U CubeSat. The CubeSat concept
originated from a partnership between the California Polytechnique
University in San Luis Obispo and Stanford University in Paulo Alto.
Between them, they developed a standardized space platform for academic
satellite projects. It has since grown to become an international
partnership of over 40 institutes that are developing Pico satellites
containing scientific payloads. A standard CubeSat is a 10 cm cube with
a mass of up to 1 kg.

Prof. Robert van Zyl, deputy director of F'SATI said at the launch of
the new satellite clean room facilities at CPUT's Bellville campus that
students will be building a 3U CubeSat which is three standard 10 x 10
cm cubes stacked on top of each other. The payloads will include a
camera, a parrot repeater and a transponder. In partnership with the
Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, a HF beacon will be included to assist
the HMO to calibrate their radar systems in the Antarctic. A new type
of magnetometer is also under consideration.

Prof. Van Zyl said that the CPUT was fortunate to have received a
substantial financial contribution from the Department of Science and
Technology through the National Research Foundation. He said from now
on the clock starts ticking to complete the project in time to have a
flight model on the table by October 2011 when the International
Astronomy Conference is held in Cape Town.

Delegates attending the SARL Radio-Technology-in-Action symposium, to
be held in Cape Town later this year, will have an opportunity to visit
the clean room facilities.

BACAR 2010 POSTPONED

BACAR 2010, which was scheduled for launch later this morning from the
Worcester airport, has been postponed due to disagreements between
authorities controlling the airspace. Cape Town Air Traffic Control
withheld permission for the launch.

SA AMSAT and the BACAR team apologize to all radio amateurs who were
planning to participate later this morning. A new date will be set as
soon as the problems have been resolved.

SLOW MARCH TO 1 400

It is still an uphill march for the SARL membership to reach the target
of 1 400 by the end of the month. On Friday the number stood at 1 340,
60 short of the target. If you have not yet renewed, do it now or join
for only R200 until the end of June. Call Mariska on Monday at 011 675
2393 or better still complete the form on the web at www.sarl.org.za.

HAVE YOU PREPARED FOR THE STRATEGY INDABA ON THE AIR?

The Council of the SARL will meet for a strategy indaba in early March
and you will have the opportunity to brief councillors of what you
would like the SARL to focus on over the next two years. Take part in
the discussion on the President's net on Sunday 31 January at 19:30.

If you cannot join the SARL President on the Net, send your ideas by
e-mail to and your suggestions will be read out on the
air. You may also fax them to 088 011 675 2793 but before Thursday
afternoon.

ONLY SIX PLACES LEFT AT THE DURBAN HOME CONSTRUCTION COURSE

There are only six places left at the Home Construction Course to be
held in Durban on Saturday 6 February at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal. The cost is R300 for SARL members and R700 for
non-members. If you have not yet booked for the Durban course, do not
delay. The course fee includes a CD with schematic- and PCB -generating
software for Windows together with a practical demonstration that will
turn your circuit into a first case industrial grade project.

The course is intended to give the following skills How to make SMD
quality PCBs; How to mount SMD components; How to make Industrial
quality face plates and labels.

In Port Elizabeth, the course will be held on 20 February.

If you have booked, please check that your details are on
www.amateurradio.org.za/hcc2010.htm or follow the RTA link from
www.sarl.org.za. If you'd like to book, do not delay. The form can be
downloaded from the home construction page.

NOMINATIONS INVITED FOR SARL AWARDS

The closing date for clubs and SARL members to submit nominations for
the following SARL awards is drawing nearer.

Honorary Life Membership - the SARL's highest honour;

The Willie Wilson Gold Badge - awarded to the amateur who gave
exceptional and meritorious service to the League;

The Jack Twine Award - bestowed on amateurs who, in the opinion of
their fellow amateurs and the league's council, exemplify the qualities
desirable in a radio amateur;

The Arthur Hemsley 2 m Trophy - awarded for extraordinary performance
on EME or modes such as tropospheric propagation;

The Barney Joel Trophy - awarded for the best performance during the
year whilst working HF mobile;

The Joseph White Plaque - awarded for exceptional achievements in the
432 MHz band during the past year;

The Bert Buckley Six metre Trophy - awarded for individual achievements
with transmissions in the 6 m amateur band;

The ICOM Excellence Award - bestowed annually on the amateur who
through his/her activity in the Amateur Service has brought
international recognition to South Africa;

The Radio ZS VHF Trophy - awarded to the amateur who achieved the
longest distance on the 2 m amateur band during the year.

Nominations must reach the Secretary by no later than 31 January. They
must be addressed to The Secretary, SARL and mailed to PO Box 1721,
Strubensvallei, 1735, or faxed to 088 011 675 2793.

REPORT ON THE PEARS NATIONAL VHF/UHF CONTEST

From reports received so far it appears that there was more countrywide
activity than ever before. It is the first time in the history of the
PEARS contest that the country has really been criss-crossed on VHF.

Derek, ZS5Y, of Scottburgh logged Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Kimberley,
Pretoria, and more on 50 MHz; and - on 144 MHz - he worked Cape Town,
Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Nigel, Haven, amongst others. He contacted all
six divisions with the longest distance, 1 229 km, achieved on digital
mode.

André, ZS2ACP, of Port Elizabeth, worked ZS6WAB in Polokwane over 1 181
km and Sian, ZS3SVD, in Delportshoop (630 km) on 50 MHz; this was
followed by ZS6WAB (1 181 km) on 70 MHz. On 144 MHz ZS2ACP scored with
the following contacts: ZS2GK (Haven, 368 km), ZS6TAF (Johannesburg,
909 km), ZS4N (Bloemfontein, 536 km), ZS5Y (Scottburgh, 646 km) and
ZS6OB (Pretoria, 943 km). These digital contacts were made via meteor-
and tropospheric scatter.

The tropospheric conditions on Friday night were poor at first, but as
conditions were enhanced, the 144,400 MHz FM DX channel became a
beehive of activity throughout the contest period. Initially the
tropospheric inversion layer favoured the high-altitude stations, for
example Eric, ZS2ECH, of Port Elizabeth worked ZS2NB in East London on
144,200 MHz SSB with a signal report of only 5-5, but later when the
layer dropped lower, ZS2NB was romping in at S9-plus on FM. Numerous
analogue contacts were made along the coast from Dana Bay to the Haven
that included seven field stations.

The best analogue contact that occurred inland was between ZS3SVD in
Delportshoop and ZS6CBQ in Krugersdorp on 144,200 MHz SSB over a
distance of 400 km. We have learned a lot from this contest and next
year's should be even better.

CONTEST NEWS

A NEW SARL CONTEST COMMITTEE

Are you interested in HF or VHF/UHF Contesting? The SARL would like to
form a new Contest Committee. Some of the tasks of this committee would
be the management of HF and VHF/UHF contests, updating contest rules,
creating new contests, dealing with disputes and issuing the annual
contest manual. If you would like to serve on this committee, please
send you name to by Sunday 31 January.

The SARL 80 m Phone Club Contest will be run on Wednesday 27 January
from 19:30 to 20:30 CAT. This will be a phone-only contest; the
exchange is a RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at
001. Each contact counts 1 point and stations may only be contacted
once during the session. The individual scores count towards a radio
club's overall score.

PROPAGATION

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. Currently sunspot region 1 041 is still active. A new record
solar flare for cycle 24 took place on Wednesday near region 1 041. The
effective sunspot number is expected to be between 20 and 30 for the
coming week. Overall conditions are slowly improving.

15 and 20 m will provide the best opportunities for DX. Conditions to
India will be good from the afternoon onwards. During the late
afternoon and early evenings, it will be moderate towards Europe. In
the afternoons there are good possibilities of contacts with the USA on
15 m. Contacts with New Zealand will be possible for a short while on
15 m during the mornings. Contacts with Australia will be possible on
20 m for a short while during the mornings. During the afternoons and
evenings 15 and 20 m contacts may also be possible with Brazil.

Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the daytime. 80 m
may perform well during the early mornings and late afternoons over the
shorter distances. 30 m will perform well over the longer distances
during the middle of the day. With summer here, 20 m is also once again
very useful for contacts over the longer distances, especially up to
14:00. 80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings.

Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

DIARY OF EVENTS

27 January - SARL 80 m Phone Club Contest; 31 January - President's net
at 19:30; 31 January - Closing date for AGM motions and SARL Awards; 31
January - Closing date for Contest Committee nominations; 6 and 7
February - AWA CW Activity Day; 6 February - Home Construction course
in Durban; 20 February - Home Construction course in Port Elizabeth; 28
February - New closing date for the SumbandilaSat essay competition; 28
February - Final date for entries in the ARRISS-SAT project to be
submitted to ; 27 March - 2010 SA AMSAT Space
Symposium.

SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of
interest to radio amateurs and shortwave listeners. Submit news items,
if possible, in both English and Afrikaans to
www.sarl.org.za/newsinbox.asp, not later than the Thursday preceding
the bulletin date.

The SARL also invites you to listen to Amateur Radio Mirror
International every Sunday morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the
Pretoria-area, with relays on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 860 kHz. There is
also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit
www.sarl.org.za, click on 'ARMI' and follow the links. A repeat
transmission can be heard on Mondays at 21:00 CAT on 3 215 kHz.

Sentech sponsors the ARMI transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.
You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League
compiled by Dennis, ZS4BS. The bulletin editor was Jannie, ZR6PHD.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX