SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2011

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 also 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 7,066 and 3,695 MHz SSB.

In the news today:

SARL MEMBERSHIP REACHED 1 500

WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN THE SARL?

LEARNING TO PROGRAM IN WINDOWS

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

SARL MEMBERSHIP REACHED 1 500

The SARL membership reached 1 500 during the past week, the highest
number it has been for many years. Welcome to all the new and rejoining
members.

The lucky winners of the joining competition which ran over the
Christmas period and ended on 15 January 2011 are Lucas Holtzhausen
,ZR6LH, and Stephen Waries, ZS1BSW. Congratulations. Both are the lucky
winners of a 2011/2012 SARL Membership.

WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN THE SARL?

There are still many radio amateurs in South Africa who are outsiders
looking in, expecting the same access to services and information as
members. As one person wrote on the SARL forum this week and we quote a
shortened version of what he wrote "Some of info costs money, rands and
cents, mostly rands. Some non-members prefer to be non SARL members. It
is their own free choice. But some of these non-members demand certain
services from SARL without contributing towards the cost of these
services. They demand it for free."

And that is the point of joining the SARL. For example, from membership
dues the SARL pays affiliation fees to the International Radio Union
supporting the efforts the IARU makes at the ITU level. It is through
the collaborative efforts that we today have the 10, 18 and 24 MHz
allocations and more recently the expansion of 40 metres. These efforts
cost money, people have to travel to attend ITU meetings, lobby
regional telecommunication organisations and attend ITU world radio
conferences. It does not come for nothing.

The WRC-12 Conference Preparatory Meeting (PM) will open in Geneva in
slightly more than a week. Duration will be 2 weeks. Amateur radio will
be represented. The IARU will be following not only Agenda Item 1.23
(500 kHz) but also several others, which might pose a threat to our
bands. The IARU delegation will also be watching the development of the
draft agenda for the next WRC in 2015 or 2016.

Joining the SARL is little to pay for what is done locally and
internationally to make amateur radio prosper.

This year the SARL, for the first time since the formation of the IARU
in 1925, will be hosting the Region 1 triennial conference in August.
Delegates representing more than 90 national societies will be in South
Africa to discuss strategies to keep Amateur Radio the most exciting of
all scientific hobbies. In addition the IARU Administrative Council
will also meet in South Africa immediately after the Regional
conference.

So if you are serious about amateur radio, join the SARL. It is now the
time. Visit www.sarl.org.za to get application forms and information or
call Mariska at 011 675-2393 on Monday,

LEARNING TO PROGRAM IN WINDOWS

The next course the SARL is presenting is "Learning to program in
Windows. Produce your own applications in Windows to run peripherals
from a USB port. The course includes a USB interface that will switch
relays and read push buttons and voltages. The course will be presented
by John Willescroft, ZS6EF. The first course will in Cape Town on
Saturday 19 March 2011. John will teach you how to design your own
shack control program with stand-alone applications. Your very own EXE
files.

Registration is R350 for members and R500 for non-SARL members.
Bookings are now open, so visit www.sarl.org.za , select RTA and follow
the links.

GAUTENG PIC COURSE A GREAT SUCCESS

The course on learning to programme micro controllers, held at the NARC
last Saturday, was a great success with very positive comments received
from participants both from radio amateurs and delegates from industry.


The next PIC course will be held in Cape Town on 16 July. Unfortunately
there are no further PIC courses on the schedule for 2011.

The SA Amateur Radio Development Trust has the ARRL book "PIC
programming for beginners in stock. It comes with a CD containing MPLab
IDE software, device documentation, video files and exercise program
files. It is available by mail order at www.amateurradio.org.za, select
books and follow the links.

TECHNOBYTE TODAY IS ON SELECTING THE RIGHT HEAT SINK

In Amateur Radio Today, John Willescroft, ZS6EF, will discuss how to
decide on what heat sink is required for your project. Also in the
programme is an interview about the SKA with Dr Bernie Fanaroff.

ANOTHER CHANCE TO ENTER THE SPACE WEEK ESSAY COMPETITION

On request from the Gauteng Department of Education the entry date for
the Space Week essay competition has been extended to 31 March. The
main reason is that because of the disruption in education during the
second half of last year, learners had to focus on catching up on their
studies, which left them very little opportunity to devote time to
researching the subject and write an essay. The subject for the Essay
is "If you were an astronaut on the international space station, what
experiment would you like to carry out and why?" Full details on
www.amsatsa.org.za.

CONTEST NEWS

The committee received 12 logs from four radio clubs for the first SARL
80 metre Club contest. The results a

1st West Rand ARC, 152 points from 9 logs 2nd Antique Wireless
Association, 46 points from 4 logs 3rd Port Elizabeth ARS, 17 points
from 1 log 4th Sandton ARC, 9 points from 1 log

The SARL National Field Day will be run next weekend, 12 and 13
February with phone, CW and digital activity on 160 to 10 metres. The
complete rules can be found in the 2011 SARL Contest Manual. The rules
have changed, thus it is important the rules are read before the
contest starts.

CLUB NEWS

The Overberg Amateur Radio Club will be operating a field station on 12
February on the farm Lochinvar just outside of Stanford. They will also
be holding their AGM at the same QTH at 10:00. That evening the Loch
Rock party will also take place, so it seems it is going to be a fun
week end. Visitors are welcome. Contact ZS1AZ by email to
for more details.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is still at low
levels. Sunspot 1 150 is decaying with no substitute at the moment
visible. The effective sunspot number is expected to be less than 15
for the coming week.

15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX followed by 20 m.
Conditions to India will be good from the afternoon till after sunset.
During the afternoons conditions will be fair towards Europe on 15 m,
later to be followed by fair 20 m openings. 15 m contacts with the USA
are possible during the evenings. Contacts with Australia are possible
on 20 m at sunrise. 15 and especially 20 m openings to Brazil and South
America are possible during the afternoons. With the good 15 and 20 m
openings 17 m will also be full of surprises.

For the CW and digital enthusiasts 30 m may be very rewarding with
openings to many parts of the world.

Locally is 40 m the workhorse for contacts around the country with 20
and 30-m also being very useful for contacts over the longer distances.
80 m will be best during the early mornings and late afternoons as well
as over the shorter distances.

80 m is the frequency of choice during the evenings.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

5-6 February - CW Activity day of the Antique Wireless Society. 12-13
February - SARL National Field Day and ZS85SARL on the air for the last
time from Saturday 12:00 CAT to Sunday 12:00 CAT. 12 February -
Overberg Amateur Radio Club field station and AGM on Lochinvar near
Stanford. 21 February - Logs for the SARL field day to be in to the
Bloemfontein ARC 25 February - Logs for AWA CW Activity day to be in to
Andy, ZSADY. 28 February - Offers to host a station at Sun City during
IARU Region 1 conference to be in to . 25 March -
SAiSAT briefing session at the NARC. 31 March - Entries for the Space
Week Essay Competition to be in.

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 Today every Sunday
morning at 10:00 CAT on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area, with relays
on 7 082, 7 205 and 17 560 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 22:05 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 George, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.
/EX
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