SARL NEWS - SUNDAY 25 MARCH 2012

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 'Amateur Radio Today' and follow the links
for details. For audio over 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 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news
readers change to suit).

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

BOOK NOW FOR THE SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION

LEARN ABOUT SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO

YOUR LICENCE FEE IS DUE NOW

IMPORTANT LICENSE INFORMATION

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

BOOK NOW FOR THE SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION

Have you booked for the 2012 SARL National Convention? If you have not,
do it now. Here are some of the highlights. On Friday evening meet the
locals and join an historical journey on "How SA's electronics industry
started in Pinetown and the development of SSB in South Africa". On
Saturday morning attend the SARL Annual General Meeting and on Saturday
afternoon learn about how to build VHF/UHF antennas and get DXing with
Log Book of the World. On Saturday evening is the awards dinner with a
keynote address by Dr Andrew Collier of SANSA Space Sciences. On Sunday
morning the convention is rounded off with a leisurely breakfast in the
Japanese Gardens. Full details and a registration form can be found on
www.sarl.org.za. Your hosts at the SARL National Convention are the
committee and members of the Highway Amateur Radio Club.

SARL AGM DOCUMENTATION

The SARL AGM documentation is now available on www.sarl.org.za. The
documents have also been mailed to members for whom the SARL does not
have email addresses. Members with email addresses have received a mail
and a link to the document. The SARL has received a fair number of
undeliverable returns. If you did not receive an email about the AGM,
please update the SARL records by sending your name, call sign, full
postal address and email details to .

LEARN ABOUT SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO

Learn about Software Defined Radio with the ABC of Soft Software
Defined Radio just released by the ARRL. The 69 page soft cover book is
an introductory guide to SDR and Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
technologies. Written in a friendly style, it offers a straightforward
look inside SDR and provides the foundation for those who want to
understand the subject on a more fundamental level. As you read you
will discover the basic principles of SDR, advantages to SDR technology
and ways to utilise it in Amateur Radio - with the minimum of
mathematics. It is available from the SA Amateur Radio Development
Trust. Visit www.amateurradio.org.za and select books from the home
page.

While talking about books the 2012 ARRL Handbook and the Antenna Books
are still available by mail order. Both books are hard cover versions.
Another new book available from the website is Basic Radio -
Understanding the key building blocks, an ideal book for RAE student
who wants to know a little more about receivers, transmitters and
antennas.

YOUR LICENCE FEE IS DUE NOW

ICASA has started mailing license renewal notices. The license fee of
R120 is due on 1 April 2012. You may also renew for five years at a
reduced fee of R501. If you do not receive a renewal notice, the SARL
recommends that you pay by using the license number on last year's
invoice and your call sign. Also mail the payment notification plus
your address to . It is essential that in all
payments to ICASA you include your call sign as a payment reference.
Also remember to send any postal and email address changes to


IMPORTANT LICENSE INFORMATION

Approximately 1 700 call signs have been marked by ICASA as "lapsed".
This is as a result of the substantial cleanup that ICASA undertook
during the last year. This is a significant number of lapsed callsigns
and many Amateurs have sometimes unwittingly allowed their licences to
lapse. You may well be affected. As an example there are 43 paid up
members of the SARL who no longer have valid licences.

For more information, you are urged to visit www.sarl.org.za where you
will find more information and what to do.

RTA DATES FOR 2012 ANNOUNCED

The SARL Radio Technology in Action symposium dates have been
announced. This year's RTA programme will be of a more practical nature
and is aimed at increasing your amateur radio experience. The programme
will be finalised in the next two weeks, still giving you the
opportunity to send in your suggestions and speakers proposal. Have you
considered being a speaker at an RTA? Send your suggestions to
.

The 2012 RTA dates a 21 July Durban; 18 August Cape Town; 1
September Port Elizabeth; and 29 September Gauteng.

AMATEUR RADIO TODAY FREQUENCY CHANGE

From Monday (tomorrow) the frequency of Amateur Radio Today will
change. The 19:30 CAT transmission will be broadcast on 3 230 kHz.
Reception reports are invited to .

The Sunday transmission at 10:00 CAT will be on 17 570 and 7 205 kHz.

ICE GOAT 1 APRS BUOY GOES TO SEA OFF ALASKA COAST

A group of Oceanography and Aeronautical engineering students from the
US Naval Academy have deployed a radio equipped ocean buoy rigged to
monitor weather in the harsh conditions of the arctic. Named Ice Goat
1, the buoy was placed off the coast of Point Barrow, Alaska. Once the
winter ice melts the buoy will begin its sea voyage.

In addition to its scientific monitoring gear, Ice Goat 1 carries an
APRS beacon operating on 145,825 MHz. The position packets can be
relayed via the International Space Station digipeater.

LONDON OLYMPIC COMMEMORATIVE STATIONS ANNOUNCED

Several special event call signs will be activated to celebrate the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games. The London station, 2012L
will be active through the duration of the games. It will be located at
the historic Eltham Palace, south-east London and will operate on all
modes on 160 through 2 metres. More information about it is on the web
at www.2O12L.com.

The Welsh station 2O12W will be operational on all bands from 160
metres through 23 centimetres and all modes including SSTV and
satellites. It will be located at Whitmore Bay, on Barry Island. More
information on the web at www.2O12W.com.

2O12L and 2O12W will go on the air on July 27th. The Radio Society of
Great Britain has been granted use of the games Inspire trademark for
these stations. Special QSL cards will be available to all stations
contacted.

CONTEST NEWS

SARL 80 METRE CLUB CONTEST, PHONE

The second contest in the series will be run on Wednesday 28 March
starting at 17:30 UTC and ending at 18:30 UTC with phone activity
between 3 603 and 3 650 kHz and between 3 700 and 3 775 kHz. Single
operator or multi-operator stations can participate. The exchange is an
RS report and a consecutive serial number starting at 001. One point is
earned per contact and log entries must be submitted by midnight on
Wednesday 4 April to .

CONTESTS IN APRIL

In April, no less than three contests will take place, details appear
in the Diary of Events.

SARL OFFICE CLOSED

Remember, the SARL office will be closed during March as Mariska Faasen
is overseas on holiday visiting family. Between Henry Chamberlain and
Francois Botha they will attend to emails and telephone messages.
Please send emails to the usual address .

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the Solar activity is dropping off
now that huge sunspot 1 429 has rotated out of view of the Earth. It
sure was fun while it lasted.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions the expected effective
sunspot number for the week will be around 57.

All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with even
some 6 m openings possible.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

28 March - SARL 80 metre club contest, phone, 17:30 UTC - 18:30 UTC. 4
April - log entries for the SARL 80 metre club contest, phone to be in
by midnight to . 5 April - SARL 80 m QSO Party
17:00 - 20:00 UTC. 6-9 April - Western Cape Antique Wireless
Association Ekspo near Stanford, contact John, ZS1WJ, on 082 673 5337
for more information. 7 April - Autumn RaDAR Contest 12:00 to 18:00
UTC. 14 April the Autumn QRP Sprint 12:00 to 15:00 UTC. 20 - 22 April
SARL Convention in Pinetown.

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 17 570 kHz. There is also a podcast by ZS6RO. For a
web-stream and Echolink by ZS6FCS, visit www.sarl.org.za, click on
'Amateur Radio TODAY', go down the green column and click on 'LISTEN ON
THE WEB'. A repeat transmission can be heard on Mondays at 17:30 UTC on
3 230 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 Fritz, ZS6SF.

Thank you for listening, 73. /EX

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