SARL NEWS SUNDAY 07 April 2013

You are listening to ZS6SRL, the official radio station of the South
African Radio League, the national body for amateur radio in South
Africa. The SARL broadcasts 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 via Echolink, connect to ZS0JPL-R.

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

Your newsreader this morning is (name and call sign), on 145,725 from
Pretoria, with relays on 7,066 MHz and 3,695 MHz SSB. (Other news
readers change to suit).

SILENT KEY

It is with regret that it must be announced that the key of Martin
Coetzee, ZS6BQA, went silent on 16 March 2013 due to a motor cycle
accident in Rustenburg.

Our sincerest condolences to Martin's relatives and friends.

(PAUSE)

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

ICASA IS GETTING TOUGH ON ISP's

RADIO AMATEURS HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR

UK AMATEUR HEARD OVER 2 000 km USING ONLY 10 MILLIWATT

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

ICASA IS GETTING TOUGH ON ISP's

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has sealed and
seized WBS radio communication equipment at six Gauteng sites. This has
affected persons who connect to the internet using services from IBURST
and WBS. The Authority's inspectors are conducting tests to verify
allegations that WBS has or is reconnecting the affected radio
communication equipment.

In October 2012 ICASA adopted a hard-line approach to non-compliance
with regard to the collection of outstanding radio frequency licence
fees. As a result, ICASA inspectors commenced with investigations that
led to the crackdown on WBS earlier this week. ICSA's action against
WBS forms part of a national drive to recover all outstanding licence
fees from electronic communications, broadcasting and postal licensees.
To this end, the Authority has been engaging several affected licensees
to make payment arrangements for all outstanding radio spectrum licence
fees.

On Friday in an interim order the High Court order informed ICASA to
return the equipment to WBS but the saga is far from over. Early
Saturday morning ICASA issued a statement saying that they acknowledge
the Interim Court Order of the South Gauteng High Court to hand back
radio communications equipment that the Authority sealed and seized
earlier this week. The Interim Court Order is valid until 25 May 2013
and does not exempt WBS from their obligations, as the operator is
still required to settle all outstanding radio frequency licence fees.

Several Radio Amateurs who are using IBURST reported intermittent
internet outages.

RADIO AMATEURS HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR

Radio Amateurs have nothing to fear ICASA told the SARL. Invoices for
the current license year have been posted. There are still delays in
the Post Office so it may take longer before the invoices are received.
The ICASA spokesperson said that Amateurs who wish to pay before
receiving their invoice can do so but must make sure that they include
the license number and call sign in their payment advice.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO BOOK FOR THE SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION

If you have not yet booked for the SARL National Convention, do it this
weekend. Avoid having to pay a late registration fee which applies for
bookings made after 9 April. To get the full programme and the booking
form go to www.sarl.org.za and follow the links from the home page.

Join a large contingent from Cape Town and many local Gauteng radio
amateurs for this annual event. The Dinner fee includes tickets to the
lucky draw which includes an ICOM handheld and dual band antennas
sponsored by Sam Ford of Radio Accessories and Data Modems.

If you have any booking problem contact Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL, at 082 546
5546.

UK AMATEUR HEARD OVER 2 000 km USING ONLY 10 MILLIWATT

Eddie Bennett, G3ZJO, of Northampton in the United Kingdom is not
making any claims. Even so he may now hold a QRP distance record for a
micro power transmission using a Raspberry Pi microcomputer as a
transmitter.

Bennett reportedly used the 10 milliwatt of RF that can be generated
from the Raspberry Pi computer board to be heard at over 2 000 km on
the 7 MHz band. The Raspberry Pi board can be made to operate as a WSPR
mode transmitter covering Low, High and VHF frequencies up to 250 MHz.
G3ZJO connected the board via a low pass filter to a dipole for the 7
and 14 MHz bands. A small Marconi inverted L at a height of only 6
metres was used on 472 kHz.

WSPR (pronounced "whisper") stands for "Weak Signal Propagation
Reporter". It is a computer program used for weak-signal radio
communication. The program was initially written by Joe Taylor, K1JT,
but is now open source and is developed by a small team. The program is
designed for sending and receiving low-power transmissions to test
propagation paths on the MF and HF bands.

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer board that plugs into
a TV and a keyboard. The Raspberry Pi Model A and Model B boards are
supplied as board only, and come without operating system, SD card,
power supply, keyboard, case or cables. In South Africa Raspberry PI is
available from RS Components. The cost is under R500.

Among the stations who received Eddie's WSPR signal on 40 metres was
LA9JO at a distance of 2 124 km. On 20 metres he was heard by LY2BOS at
a distance of 1 736 km. 472 kHz did not fare anywhere near as well.
Even so he was heard some 80 kilometres away by G4KPX.

If you want to give micro power Raspberry Pi DXing a try, the PE1NNZ
code and binary to turn the minicomputer into a super QRP signal
emitter is available at tinyurl.com/raspberry-pi-transmitter.

Here is a challenge to South African Radio Amateurs. The first South
African radio amateur to be heard on 40 metre by another radio amateur
using a Raspberry Pi will be awarded an ARRL Basic Antenna book. Tell
SARL News about your experiments at and include
proof of your signal having been received over at least 500 km.

WORLD AMATEUR RADIO DAY 18 APRIL

What is your club doing to celebrate world amateur radio day on 18
April? From the NARC in Gauteng ZS9DCC will be on the air. Join Geoff,
ZS6GRL, and his team in demonstrating amateur radio. Operators are
still needed. Call Geoff on 082 546 5546. Send details of your club
activity to for inclusion in next Sunday's
SARLNEWS. The theme for the day is Celebrating a Century of Disaster
Communications Support by Radio Amateurs. If nothing else, take your
hand-held to work on 18 April and create an interest in Amateur Radio.

THE SARL HOME PAGE AND DISCUSSION FORUMS ARE OPEN TO ALL

The SARL Home Page and Discussion Forums are open to SARL members as
well as all non members, local or foreign. All that is required is to
open the Home Page with the URL: www.sarl.org.za The Home page covers
Radio Today, HF Update by Dennis Green, ZS4BS, VHF/UHF and Microwave
News by Mike Bosch, ZS2FM, Contest News by Geoff Levey, ZS6GRL, and an
index of SARL Forum Current Topics.

To open the Discussion, click Forums on the SARL Home Page when a
request will appear for your password. If you are not a subscriber you
may register by filling in your call sign, password, URL and then
login. Give it some time to be processed and you will be informed in
due course that you are a new subscriber. Just remember your password.

There are currently 4 193 topics and 1 918 subscribed members of whom
949 have made 51 267 posts in 15 Forums. There are also 16 511 archived
posts in 1 587 archived topics.

ANOTHER CLUB AFFILIATES WITH THE SARL

This week the SARL welcomes the Wolkberg Amateur Radio Club as an
affiliate member. More about the club can be obtained from
www.zs6twb.za.net/. The club is inter alia actively involved in VHF and
UHF experiments and undertakes training for the RAE in Polokwane and
environment.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

An application for membership of the SARL have been received from Monty
Nell, ZS6CEW.

Any objections against the acceptance of the application must reach the
Secretary before or on the Tuesday after this bulletin.

HAMNET SIMULATED EMERGENCY COMPETITION RESULTS

The organizers of the Hamnet simulated emergency competition has
requested that the following names be added to the results of this
competition:

Category C. ZS1KR, South Cape Amateur Radio Club, 1 440 points

Category D. ZS6FDX, Francois Reyneke, 1 854 points.

The omission of the names of these participants in the previous
bulletin is regretted.

PROPAGATION REPORT

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that the solar activity is expected to
continue at low levels. Sunspot AR 1 713 is experiencing a growth spurt
but it is not yet producing significant flares.

If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected
effective sunspot number for the week will be around 71.

All the bands from 20 to 10 m will provide lots of DX fun with 20 m
providing the best openings with 15 m not far behind. There will also
be 10 m openings on sunlit paths in the afternoons.

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

DIARY OF EVENTS

18 April - World Amateur Radio Day and ZS9DCC on the air. Operators
required, email Geoff to or call him on 082 546
5546. April 20-May 1 - Commemorative station PB33BQ on the air, see
pa7da.jouwweb.nl/pb33q for more information. 26- 27 April - SARL
National Convention, register now, get details on www.sarl.org.za.
15/16 June - First weekend of International Museums Weekend special
event, register your museum station at www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw.
22/23 June - Second weekend of International Museums Weekend special
event.

SARL News invites clubs and individuals to submit news items of
interest to radio amateurs and short-wave 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, 7 025, 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 16:30 UTC on
3 230 kHz. Reception reports, comments and suggestions are invited.
Send an email to .

Sentech sponsors the transmissions on the non-amateur frequencies.

We wish all our listeners a happy Easter and our Jewish listeners happy
Passover.

You have listened to a bulletin of the South African Radio League
compiled and edited by George Honiball, ZS6NE.

Thank you for listening, 73.

/EX

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