SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE NEWS FOR SUNDAY 16 JANUARY 2022 Good morning and welcome to the weekly news bulletin of the South African Radio League read by ................ [your name, call sign, and QTH] The South African Radio League broadcasts a news bulletin each Sunday in Afrikaans and English at 08:15 and 08:30 Central African Time respectively on HF and various VHF and UHF repeaters around the country. The bul- letin is relayed on Echolink by Johan, ZS6JPL. The audio bulletins can be downloaded from the League website at http://www.sarl.org.za while the text bulletin can be downloaded from https://sarlnewsbulletin.wordpress.com. To join the MailChimp bulletin mailing list, send an e-mail to the SARL Secretary. In the news today: THE SARL WEDNESDAY 80 M CLUB CONTEST ON 19 JANUARY THE BO-KAROO ARC DONATES TWO TROPHIES TO THE SARL and THE SUMMER QRP CONTEST ON 22 JANUARY Stay tuned for more information on these and other interesting news items. THE SARL WEDNESDAY 80 M CLUB CONTEST ON 19 JANUARY The first leg of the SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Contest will run from 17:00 to 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 19 January with phone, CW, and digital activity. The exchange is an RS, RST, or RSQ report, your four-character grid square, and the name or abbreviation of your Club. The scoring has changed; you will findalltheinformationonpages57and58ofthe2022BlueBook. Submityour MS Excel log by 21:59 UTC on Monday 24 January to [email protected]. THE SASOLBURG ARC REPEATER On 7 January 2022, the Sasolburg ARC changed the frequency of the Club repeater from 145,600 MHz to 145,6875 MHz. This was done in collaboration and on the proposal of the SARL’s VHF/UHF Manager. Microwavetransmissionsforinternetserviceswithdishesalloverthetown,cause anoscillationat145,000MHz. Thishasbeenreportedallovertheworldandthe manufacturers, do not have a good enough filter to take it away. The result is that when we want to use the 145,600 MHz repeater, with the input at 145,000 MHz, the disturbing oscillation then occurs on the input and is just as strong as a normal amateur signal into the repeater. The end result is that it mixes with the amateur’s signal into the repeater and the listeners receive a signal with interference from the repeater. While ICASA has granted the Club a 3-month test period, the Club committee asks all radio amateurs who also use this repeater frequency in other regions around Gauteng, to send reports of any possible interference as well as signal 1 reports. Send the reports to [email protected]. If the tests are going to be successful and no complaints have been lodged, then the Club will look into using the 145,6875 MHz frequency permanently in Sasolburg. THE BO-KAROO ARC DONATES TWO TROPHIES TO THE SARL The Bo-Karoo ARC has donated two trophies to the SARL. The Tjaard Van Der Walt HOTA Activator and Chaser Trophies will be awarded at the end of each year to the amateur who has activated or chased the most Heritage on the Air sites around the country. The Club is working on the criteria for each trophy; this will be published in Radio ZS and the SARL Awards Directory. Thank you to Tjaard, ZS3DR, and the Bo-Karoo ARC. You are listening to a news bulletin of the South African Radio League. THE 2022 SARL NATIONAL CONVENTION The2022SARLNationalConventionwillbeheldvirtuallyonSaturday9April and Saturday 23 April 2022. On 9 April, the Amateur Radio Technology In ActionSymposiumandon23April,theAnnualGeneralMeetingandtheSARL Awards and Trophies. TheSARLSecretaryhasreceivedfive(5)nominationstoserveonCouncil. Each nomination has been signed by a proposer and a seconder. No motions for the AGM have yet been received. This includes a motion to host the 2023 AGM. Do not send suggestions for Awards and Trophies by e-mail or WhatsApp. Use the nomination form available on the SARL website, fill in the details of the nominee, fill in the motivation, sign the form as proposer and get the required signaturesfromtheseconders. ThensubmittheformtotheSARLSecretarysec- [email protected] by 21:59 UTC on Monday 31 January 2022. No late entries will be accepted. Refer to the SARL Communication dated 12 January 2022. THE SUMMER QRP CONTEST ON 22 JANUARY The West Rand ARC reminds everybody that the Summer QRP Contest is on the air from 12:00 to 13:30 UTC on Saturday 22 January 2022 with CW and SSB activity using 5 watts or less. The first 45 minutes are restricted to the 40-meter band and the last 45 minutes on all contest bands. The exchange is a realistic RS or RST report and your 6-character grid locator. Thisistheidealcontesttosetupafieldstationandhaveapicnic. Donotforget tosendaphotographofyourstationinactionwithyourlog. Turntopage70of the2022BlueBookforalltherules. SubmityourloginADIForCabrillowitha summarysheetormakeuseoftheMSExcellogsheet. Theclosingdateis21:59 UTC on Thursday 27 January 2022 and must be sent to [email protected]. Operating tip: Use the Standard QRP frequencies and hop between these fre- quencies with your memory channels of VFO A and B. 80 m 3,560 CW and 3,710 MHz SSB; 40 m 7,030 CW and 7,090 SSB; 20 m 14,060 CW and 14,285 2 SSB; 15 m 21,060 CW and 21,285 SSB and 10 m 28,060 MHz CW and 28,360 SSB. Good luck hope to copy your call on air! THE SANDTON ARC FOX HUNT ON 30 JANUARY The next Sandton Fox Hunt challenge will take place from 13:00 CAT on Sun- day 30 January with the Fox transmitting on 144,525 MHz and within a 1,5 km radius of the parking area of the James and Ethel Gray Park in Melrose, Johannesburg. You can take a photo of the Fox and announce your success on 145.525 MHz, which is the frequency we will use for general updates during the hunt. The Fox Hunts are open to all, so diarise the date now, get your equipment ready and let us have some fun together. Further details can be found on the SARL forum events page, or send an e-mail request to [email protected] PROPAGATION REPORT Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, reports that solar activity is expected to be at low levels. Therearecurrentlyvarioussunspotswithsimplemagneticconfigurations visible. The probability of C class flaring is high. If you want to do your own frequency predictions, the expected effective sunspot number for the week will be around 48. The 10 to 30 m bands will provide some good DX fun. For more information, please visit the website spaceweather.sansa.org.za. Finally, a diary of some upcoming events: 19 January – The coastal schools open and the SARL 80 m Wednesday Club contest 22 January – The Summer QRP contest 24 January – The closing date for Club contest logs 26 January – The Sandton ARC Talking Tech Power Hour 27 January – The closing date for QRP logs 30 January – The Sandton ARC Fox Hunt 31 January – The closing date for AGM motions, Award nominations, and Council nominations 1 February – The Registration for the May RAE opens 5 February – The SARL VHF/UHF FM Activity Day 6 February – The AWA CW Activity Day To conclude our bulletin, a recap of our main news story: The first leg of the SARL Wednesday 80 m Club Contest will run from 17:00 to 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 19 January with phone, CW, and digital activity. The exchange is an RS, RST, or RSQ report, your four-character grid square, and the name or abbreviation of your Club. 3 This concludes our bulletin for this morning. We invite clubs and individuals to submit news items of interest to radio am- ateurs and shortwave listeners, in both English and Afrikaans, if possible, by following the News Inbox link on the South African Radio League web page. News items to be included in the bulletin should reach the news team no later than the Friday preceding the bulletin date. You are welcome to join us every Sunday morning for the weekly radio pro- gramme, Amateur Radio Today at 10:00 CAT. The programme can be heard on VHF and UHF repeaters countrywide and on 7 082 kHz lower side-band by courtesy of Louis, ZS5LP. A rebroadcast by Andy, ZS6ADY, can be heard on Monday evenings at 19:30 CAT on 3 620 kHz. We welcome your signal reports, comments, and suggestions; please send these by e-mail to [email protected]. You have listened to a news bulletin compiled by Dennis Green, ZS4BS, proof- read by Herman Erasmus, ZS6CTA, and read by .............. From the News Team, best wishes for the week ahead. 4