SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY JULY 2 2000

This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News , a service from the South African Radio League for the interest of all Radio Amateurs, Short-wave Listeners and Electronic Enthusiasts. For a complete
list of broadcast times and frequencies please send a SASE to Amateur Radio News, SARL, P O Box 1721, Strubensvallei 1735.

This bulletin is also available on the SARL's web pages hosted by Intekom
at www.sarl.org.za, as well as the packet radio bulletin board system. You
may also request sarlnuus@mweb.co.za to e-mail it to you in either text or MSWord 6.0 format.

Here are the headlines of todays news:

WORLD RADIOSPORT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

TEACHERS' COURSE POSTPONED

SLOW BUT SOME PROGRESS TO ESTABLISH THE SPRC

LAUNCH OF THE FILM FREQUENCY

SPECIAL PREFIX TO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

G5RV ANTENNA INVENTOR DIED

You are listening to ZS6SRL, the news follows in detail.

WORLD RADIOSPORT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

The day before yesterday Team Africa left to partake in the World
Radiosport Team Championships. The team comprises Chris Burger, ZS6EZ, and Bernie Van der Walt, ZS4TX.

Preparations have been in progress for more than two years. The first step
was to get selected, as.Since only one team from Africa was invited, they started more than two years ago with preparations to get invited. More recently, they have spent much time and effort working on the necessary hardware. They are taking an FT1000MP and an IC746, with a computer, two keyers and various other gimmicks.

The team has a location East of Ljubljana, in Slovenia. Johan Devoldere, ON4UN, has been appointed as their referee, who will be watching them throughout the contest to ensure that they don't get paid by bookies for information about propagation conditions. They have also not been given a complimentary cellphone.

The team is hoping to make a showing that will not disgrace the locals here
in Africa, even though the competition consists of the best in the world

The WRTC takes place during the IARU contest, on the weekend of 7 and 8
July. The contest runs from 12:00 UTC on Saturday to 12:00 UTC on Sunday.

It's generally a pretty boring contest in the Southern hemisphere, but the
24 hour format (rather than 48) makes it more attractive for a moderately serious effort. However, WRTC adds a new dimension of excitement to the
whole process, and they would really appreciate it if you could make a
serious effort to work them on all bands.

They need zone 57 (the zone which includes ZS, V5 etc.) on each band (10 15
20 40 80) on both modes (i.e. CW and SSB on each band). They also need as many contacts as they can get.

Callsigns will be assigned five minutes before the contest, so they don't
know at this stage what theirs will be. However, all teams will have
callsigns in the format S567W (S5, another two digits and a single letter)
to make them easily identifiable.

They are not allowed to identify themselves as operators, but the accent
should be pretty easy to identify. If you hear an S5 station with a
strange callsign and a Boerseun accent, you'll know which callsign to look
for on all the other bands!

There are several awards available for working lots of WRTC stations. You
can win a special award by making at least 80 WRTC QSOs (you can make 10
with them, so 80 should not be too hard!). There is also a special award
for those sending their logs to wrtc-logs@s5.net before 24:00 UTC on 9
July. These logs will be used to judge participants' logs, and will help a
lot to make the judging more fair.

You can contact the contest committee at scc@bit.si, and you can see more information at http://wrtc2000.bit.si.

They hope to work you on all bands and modes! and send their regards.
Sarlnews wishes Chris & Bernie luck on this undertaking.

TEACHERS' COURSE POSTPONED

Problems with transportation and overnight accommodation has caused the postponement of the Amateur Radio Course for Teachers which was due to have started at the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre last Friday. The SARL is
now seeking suitable overnight accommodation for 30 teachers and funding to hold the course during the September school holidays. The SARL will now go
on an educational fund drive to seek support from Industry and concerned individuals.

Recently the Minister of Education ruled that teachers may not take leave
of absence for courses or any other activities during the period that
schools are in session, hence courses can only be held during school
holidays when accommodation costs are at a premium.

SLOW BUT SOME PROGRESS TO ESTABLISH THE SPRC

This week clubs in two provinces, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape have come forward with nominations for the SARL Strategic Public Relations Committee. Although slow we are now seeing some progress, the Chairman of the
Committee, ZS5AKV, told SARL NEWS. We appeal to clubs in other provinces
to nominate a person to serve on the SPRC to represent their province.

At the SARL AGM held in April, the proposal to form the SPRC was supported unanimously. Many Club Chairmen present at the meeting offered their
support.

"Besides regulatory and spectrum issues there is a potential antenna
problem looming. The act gives Provinces wide powers to deal with
structures that are in conflict with their surroundings, " ZS5AKV said. "Antennas and supporting structures may look good to radio amateurs but are
not necessarily acceptable to other people living in the area. The SARL is addressing the issues and in the process of finding a sponsor in one of the provinces to table an amateur friendly position paper in the Council of Provinces. It is thus of utmost importance that Clubs see to it that their province has a member on the SPRC. We need the manpower to implement a strategic programme to deal with this issue before it develops to the point
of no return." Nominations should be sent to sprc@intekom.co.za. At the
AGM the SARL also launched a campaign to fund the activities of the SPRC. Donations are invited and may be sent to the SARL, P O Box 1721
Strubensvallei 1735. Please mark your cheque SPRC FUND Contribution.

LAUNCH OF THE FILM FREQUENCY

Arrangements have now been finalised for the launch of the film Frequency
on Friday 21 July. Promotion of Amateur Radio is planned for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tune to Amateur Radio Mirror International for the
next few weeks for more details about the promotion and a competition in
which 10 tickets will be given away. Currently clubs have taken care of
the following Nu-Metro Theatres: Hyde Park, and Bedford Centre in
Johannesburg, Menlyn Park in Pretoria, Pavilion in Durban, Loch Logan in Bloemfontein and Walmer in Port Elizabeth. No offers have been received
for the waterfront in Cape Town and Benoni Lake. Clubs in these areas are urged to take part. Please contact ZS5AKV this weekend at 012 344-1521

SPECIAL PREFIX TO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

Amateurs on Cyprus have been granted the use of the special prefix "5B40"
to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their country becoming a Republic.
The special prefix will be used from July 1 till November 30 this year.

G5RV ANTENNA INVENTOR DIED

Louis Varney, G5RV, who invented the world-famous G5RV antenna, died June
28. He was 89.

The G5RV multiband wire antenna for HF is among the most popular of all
antenna designs. Varney first described the G5RV in the November 1966
issue of the RSGB Bulletin. He employed a full-size and a double-size
G5RV, both fed with open-wire feeders, at his own station.

Varney remained an active radio amateur until very recently and kept
regular on-the-air schedules. He was an RSGB member for 74 years and
served as life president of the Mid-Sussex Amateur Radio Society.

RAINSCATTER PROPRAGATION RECORD

On June 17, ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, and noted
VHF-UHFer Al Ward, W5LUA, completed a 515 km rainscatter QSO on 10 GHz.
The contact could be a record for that mode of propagation. Harrison says
the trick was to keep a sharp eye on the weather radar, looking for very strong, appropriately positioned storm cells.

PHASE 3D LAUNCH POSTPONED

AMSAT says the next generation Phase 3D amateur radio satellite could go up
as early as mid September or as late as the end of October. Arianespace recently announced a resumption of Ariane flights from the European
Spaceport after a 3 month flight hiatus. This had been caused by several
prime Arianespace passengers putting their launch preparations on hold
unttil concerns over possible onboard thruster problems had been resolved.

PROPAGATION CONDITIONS

Dwight West, ZS6NT, is still experiencing technical problems and Ean
Retief, ZS1PR,is out of town hence there is unfortunately no propagation forecast this,week.


DIARY OF COMING EVENTS

Remember the special event station, ZS5DBN, operated by radio amateurs from
the Durban Amateur Radio Club that will be on the air coincident with the
80 th anniversary of the South African Airforce, the second oldest airforce
in the world,that will be celebrated at the Virginia airport, near Durban.
The station will be on the air on all bands on July 8 and 9.

A special QSL card will be sent for all QSL's received. Please include one dollar with the QSL card from countries outside South Africa. QSL cards
must be addressed to:

SECIAL EVENT STATION ZS5DBN 26 JIM FOUCHE DR DURBAN NORTH DURBAN 4051

Cards may also be sent via the QSL BUREAU for attention ZS5RIS

The Alberton Amateur Radio Club will have a club meeting and social evening
on Saturday the 8th of July 2000 at their club house in the Civic Center Alberton. This meeting will include a presentation on packet radio. They
will show some video's and hand out the certificates of all the successful
RAE as well as the new ZS certificates. This promises to be an afternoon
to remember and an evening of fun. There will also be games for the kids
and lots to drink.

They will be serving Vetkoek and Soup at R5 per head.

Activities will start at 14:00 and last until late. Please book before the
3rd of July with Michelle van der Merwe at 011 723 1722.

The Sandton Amateur Radio Club will be holding their AGM at the NARC,
Radiokop on Saturday 5th August. The meeting begins at 14:30. All
welcome. Refreshments and snacks will be provided. Please RSVP to Rob
ZS6RAP at 011 708-1875 or 082 567-5649.

The SARL news service invites radio clubs to supply information for
inclusion in the Diary of Events as well as other items of interest to
radio amateurs. Email information to |sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@mweb.co.za at least two weeks before the event. Please submit it in
both Afrikaans and English wherever possible.

The South African Radio League provides this news bulletin as a service to Radio Amateurs and interested listeners on the African Continent. News in
this bulletin was supplied by the SARL news service, individuals, and
amateur radio clubs in South Africa.

Also join us on Sundays at 12:00 for the President's Net on 7082 kHz. This bulletin was compiled by George, ZS6NE and read by.........

A reminder that the interesting program Amateur Radio Mirror International
is on the air on Sundays at 10:00 SAST on 9750 and 21560 kHz and is
repeated on Mondays at 20:00 SAST on 3215 kHz. These transmissions are sponsored by Sentech, the common carrier for broadcasting signals in South Africa and Telkom who provides the transmission lines. The following VHF frequencies are also used: 145,375 for the Northern Free State and Vaal triangle areas 145,400 for the greater Johannesburg area, 439,100 MHz for
the Johannesburg and Pretoria area 145,650 MHz for the greater Durban area
and if conditions permit in Pretoria on 145,750 MHz.

The address for Amateur Radio Mirror International is armi@intekom.co.za. Include your contact telephone number to allow the producers of the
programme to call you for a possible interview. Send written reports to P
O Box 90438, Garsfontein, 0042 and include a self addressed stamped envelope,overseas stations two IRC's, so that you may receive a QSL card. Please note the new postal address.

Thanks to all who gathered news items and have made contributions to this bulletin, due to the length of this bulletin some contributions have to
wait for later bulletins. We thank all stations who so reliably relay the bulletins. We wish you a pleasant week. ZS6SRL now closes down with
ZS6... at the microphone and.......

Goodbye all.
/EX
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Internet feed from ZS6NE moved by Richard de ZR6CK

Regards,
Richard.

--- Msged/Q 1.60
* Origin: QTHR KG44DG, Novell User Group, Pretoria, RSA (5:7106/22)