• SA Radio League Bulletin for Sunday 13 August 2000

    From Richard Peer@5:7106/22 to SA Radio League on Sat Aug 12 16:35:00 2000
    SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
    SARL NEWS SUNDAY 13 AUGUST 2000

    This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News , a service by 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 today's news:

    SARL HF CW CONTEST

    RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION CLASSES IN WESTERN CAPE

    PRETORIA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB AGM AND NEW COMMITTEE

    SANDTON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB COMMITTEE

    NAVAJO CODE

    SHORT CIRCUIT DELAYS SAQ TRANSMISSION

    NEW AMATEUR SATELLITES TO BE LAUNCHED SOON

    MIR NEWS

    SUNSAT SCHEDULE

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

    SARL HF CW CONTEST

    The SSB contest, which saw good participation, is now behind us with the CW contest coming up on the 27th of August. The contest runs from 15:00 to
    18:00 SAST. All radio amateurs in southern Africa may participate.

    The following thropies, unique to the CW contest, are looking for a new
    home:

    The Silent Keys Memorial Trophy: For the highest CW score

    The Anon Trophy:
    For the highest CW score on a single band

    The AKYAB Trophy:
    The highest score in their first year on CW.

    There can be only a handful of trophy winners in the contest. However, the contests provide a good opportunity for anyone, regardless of experience
    and skill level, to see what's possible, and to listen to the experts

    A full set of rules appear on the League's webpage.

    Logs for both the SSB and CW contests should only be submitted to the
    following address: SARL HF Contest Committee P O Box 48052 Hercules 0030

    RADIO AMATEUR EXAMINATION CLASSES IN WESTERN CAPE

    Under the auspices of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre, a course of
    lectures for the November RAE will be given as from the middle of September 2000. The course is open to all candidates irrespective of whether they
    belong to the CTARC or any other club or no club at all.

    As in the past, the classes will be held weekly at the Signals Unit near
    Acacia Park in Goodwood, as this is the most central venue for most of the students who have already indicated their intention of participating.

    The course leader is Pierre Tromp, ZR1PDT, who ran the last series of
    classes which resulted in a 100% class pass rate in the May examination.
    He will be assisted by guest lecturers from the Cape Town Amateur Radio
    Centre and the Boland Amateur Radio Club.

    Interested parties are requested to contact ZR1PDT on 083-229-7795 for full details. They must also remember that enrollment entries must reach the
    SARL HQ on or before 9 October 2000.

    PRETORIA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB AGM AND NEW COMMITTEE

    At a well attended 65 th AGM of the Pretoria Amateur Radio Club held on Thursday evening August 10, the chairman Herman, ZR6HBA, highlighted the following items in his chairman's report (here very much condensed and incomplete):

    1. The dedicated work and unrestricted energy of many individuals, many of whom have long since passed on, that it took to bring the club to what it
    is;
    2. The proud reputation of the club amongst the amateur fraternity;
    3. That despite personal differences decisions were always taken in
    accordance with the single norm of what was the best for the club;
    4. That amateur radio is not just a simple hobby but rather an
    intellectual interest;
    5. The community service rendered through inter alia the provision of communication during rallys.

    The following persons were elected to the committee for the ensueing year: Herman, ZR6HBA, chairman;
    Members to whom portfolios will be allocated at the first committee meeting: Tjerk Lammers, ZS6P;
    Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR,
    Johan de Beer, ZR6YV;
    Rudi Venter, ZS6VER;
    Kattie Venter, ZS6KVR;
    David Grobler, ZS6DSG;
    Don Blackburn, ZS6CRT;
    Richard Peer, ZR6CK;
    Doreen de Bruyn, ZR6DDB;
    Johan de Bruyn, ZR6JHB;
    Carlos D'Almeida, ZS6AJW.

    SANDTON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB COMMITTEE

    The following committee members were elected at the Sandton Amateur Radio
    Club AGM held at Radiokop on Saturday 5th August.

    Chairman: ZS6PHD Peter Hers
    Vice Chairman: ZR6SR Scamp Porter
    Secretary/Treasurer: ZS6COL Colin de Villiers
    Other committee members: ZS6XU Steve Baynes, ZS6RAP Rob Parkinson, ZS6BWS Richard McNally, ZS6GAM Gordon Macmillan, ZS6GBJ Paul Gosselin.

    Council and Sarlnews extends our thanks to the retiring committees and
    wishes strength to the new committees for the ensueing year.

    VK6RBU BEACON FREQUENCY

    The frequency given for this beacon in last week's bulletin is incorrect.
    The correct frequency is 144,560 MHz.

    Please listen for this beacon from 22:00 till past 24:00 SAST. In case of
    any signals heard, please phone ZS2FM on his cell phone No 082 654 0623.

    NAVAJO CODE

    Morse is not the only code.

    Devotees of the TV programme 'The X-Files' will find the following item especially interesting, as will anyone interested in codes of various
    types.

    A native American who helped train the 'Navajo [pronounced 'Nav-a-ho'] Code Talkers' during World War Two, has died. Dooley Shorty passed away in Albuquerque [pronounced 'Al-ber-ker-key'], New Mexico on Sunday the 11th of June on his 89th birthday. Dooley Shorty was not a radio amateur, but
    during World War Two he was assigned to train fellow Navajo in the deeply-secret code based on the Navajo native tongue. The Code Talkers
    then transmitted military messages in the Navajo language. The Japanese
    forces were never able to decipher them, giving the United States a
    tactical advantage as the war progressed.

    For those of you who may not be aware, Navajo Code Talkers had the ability
    to encode a message, pass it to other Code Talkers, and then decode it
    exactly into its original form. Dooley Shorty was one of the best of these talkers, and his expertise with his tribe's code was legendary DX News

    SHORT CIRCUIT DELAYS SAQ TRANSMISSION

    The giant Swedish 17.2kHz station SAQ was on the air last weekend, but was unable to fulfil all of its original schedule. From SM6LKM, who was at
    SAQ, comes information on what actually happened.

    Around 08:00 UTC, the monster 80-tonne alternator was brought up to speed,
    but the fine speed control did not work. It took several hours to locate
    the fault. Apparently there was a short-circuit in the feedback cable from
    one of the alternator's stator windings to the speed-control servo system
    in the big switchboard. This servo system is very elaborate consisting, amongst other things, of large motor-actuated liquid rheostats, which
    SM6LKM describes as "tall bathtubs". The faulty cable was eventually
    bypassed with a pair of heavy wires across the floor, and SAQ was back on
    the air again. Keying of the transmitter is achieved by a magnetic
    amplifier in the antenna circuit, where the keyed direct current is used to saturate the core. The nominal antenna current is about 600 amps into the half-ohm feedpoint.

    The scheduled transmissions at 08:30 and 08:45 UTC were abandoned, but
    those at 12:30 and 12:45 UTC took place on time. SM6LKM remarked that this
    was the first failure of its kind for 75 years and said, wryly, "Nobody
    knew that Murphy had invited himself!".

    NEW AMATEUR SATELLITES TO BE LAUNCHED SOON

    The first Amateur Radio Satellites from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are presently being built by the Space Research Institute at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh. Tentatively set for launch
    August 25, 2000, these satellites will be capable of 9k6 digital store and forward operation (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol compatible) as well as FM bent pipe mode. These satellites will use the following downlink frequencies. Uplinks are in the VHF band and will be announced after commissioning: SAUDISAT-1A 437.075 MHz; SAUDISAT-1B 436.775 MHz.

    Amateur Radio is in its infancy in Saudi Arabia. With these satellites, designers hope that not only to add addtional communication satellites to
    the space resources available to hams world wide, but also to increase the awareness of the value of Amateur Radio in the Kingdom.

    The first Malaysian Amateur Satellite, TIUNGSAT-1, is also to be launched
    on the same vehicle DNEPR-1 as SAUDISAT-1A and SAUDISAT-1B on 25th August, 2000. The launch wll occur from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Khazakstan.

    Data Transmission Characteristics:
    Data Transmission:
    FM and FSK Data Rate: 9.6 kbps, 38.4 kbps and 76.8 kbps
    RF Communications: Uplink Freqs: 144.46, 145.85, 145.86 MHz.
    Downlink Freqs: 437.300, 437.325, 437.350, 437.375 MHz.
    Antennas: 4 monopoles, gain 0dBi Radiation pattern omni-directional

    MIR NEWS

    MirCorp's board of directors recently approved the permanently manned
    operation of Mir beginning next year, marking a major milestone in the company's plan to use this unique facility as the world's first true
    commercial orbital space station. The schedule of privately-financed
    MirCorp flights begins with the launch of an unmanned resupply spacecraft
    to Mir this fall, followed by two long-duration missions with cosmonauts in 2001. It is unknown what this may mean for possible Amateur Radio
    operation from the station.

    SUNSAT SCHEDULE

    The passes for SUNSAT, SO35, for Southern Africa is as follows:

    13/08 16:11
    16/08 15:49
    19/08 15:28
    20/08 16:26
    23/08 16:05
    26/08 15:43
    27/08 15:04

    DIARY OF COMING EVENTS

    On August 19 the Secunda and Coalfields Amateur Radio Clubs invite all
    Amateurs and their families in the Mpumalanga Province to join them for a informal meeting to discuss Amateur radio in the province. Hans Potgieter,
    the SARL President, will open the meeting on Saturday at 11h00. The
    meeting will take place at the Witbank Technikon. A bring and braai will
    take place after the meeting. For more information contact Teresa at 013
    692 6754 or Syd, ZS6AYC, at 082 461 3279 or e-mail srtyler@mweb.co.za

    The Vaal Driehoek Amateur Radio club will hold their AGM on 19 August at
    14:00 at the QTH of Albert, ZS6AXL.

    The Alberton Amateur Radio Club will hold a fleamarket or bootsale on 26
    August 2000 at 08:00 in front of the Civic Center, Ring Rd East, Alberton. Please book tables in advance with Koos, ZS6JPY, at tel 082 461 2819. Refreshments will be available. For more information visit their webpage
    at www.hometown.aol.com/zs6tdk.

    Remember the International Lighthouse Activity weekend which takes place
    over the weekend of 19/20 August.

    South African amateurs will man stations at the various lighthouses as
    follows:

    CAPE POINT: ZS1FRC/L False Bay Radio Electronics and Computer Club.
    SLANGKOP: ZS1RON Ron, ZR1DQ Deon and ZS1JN Owen.
    DANGER POINT: ZS1OAR/L Overberg Amateuradioklub.
    L'AGULHAS: ZS1BAK/L Boland Amateuradioklub.
    HANGKLIP: ZS1MJJ/L & ZS1PDT/L.
    ROBBEN ISLAND: ZS1DUP/L and team.
    GREEN POINT: ZS1CT/L Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre.
    PORT SHEPSTONE: ZS5R/L Gawie Hoon.
    PELICAN POINT: V59PP/L - V51KC Jack and five other Namibian
    operators.

    The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute
    information regarding Amateur Radio to sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@mweb.co.za. Please submit in Afrikaans and English wherever possible.

    Also join us in the following activities:
    * The President's Net on Sundays 12:00 on 7082 kHz
    * Amateur Radio Mirror International Sundays at 10:00 on 9750 and 21560 kHz which is repeated Mondays at 20:00 on 3215 kHz. Correspondence for Amateur Radio Mirror International is via armi@intekom.co.za. Include your telephone number to allow the producers to call you for a possible interview. Send written reports to PO Box 90438 Garsfontein 0042 and include a self-addressed envelope and sufficient postage so that you may receive a QSL card.

    These transmissions are sponsored by Sentech, the common carrier for broadcasting signals in South Africa and Telkom who provides the
    transmission lines. Various local repeater frequencies on 2 metres and 70
    cm are also used in your area.

    We thank all contributors to this bulletin and all stations who so reliably relay these bulletins. This bulletin was compiled by George, ZS6NE, and
    read by ZS.... in ....... You have been listening to ZS6SRL. This transmission now ends and we wish you a pleasant week.

    The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute
    information regarding Amateur Radio to sarlnuus@mweb.co.za with a copy to gth@mweb.co.za. Please submit in Afrikaans and English wherever possible.

    /ex
    --------------------------------------------------
    Internet feed from ZS6ZY moved by Richard de ZR6CK

    Regards,
    Richard.

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