SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 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:

RAE COURSE FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS TO BE HELD DURING SEPTEMBER HOLIDAYS

NEW MEMBERS

ARE AMATEURS LOSING INTEREST IN SATELLITES?

HIGHVELD ELECTS NEW COMMITTEE

SARL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

CQ HOU KOERS

UN SPACE WEEK OPPORTUNITY TO FOCUS ON AMATEUR RADIO

PROPAGATION REPORT



RAE COURSE FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS TO BE HELD DURING SEPTEMBER HOLIDAYS

The SARL and South African Amateur Radio Development Trust are joining
forces to present a RAE Course for Science Teachers. The course will be
held at the National Amateur Radio Centre and includes practical on-the-air sessions with the aim of introducing good operating practices and
familiarising teachers with the Hamradio culture. The first two
introductory sessions are on Saturday 16 and 23 September. The main body of the course will be presented from 26 to 29 September. On the last afternoon the candidates will write the RA examination.

Interested teachers are invited to send their address details to arisas@intekom.co.za or fax the information to 011 675-2793. On receipt of
the details, a course application form will be despatched.

NEW MEMBERS

The Council of the SARL extends a hearty welcome to the following new
members and trusts that your association with the SARL will be long and pleasant.

Bruce Robinson ZR1BDR
Tarquin Roode ZR6TOR
Anne Gezernik ZS6CG
Hoërskool John Vorster Amateur Radioklub ZS6VOS
William Smith ZS6XD
Jacobus Smit ZSL043

ARE AMATEURS LOSING INTEREST IN SATELLITES?

The question of waning interest in satellites was discussed at several
sessions at the recently held AMSAT UK Satellite Colloquium at the
University of Surrey. Most AMSAT groups are reporting reduction in
membership figures and lower attendance at meetings and conferences. The
only exception is AMSAT DL whose membership has remained constant. While
the activation of the various modes on SUNSAT had sparked off increased activity, this is not reflected in AMSAT membership figures. Many quote the delays in the Phase 3D launch as the reason for the waning interest and
predict that once Phase 3D is in orbit things will change.

HIGHVELD ELECTS NEW COMMITTEE

At the AGM of the Highveld Amateur Radio Club held on Saturday 2000-09-02
the following were elected to the committee.

Chairman: Ton van Dijk ZS6ANA
Secretary/Treasurer: Berridge Emmett ZS6BFL
QSL Manager: Reg Hartslief ZS6ALH
Shacknews: Ken Harwood ZS6BLI and Harry Lautenbach ZS6LT Hamnet/Special Events: Gerry Capper ZS6GMJ
Technical/Repeater: Ton van Dijk ZS6ANA
Webmaster: Yvonne van Dijk ZR6TBL
Co-opted: Gene Marais ZS6TA, Gus Wolf ZS6GT and Doug Wetton
ZS6BXU

SARL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

A large number of members have already paid their subs for the current year, however there are some members who we would have expected to have paid but
have not done so. We want you to remain members and request you sincerely
to give this matter your urgent attention. Please consult with the SARL Administrator, Wally Sime at 011 675-2393 or e-mail at: sarl@intekom.co.za
if you are experiencing any problems. Renewal notices will be mailed next week. Please attend to all the info requested on the renewal form.

CQ HOU KOERS 2000

Here is a perfect opportunity to introduce the youth to our hobby and
possibly reduce the average age of radio amateurs.

The Voortrekkers are holding their annual CQ Hou Koers gathering on the air
on 14 October and request that radio amateurs who are willing to assist the commando in their town or city to contact one of the following persons

Louis Kruger ZR6ABC e-pos: lk3@isis.co.za 671 Orthoclase Street
Elarduspark 0181,
Cell: 082-336-2597
Willy Wilson ZR6CY 122 Verdoorn Street Sunnyside 0002
Tel: (012) 343 7176
Gustav Snyman ZS6BWN e-pos: gsnyman@lantic.net PO Box 53 Wapadrand 0050
Cell: 083 254 1150

There is a web page at http://www.voortrekkers.org.za/cqhoukoers where information wil become available.

Inquiries on packet radio can be directed to ZS6CQH@ZS0HBT.GAU.ZAF.ZA.

Radio amateurs will then at a later stage be contacted by the commandos in their respective areas with a request to assist with the event.

UN SPACE WEEK OPPORTUNITY TO FOCUS ON AMATEUR RADIO

The UN General Assembly in resolution 54/68 recently decided to celebrate a
UN Space Week from 4 to 10 October each year at the international level to recognise the contributions of space science and technology to the
betterment of humanity. This week presents an ideal opportunity to focus on Amateur Radio and its contribution to satellite technology.

From 4 to 10 October SUNSAT will be operating in the parrot mode. Radio
Clubs are urged to arrange some space-related activity at local schools. Several ideas will be published in the August edition of the SARL
Electronics News for Radio Clubs, due for distribution later today. The activity can include a demonstration of the parrot repeater, visual tracking
of satellites across the night sky and other on the air amateur radio
events. Thursday 5 October and Tuesday 10 October around 17:30 CAT are the best two days for SUNSAT when the satellite is in a high elevation over
South Africa .

Radio Clubs are requested to advise ZS5AKV of their planned activity so that maximum publicity can be given in the media.

Please send information to arisas@intekom.co.za.

SUNSAT SCHEDULE

The passes for SUNSAT, SO35, for Southern Africa, all in Mode J and times in UTC, are as follows:

09/09 1618
10/09 1537
11/09 1500
12/09 1556
13/09 1516
14/09 1615
15/09 1534

PROPAGATION REPORT

Ean Retief reports that as forecasted, the past week did not give us any spectacular effects. As expected the Earth's magnetic field was somewhat unsettled at the beginning of the week and again to a lesser extent at the
end of the week.

The Solar Flux peaked at a maximum of 180 and is now declining again. It is expected to be around a value of 150 by next weekend.

Only two moderately large Solar Flares occurred. The first caused a fadeout
in the South West Pacific region while the second one was associated with a smallish Coronal Mass ejection.

It is expected that the ejected material should reach the Earth tonight and that the effects should last until tomorrow morning.

For the rest of the week the magnetic field is expected to be quiet and that
by next Friday evening it may be particularly quiet and that it may be a
good opportunity for 160 metre DX.

Ionospheric stations located near the Equator are reporting that the Maximum Useable Frequencies are higher than expected, both day and night. So it
does seem that the six-metre season may have started.

DIARY OF COMING EVENTS

Magalies Amateur Radio Club will hold its AGM on 16 September at 14:00 at
the club house situated on the corner of Breyer Ave and Mill Street in Waverley. As usual after the meeting a pleasant gathering will take place
and tasty refreshments will be available. For road directions call on
145,750 MHz.

The Southern Suburbs Radio Club will be holding it's Annual General meeting
on Saturday 16 September 2000, at the usual meeting place of:- Lion's
clubhouse in Augusta park, Forest Road, La Rochelle, Johannesburg at 14h30. Details and directions are available from OM Ton, ZS6ANA, on telephone (011) 683.7668 This is still a no-subs club and all are welcome.

The Pretoria Radio Amateur Club will be holding a flea market and boot sale
on 23 September starting 8 am. The venue is near the Clubhouse on the South Campus of the University of Pretoria. This will again be a memorable day as usual and please reserve the morning of the 23rd for a great get-together
and bargain hunt. Contact Hans ZS6KR at 012 333 2612 for details and to reserve tables.

The Secunda Amateur Radio Club will be running a special event station from
27 September to 4 October to celebrate SASOL 's 50 th birthday. A special
QSL card will be sent to all stations worked during this period For more information please contact Sid Tyler by e-mail srtyler@mweb.co.za or on cell 082 461 3279.

The West rand Amateur Radio club will hold a bootsale on 30 September 2000
at the club house in Kroton Ave, Weltevredenark, Roodepoort. The gate will open at 09:00. Plenty to eat and drink will be available. For more details contact Bill van Zyl ZR6REV at 011 726-6807 (w) or 011 726-6892 (h).

The Rustenburg Amateur radio Club will provide communications to the LOST CITY/CANSA bicycle rally on Saturday 2 Oktober 2000. Two different routes
will be covered which will leave Sun-City in a south easterly direction then
in a western direction. Communication will be provided vie the Rustenburg repeater on 145,325 MHz and on 7050 kHz in the 40 metre band.

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. Relays on various 2M repeaters can also be heard. 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, especially clubs, to this bulletin and all
stations who so reliably relay these bulletins. This bulletin was compiled
by Marten ZS6ZY, and read by ZS.... in ....... You have been listening to ZS6SRL. This transmission now ends and we wish you a pleasant week.
/ex
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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)