SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19 2000

This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News, a
service by the South African Radio League, the National Society for Amateur Radio in South Africa, 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 TO VOTE FOR PROPOSAL TO LIFT AGM VENUE RESTRICTION

SIEMENS RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD AND INDUSTRY WORKSHOP

2 m BANDPLAN: PROPOSED RESTRUCTURING

RAE NEWS

OSCAR 40 (PHASE 3D) SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED

SARL VHF CONTEST RESULTS CORRECTED

SAATI'S NEW MANAGEMENT

NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA

PROPAGATION REPORT

You are listening to ZS6SRL. The news follows in detail.

SARL TO VOTE FOR PROPOSAL TO LIFT AGM VENUE RESTRICTION

SARL members will receive a postal ballot form with their Radio ZS which is currently being mailed. The Council of the South African Radio League is asking members to vote for the reversal of an AGM decision that ruled that annual general meetings must always be held in Gauteng. While the decision
may have served the SARL well at the time, it is no longer in the interest
of Amateur Radio's future development in South Africa.

The Council motion proposes that members and affiliated clubs be asked
annually to submit proposals to host an AGM. The host will be responsible
for all expenses associated with an AGM except travel cost for Council.
With the current national representation on Council this will not represent
any increase in cost to the SARL.

Members are asked to follow the instructions on the ballot paper and to
return it as soon as possible to the address supplied. The final return
date is 15 December 2000.

SIEMENS RADIO AMATEUR OF THE YEAR AND INDUSTRY WORKSHOP

The Siemens Radio Amateur of the Year awards will be presented to the
nominees by the SA Amateur Radio Development Trust at a function at NARC on
30 November 2000. The two radio amateurs are persons who in their
respective age groups have achieved in developing and promoting amateur
radio. The two recipients will each receive a certificate and a cheque of R1000. ICASA Councillor Yasmin Carrim will be the guest speaker and will participate in the Amateur Radio - Industry workshop.

After the presentation the SARL with join forces with the SA Amateur Radio Development Trust to host an Amateur Radio - Industry workshop starting at 14:00. The programme includes presentations and discussions on how the SARL should take Amateur Radio forward and what is required to grow the Amateur population in Southern Africa.

Attendance is by invitation. Clubs who would like to send a representative
are invited to send the name and Email details of the nominated person to arisas@intekom.co.za or by fax to 012 991-5251. The event is sponsored by
the SA Amateur Radio Development Trust . Details and pre-read for the
workshop will be provided.

2 m BANDPLAN: PROPOSED RESTRUCTURING

Clubs are reminded to study and discuss the restructuring proposal drafted
and distributed by the SARL Band-Planner, John, ZS5JF, and to submit their comments to John by the end of this month. His e-mail address is: johnf@futurenet.co.za.

RAE NEWS

The chief RAE examiner, Rassie ZS1YT, informed SARL NEWS that the results of the November RAE will be announced once the examination papers have been moderated by ICASA. The results should be announced by 4 December. The results will be available on the SARL webpage. No results will be supplied
by telephone. Candidates will be informed by post as soon as ICASA has completed the moderation.

OSCAR 40 (PHASE 3D) SUCCESFULLY LAUNCHED

Following a one-day postponement, Phase 3D was successfully launched
November 16 at 0107 UTC and placed into a geostationary transfer orbit, from which it will be nudged into its final high elliptical orbit. When the
Ariane 5 launcher successfully deployed Phase 3D at 0153 UTC, cheers erupted from the AMSAT team monitoring the flight's progress in the Arianespace
control room. The satellite is not expected to be ready for general use for about nine months. With the launch of OSCAR 40 a new era in Amateur Radio Satellite Communication has started and more news will be included in next week's bulletin. Listen to Amateur Radio Mirror International at 10:00 CAT
for fresh news on OSCAR 40 and visit the AMSAT-NA website:
http://www.amsat.org for more information..

SARL VHF CONTEST RESULTS CORRECTED

Here are the corrected results for the September leg of the SARL VHF
Contest.

MULTI-OPERATOR FIELD STATION

1st ZS6STN 5765
2nd ZS6PTA 4086
3rd ZS6WR 1933,5
4th ZS6TDK 1741,5

FIXED STATION - ALL MODE

1st ZR6ZL 1342
2nd ZS6DDG 1225
3rd ZS6EGB 851
4th ZR6JRN 818

FIXED STATION - FM ONLY

1st ZS6XT 373
2nd ZS6BPA 339

CHECK LOG: ZS5DG

ZS6WR's score has been corrected as they claimed the incorrect total under
the Portable section.

The results will become final in 14 days unless a contester lodges a
complaint, which must be in writing to the contest committee.

SAATI's NEW MANAGEMENT

At the first committee meeting on 14 November after the AGM in October, the
new management of SAATI was constituted as follows:

Chairman: Louis Kruger ZR6ABC
Vice-chairmen: Egbert Begemann ZS6AZG
Secretary: Carlo Walker ZS6KF
Treasurer: Egbert Begemann ZS6AZG
Minute secretary: Theo Oosthuizen ZS6ATO
Digital Support group: Richard Peer ZR6CK
Research and Development: Frank Schneider ZS6GE
Network Support: Richard Stratford ZS6RO
SAATI NEWS and Events: Ams Amsenga ZS6YV
Member: Jack Sinden ZS6QJ

We wish the new management every success for the ensuing year.


RETURN OF OLYMPIC UHF CHANNELS

It is reported from Australia that as from 1st. November the 440-450 MHz
area of the 70 cm band is again available to amateurs after the Olympic/Paralympic period. The lower part of the band remains not-for-use until 1st January 2001.


PROPAGATION REPORT

Ean Retief, ZS1PR, reports as follows: After last weekends storms it took as expected until Tuesdaybefore the Geomagnetic Field settled down again. The rest of the week was quiet, and while the higher bands was somewhat on the
weak side, reports of a considerable number of good contacts on 15 metres
was received.

From Tuesday evening the Solar Flux also started to rise. It is expected
that the gradual rise will continue at a constant rate and that a value of
just under 200 will be reached in a week's time.

Already the effects of the slightly higher Solar Flux are noticeable. On friday evening at 19:00 SAST the ionosonde at Grahamstown indicated that at that late stage of the day the HF spectrum was still open to nearly 33 MHz.

If you are hunting DX it is thus recommended that you look around the 10 and
12 metre bands during the coming week.The "long path" to North America is
still very good and giving it a try in the afternoons is recommended.

It is expected that the Geomagnetic field will be mostly quiet to unsettled
in the coming week, so noise on the lower bands at night will not be as big
a problem as it was last weekend.


DIARY OF COMING EVENTS

The West Rand Amateur Radio club will hold a boot sale on 25 November at the clubhouse in Kroton Ave, Weltevreden Park, Roodepoort. The gates will open
at 09:00. Plenty to drink and eat will be available. For details contact
Bill van Zyl, ZS6REV at 011 726-6807 (office) and 011 &26-6892 (home).

Midlands Amateur Radio Club is pleased to announce a grand
Fleamarket/Bootsale which will take place at our new Clubhouse at the Natal Carbineers, Greer Street, Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday 25th November,
starting at 11:00. Talk in on the 750 repeater. No auction - just stacks
of goodies at bargain prices. No charge for tables, but donations to the
Club by salesmen welcomed. SARL President Hans Potgieter will attend - why
not come and meet him? And see the reps from Kenwood, Icom, and Antronic. COME....and enjoy yourselves.

The Alberton Amateur Radio Club's Year end function and prize giving will be
on the 2nd of December 2000 from 12:00 at the Alberton Dam, Bloutulp Street, Alberton. It will be a bring and braai and everyone is welcome. For more
info Phone Michiel, ZS6MDK, at 083 212 5711.

The Midlands Amateur Radio Club will be operating a further special event station, ZS100ABW, at Utrecht on Saturday, 9th December, 2000. The station will be operated to recognise the foreign involvement in the Anglo Boer
South African War. All QSO's will be confirmed by our very attractive QSL card. You can QSL direct to MARC, PO Box 100220, Scottsville, 3209 or via
the Bureau. Look out for ZS100ABW from 10h00 SAST. We will commence operations on 40 metres.


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. A transmission on 145,400 MHz can be heard again.

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)