Updated 22 May 2009

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News release "2007 SARL FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY

Celebrate Youth Day on 16 June with  Amateur Radio

One of the main objectives of the South African Amateur Radio Development Trust is to promote Amateur Radio and to support the South African Radio League in its quest to introduce the science of Amateur Radio to the young people of  Africa and in particular to the young people of South Africa.

Youth Day 16 June 2009

YOUTH DAY SPRINT TO GET THE YOUTH TALKING

The Youth Sprint on 16 June 2009 is aimed at getting the youth talking to each other, but you can be the catalyst to make it happen.

The event will run for two hours from 10:00 to 12:00 CAT on the 40 metre band.

The exchange is an RS report and the operator's age.

Set up a station in a public place or invite some young people into the shack.

Scoring:

Contact between two stations 25 years and under           5 points

Contact operators where one operator                              2 points
26 Years or older                                

Contact between 2 stations where both
operators are older than 26 years                                       1 point

AWARDS

Under 25 Category:

Highest Score

A certificate and a
ARRL Operating Manual 

Second Place
A certificate and a
40m DC receiver kit

Third Place

A certificate and 
lightning predictor kit

All participant 25 years and younger who have submitted a log will receive a full colour certificate and take part in the lucky prize draw for wireless microphone kit (5 chances)

PHOTOGRAPHS

All participants who submit a high resolution picture with their log will go into a separate lucky draw for a 2009 ARRL handbook.

The photograph(s) must be in jpeg format and submitted on a CD or mailed separate from the log to armi@sarl.org.za  with the callsign and Youth Sprint in the subject line. In the message part name, callsign of the person in the pic, age and full address details.

STATIONS HOSTING UNLICENSED YOUTH

Invite a young person into your shack and allow him/her to operate during the youth sprint under your guidance.  The callsign to be used is yours. Help him/her to submit a log. The log must include the persons name and age as well as your callsign. This is important to qualify  for the draw

All stations participating in this category will go into the lucky draw for one year free membership of the SARL.

By submitting a log you are automatically registered as an education stations operating as part of the Youth Sprint. This has been agreed with ICASA. No paperwork required.

.All logs must reach the contest Manager by not later than 1 July  2009. Email logs to hfcontests@netactive.co.za  or by mail to SARL Youth Day Sprint, PO Box 12104, Brandhof, 9324

Logs: Click here  for the log sheet to be used
 

GET A BURSARY TO STUDY AMATEUR RADIO

The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust has announced details of it YARP 2009 bursary scheme. YARP is the acronym for Youth For Amateur Radio Programme. Bursaries are available for both the entry level license and the full licence. 

For both license classes the bursary will cover the lecture, examination and first year license fees and a printed copy of the SARL course material. 

Upon the completion of the course and the passing of the theory and practical examination, the Trust will sponsor  a year’s membership of the SARL. 

Application must be made on the prescribed form available HERE 

JUST LICENSED AND NO RIG YET? GET ON THE AIR WITH ECHOLINK

Talk for free!
So you have just received your new ZU, or ZR  or ZS callsign and you can’t wait to make amateur radio contacts …. You can’t because you have no equipment as yet.  Echolink can end your frustration within a few minutes. After reading this article you could be accessing any of the 2000 repeaters linked to the system and work some DX.
For licensed hams, EchoLink^® software opens up new possibilities for communicating around the world with other amateurs.  Your PC links you to any of thousands of other stations over the Internet. There are more than 170,000 registered users in 158 nations worldwide! 
As a newcomer to amateur radio all you need is a PC, a microphone, speakers and an Internet connection. A dial-up will work but a broadband connection will deliver better quality.

How to get connected?

First you need to download the Echolink software.  EchoLink^® software is offered free of charge to licensed Amateur Radio operators worldwide, for Amateur Radio use only.  Please note that you must hold a valid Amateur Radio license in order to use EchoLink.  After installing the program, you must provide proof of license if you wish to use it.
Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, developed EchoLink in early 2002. In an astonishingly short period of time, EchoLink has become one of the dominant Amateur Radio VoIP systems. The free EchoLink software for Windows can be downloaded at www.echolink.org.  

When you start the EchoLink software, your computer taps the Internet to connect to an EchoLink server. Before you can make your first connection to the network, your call sign must be verified. . This can take minutes or hours, depending on the state of the system, but it helps reduce the chances of non-hams entering the EchoLink network.  
Once you’re validated (you only do this once), the rest is easy. The EchoLink server acts like a telephone switchboard in cyberspace. It maintains a directory of everyone who is connected at any moment. After browsing the directory, you can request a connection between your computer and that of another amateur.
Here’s where it becomes interesting. The amateur on the EchoLink receiving end may be sitting in front of his computer with a headset and microphone. Or he may have his computer connected to a base radio at his station that is acting as an RF relay to a handheld transceiver or mobile rig. Or the destination station may be part of a repeater system. In any case, once the connection is established, anything you say will wind up being heard in the other amateur’s headset, or transmitted over the air.
At your end of the EchoLink connection, you may be the one wearing the headset, or using a simplex connection to your base radio, or using a repeater. When you connect to an individual station, the custom is to call in the same fashion as you would during a traditional on-air conversation: “ZS6ABC from ZU1XYZ.” Or if you are connecting to a distant repeater system: “ZU1XYZ, Pretoria, South Africa, (You need to hesitate about 2 seconds before speaking to compensate for the delay.)

The EchoLink servers also support conferencing where several amateurs can converse in a roundtable fashion. There are even EchoLink nets that meet within these conference areas on a scheduled basis.

EchoLink Setup

To run EchoLink you’ll need a PC with Windows 98/2000/XP and a sound card. The software is easy to set up. A “wizard” function guides you through each step.
If you want to enjoy EchoLink conversations while sitting at your computer, you will need a microphone headset. These are commonly available from computer shops. The microphone plug attaches to the microphone input jack of your sound card and the headphone plug typically attaches to the SPEAKER OUT jack. In addition to setting up the EchoLink software, you may also need to adjust your sound card VOLUME and RECORDING control settings in Windows.
If you are using a wireless router you may not be able to connect to Echolink without changing some of the settings. EchoLink requires that your router or firewall allow inbound and outbound UDP to destination ports 5198 and 5199, and outbound TCP to port 5200.  Source ports are dynamically assigned.  If you are using a home-network router, you will also need to configure the router to "forward" UDP ports 5198 and 5199 to the PC on which EchoLink is running. 

The EchoLink website, www.echolink.org includes many help files and a FAQ that will assist you in setting up.