CTARC Report Back on 70th Anniversary Function - 26 Jun '16

John / ZS1PM delivers his fascinating account of  the post-war days
of ham radio, and of his work with Dr Wadley

This is a brief first report-back which will be updated presently with a more comprehensive one, along with more photographs.

The CTARC's 70th Anniversary celebratory luncheon was a great success! Members past and present met at the Wild Fig Restaurant in Mowbray from 12h00 on Saturday 25 June. We had the chance to enjoy a flute of champagne in the downstairs bar while waiting for all the guests to arrive.

At around 12h45 we moved upstairs into the function room which had been beautifully laid out in preparation for the event. Once the guests were settled, Danny /  ZS1BL as Master of Ceremonies introduced us to the programme and to our chairman, Rob / ZS1SA. On a projector screen in the background, a presentation (weeks in the making!) by Rob & Anne ran continuously, showing photographs highlighting the history of our club from its founding in 1946.

Rob formally welcomed us to the event and started the meeting with the sad news of the passing of Tippy Marais / ZS1CL /sk. A brief moment of silence was held in his memory. Rob then gave us a concise history of the CTARC (in its numerous manifestations and localities) up to the present day.

The first course was then served.

Speeches and comments were then delivered by:
John Blackman / ZS1PM
Shaun Overmeyer / ZS1RA
Paul Johnson / ZS1S
Deon Erwin / ZS1ZL
Dennis Wells / ZS1AU
and
Bernie Crockford / ZS1BW
(A more comprehensive account of these will be written here shortly)

We were then served the Main Course (where we had a choice of three different options). Towards the end of this, Tony / ZS1TK presented Anne with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for all her efforts and then, being the perfect gentleman, a bouquet for his dear XYL, too.

Later on,  the delicious dessert (Malva pudding) appeared before each one of us.

The afternoon concluded at around 16h30. As guests departed, they were each presented with a commemorative certificate of attendance. Some of us stayed on for coffee at the downstairs patio until around 17h00.

All in all, a great event! All the more so due to the sterling efforts of all those involved, in particular:

Anne (our club secretary), for organising the whole event with her characteristic precision, practicality and common sense. (In addition to all this she also designed and produced the invitations and menu, and with Rob put together the historical slide show!);
Rob / ZS1SA, for his involvement with the slideshow and for chairing the event;
Danny / ZS1BL, for his able role as MC;
All those who kindly prepared and delivered speeches;
Paul / ZS1S, for making videos of all the speeches;
Nick / ZS1ZD, for taking the photographs, and for the certificates, name labels and 70th anniversary logo;
The management and staff of the Wild Fig Restaurant for their superb venue, excellent service, scrumptious fare and also for the kind loan of their video projector;
All the others involved, in various capacities.

Our next meeting will be the important Annual General Meeting, to be held in July. Details will be published in due course.

CTARC Committee Meeting - 20 Jun '16

There will be a meeting for members of the CTARC committee, at 19h00 on Monday, 20 June 2016, at the CTARC Clubhouse.

Please diarise accordingly.

CTARC Ragchew June 2016

The June 2016 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew" has been published. Grateful thanks to club secretary Anne for yet another fine edition!

You can download the June Newsletter as a PDF directly from [here].

Alternatively it can be found on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Wild Fig is Fully Booked! - May '16

Please note that all places for the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's 70th Anniversary function at the Wild Fig Restaurant on 25 June 2016 are now fully booked.

If you would like to attend the function, but have not booked and paid for a ticket, you can still put your name on a waiting list. If there is a cancellation you might still be able to attend.

Please send your e-mail request to the CTARC Secretary [here], making the Subject of your e-mail "Request to attend CTARC 70th Anniversary Function".

We thank all those many members and friends of the club who have already committed to attend this signal event in our club's history.

CTARC Report Back on Meeting of 21 May '16

The May 2016 meeting of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre was well attended, with 27 members and visitors present. At 14h00 on Saturday 21 May 2016, we met at the CTARC clubhouse.

Our club chairman, Rob / ZS1SA, opened the meeting with a report back from the recent committee meeting held on Monday 23 May. He then introduced the afternoon's speaker - Tom / ZS1TA, who then gave a fascinating talk on the topic of WinLink and e-mail by HF in the marine context.

Tom is well know in our club (and the Cape Town marine community) for his active and enthusiastic yachting activities. More often than not he is to be found skippering very expensive wind-powered hardware across the high seas, on delivery to their new owners.

Under these often arduous conditions, reliable communications with coastal stations (sometimes from deep mid-ocean) are vital. Tom described how he has found the WinLink PACTOR-based system to be a great advantage in staying in touch with suppliers, clients and loved ones.

He brought along his trusty Icom 706 transceiver and PACTOR modems for us to see, and even demonstrated how easy it was to instantly obtain a GRIB file showing weather patterns. He described to us his nifty methods of rigging up a reliable yacht antenna wire, fed by an equally reliable waterproofed AH4 automatic ATU. Yachtsmen (and women) sometimes have the added complication, not shared by landlubber hams, of huge waves sometimes washing over the deck of the yacht... He also described to us the vital CrewSaver equipment and APRS beacon that reports his position while at sea.

In addition to this we were treated to photos and videos of his experiences across the oceans, including some impressive seas and scenes of "water-skiing" alongside the hull in calmer waters!

In addition to this we heard Tom's experiences on the HF marine radio nets (and of their sometimes necessarily strict radio procedures!) that exist to assist yachties within radio earshot.

After the talk members had the chance to chat over coffee and biscuits, in the well-established manner.

All in all, a great talk delivered by Tom, well up to the high standards of our club. Thanks to him for same, and to the members for their attendance for attending.

Here are some photos of the meeting:

Our chairman, Rob / ZS1SA opened the meeting

Tom / ZS1TA's talk attracted a good turnout at our meeting

Tom shows a slide of the cramped operating position (his bunk!) on the yacht.

More luxurious radio operators position on a fancy yacht that Tom delivered.

The location of the AH4 automatic Antenna Tuner Unit on the yacht.

Tom found that the best way to mount his vertical Marconi antenna was to
thread it through a mast stay.

The ATU had to be pretty waterproof, for obvious reasons!

A photo of the yacht's cruising speed (in a fresh wind) in knots.

Tom's talk was fascinating and held everyone's attention throughout.

The PACTOR modem Tom used on the high seas

Tom's well-travelled Icom 706iiG which consistently provided reliable comms
(propagation permitting) while deep in the middle of the ocean.

Another modem

After the talk was the usual option for members and visitors to chew the rag.

Our following meeting will be the CTARC's 70th Anniversary function to be held at the Wild Fig Restaurant in June.