On Saturday, 29 March 2014, we held a meeting at the CTARC Clubhouse in Rondebosch at 13h00. There, we were most fortunate to meet Jeffrey Briggs, who holds the callsigns K1ZM and VY2ZM. Jeffrey is currently visiting South Africa with his wife and daughter.
Jeffrey gave us a facinating set of talks and Powerpoint presentations:
The first presentation was on his experiences as a DX-pedition member of the 7O6T expedition to Yemen. This middle-eastern country is only rarely opened up to amateur radio activities, and the environment is not for the faint-of-heart!
The second presentation was on the early history of radio and Marconi's experimental wireless station in Newfoundland. To this day there are controversies regarding the actual date of the first transatlantic radio contact, and Jeff showed us some intriguing graphs regarding propogation conditions at the time that contact is believed to have occured.
Then Jeffrey gave us a very interesting talk on his experiences with phased vertical antenna arrays for 160 metres, combined with some very practical advice on how to set up the necessary ground radials for such antennas.
After the talks, our chairman Noel, ZS1FW, handed him an embroidered cap (kindly made possible by John, ZS1AGH) to thank him. Grateful acknowledgements also to Raul Coetzee, ZS1C, for having introduced Jeffrey to our club. Afterwards, over tea and biscuits, we had the opportunity to chat with Jeffrey and each other. A very satisfactory club meeting indeed!
To see photos of this event, click [here].
