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:
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| Our chairman, Rob / ZS1SA opened the meeting |
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| Tom / ZS1TA's talk attracted a good turnout at our meeting |
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| Tom shows a slide of the cramped operating position (his bunk!) on the yacht. |
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| More luxurious radio operators position on a fancy yacht that Tom delivered. |
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| The location of the AH4 automatic Antenna Tuner Unit on the yacht. |
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Tom found that the best way to mount his vertical Marconi antenna was to
thread it through a mast stay. |
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| The ATU had to be pretty waterproof, for obvious reasons! |
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| A photo of the yacht's cruising speed (in a fresh wind) in knots. |
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| Tom's talk was fascinating and held everyone's attention throughout. |
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| The PACTOR modem Tom used on the high seas |
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Tom's well-travelled Icom 706iiG which consistently provided reliable comms
(propagation permitting) while deep in the middle of the ocean. |
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| Another modem |
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| 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.
