CTARC Security Issues Over the Air... 15 Dec '19

Often we become so accustomed to chatting with friends over the air that we are inclined to forget there are others listening in and some for sinister purposes.

Inexpensive VHF receivers are easily available from a wide variety of internet sources. Criminals are becoming much more technically savvy than they were previously. Although criminals mainly use these radios to monitor security services transmissions, they can also listen to our transmissions.

Members are reminded to be careful about discussing home security issues over the air, along with mentioning that you or another fellow ham will be away from home on vacation [and that therefore the house will be empty].

Even referring to departure or arrival times at the QTH [say, coming home from the salt mine] can be risky.

We need to guard against compromising our own or others' security by revealing sensitive information over the air. This has already caused losses in Cape Town.

Be aware.

CTARC Seasons Geetings! - Dec '19

As we approach the end of quite an eventful year, we thank all who took part in the CTARC's many and varied activities throughout 2019.

It simply remains to wish all our Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre members, friends and families, compliments of the festive season for 2019!

Stay safe during the holidays;
be careful on the roads...

Our first monthly meeting of 2020 will be held in the clubhouse at 14h00 on Saturday 25 January 2020. Further details will be announced here and on the Sunday morning bulletins.

We look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

CTARC Report on Fox Hunt of 7 Dec '19

Here are some photos from the Fox Hunt that took place at near the CTARC clubhouse on the Saturday afternoon of 7 December 2019.

Here is a report on the event, by Rob ZS1SA:

We had another foxhunt and it was a lot of fun. This time I hid the fox and I found that by placing the fox on the ground at the base of a steel fence tricked the hunters for quite a while due to the reflections caused by the fence. Eventually it was found by the hunters and we all had a good laugh.

Congratulations to Colin ZS1RS who once again was first to the fox.

Come and join us on our fox hunts; even if you have no equipment.
Any of the hunters would welcome assistance to point the antenna or watch
the radio S meter for example and to guess where the elusive fox may be hiding.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday, 25 January at the first meeting for 2020.

73

Rob ZS1SA

CTARC The Last Morse Code Maritime Radio Station in North America - 11 Dec '19

Here is a link to a short but fascinating video about last functioning maritime radio station using Morse Code in the USA - The Bolinas Radio Station at Point Reyes in California - call sign KPH.

While Morse radio telegraphy operators have all but disappeared from ships on the high seas, there are still a few in operation. KPH still services them.

See the video [here].

Photo by Frank Schulenburg - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23112321

CTARC Fox Hunt - 7 Dec '19

Come and join us for our next Fox Hunt this Saturday afternoon, 7 December 2019. Meet at the club house at 12h00 noon for a briefing and get ready to find this elusive critter!

Ideal equipment will be:

• A directional antenna for two metres, 
• A two-meter hand-held radio 
• A simple compass, and possibly 
• Some way to reduce the signal level from your antenna to your radio [i.e. an attenuator].

If you do not have all of this equipment, do come along anyway and bring what you have. It is fun to team up with someone who does have a radio and antenna and together determine where Foxy is hiding.

Great fun to be had by all!

The hunt should take two hours or less to complete.

Always a fun event. See you there!

Rob ZS1SA

_____________________________________

Note: This event has now taken place.

Read the report [here] and in [Ragchew of January 2020]

CTARC Report on End-of-Year Meeting of 23 Nov '19

Here follows a brief report of the CTARC's final meeting of 2019. A more complete report and photos appear in the Ragchew of January 2020.

On Saturday 23 November the CTARC members met at the clubhouse from around 13h00, for the last formal monthly meeting of the year. It took the traditional format of an afternoon braai and gathering on the lawns outside the clubhouse.

The weather was mild and the gathering was well-attended and old friends, some of whom hadn't seen each other for some time, had the opportunity to catch up on the events of the past year.

The braai fires were lit and soon the conversations were accompanied by the fragrances of hamburger patties and boerewors sizzling on the grid, wafting past the anticipatory nostrils of those present. Ice-cold liquid refreshments added to the conviviality, and a good time was had by all.

While we had the opportunity to reflect on the various meeting and events of the past year, there is still one more to go for 2019 -  another Fox Hunt organised by Rob ZS1SA, which takes place on Saturday, 7 December.

Thank you so much to Rob ZS1SA and Anne for arranging the logistics, to John ZS1AGH [seated in the foreground in the photo below] for the use of his fine gazebo, to those worthy individuals who manned the braai fires, and to Tony ZS1TK for the photo!

CTARC New Vice-Chairman - 18 Nov '19

With the sad loss of Noel ZS1FW who had held the post of CTARC Vice-Chairman until his passing on 29 October 2019, the position became available.

At the committee meeting of 18 November 2019, Paul Johnston ZS1S was unanimously elected to take up the position of CTARC Vice-Chairman for the period 2019 / 2020.

Paul is a very active member, both of our club and the CTARC committee. In addition to this new responsibility, he also manages the CTARC's weekly Bulletins and Repeater matters.

CTARC End-of-Year Meeting - 23 Nov '19

Hi CTARC Members and family.

Our last club get-together of the year will be held on 23 November 2019

As usual this is a social event under the shade trees on the lawn in front of the club house.

Members are encouraged to bring their partners and family to this social event and the club will be sponsoring fresh beef burgers for you.

If beef burgers are not your choice you are more than welcome to bring and braai your own meat on the club’s braai fires.

Ice cold refreshments will be on sale and the braai fires should be ready by 14h00. The club house will be open from 13h00.

This is always a very pleasant afternoon with friends and family. It’s always well attended and one of the highlights on the CTARC calendar.

Please come and join us!

_____________________________________

Note: This event has now taken place.
Reports are [here] and in Ragchew 2020-01 [here]

CTARC Ragchew - 1 Nov '19

The November 2019 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew" is now published.

Grateful thanks once again to our editor, Anne, for all her excellent work in putting together this month's edition, and to all those who contributed articles.

Remember please, Anne is always on the look-out for articles to publish in Ragchew!

You can advertise ham-related articles for sale in Ragchew, including colour photos, details and prices. To do so, contact the editor here.

Download the PDF file [here];

Ragchew is also on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Noel Futter ZS1FW - Silent Key - 29 Oct '19

It is with deep regret that we announce that the key of CTARC member, Noel Futter ZS1FW, went silent on Tuesday 29 October 2019 at his home in Bergvliet.

Noel was.an active CTARC member. He was a former Chairman of our club. Until recently he hosted the Monday Evening CTARC Nets and served on the CTARC Committee as Clubhouse Manager. He was also actively involved with setting up and running JOTA stations each year.

He was also a constructor of note, having built his own antenna mast, numerous antennas and various equipment in his shack.

Noel was an enthusiastic, generous and helpful radio amateur. He will be sadly missed from our meetings and on air.

Our condolences go to his wife Joan, his family and friends. .

CTARC Homebrew VHF/UHF Moxon Antenna - Oct '19

Here is a link to what looks like a most interesting VHF/UHF Moxon Satellite beam antenna, described by PY4ZBZ:

https://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/antenas/ms.htm

The web page is not in English, however the dimensions are construction are straightforward and should be easily interpreted.

OM Lem ZS1LEM  built the version with 5 UHF elements and 2 VHF elements.

The components include:

• 3.2 mm aluminum welding rods are available from any welding supplier (Afrox etc).
• A piece of PVC pipe;
• A 3.2mm drill bit,
• A piece of RG-58 coax, and
• A coax plug.

It looks like an easy build.

Many thanks to OM Lem ZS1LEM for passing on the link, and obrigado to PY4ZBZ and PQ2HX for publishing the information online.

Photo copyright Hermes PQ2HX

CTARC Swops - 9 Oct '19

Due to relocation of QTH, Ivan ZS1ZX is disposing of some of his HF and two-metre VHF equipment.

Included are:

• Several military-spec Automatic Antenna Tuners [rated at approx. 100W each];
   
• Several military Field Telephones;
   
• Two military switchboard units;
   
• A hybrid Yaesu HF Transceiver;
  
• A solid-state Yaesu Transceiver;
  [The above two items have been recently tested];
   
• A Yaesu FRG-7 HF Receiver in good working order;
   
• A PSU rated at 10 amps;
   
• A PSU rated at 6 - 8 amps;
   
• An (approximately) 10-metre high lattice tower.

PLUS...

A whole lot more assorted and miscellaneous stuff – too numerous to make a list of!

All the items are for viewing and collection only at Ivan’s QTH in Somerset West.

Please contact him on 067-152-5101 to make an appointment to view and/or purchase

CTARC Summits On The Air - 27 Oct '19

Please listen out for students from Reddam House, Durbanville, on Sunday, 27 October 2019. They plan to hike to the summit at Meerendal Wine Estate and activate a SOTA entity there.

The school has a growing Amateur Radio club that can often be heard working satellites and HF stations. The students have a number of hand-held transceivers and AMSAT antennas so they will be active on 2m and 70 cm.

Additionally, they will take along an HF transceiver so to those not in the Cape Town area, listen out for them on 20m and 40m. They are aiming to be set up and operating by 09h00 SAST (07h00 UTC), so after the CTARC Sunday morning bulletin check-in, listen out for them calling CQ SOTA.

Kindly please log any contacts made with them on the SOTA website database as you will be awarded with chaser points.

The summit reference is Dorstberg (ZS/WC-940). Perhaps you might also consider doing some SOTA activations on that day?.
How about a summit-to-summit QSO?

For more information, please contact Chris ZS1CDG ON Mobile: 079-787-1426.

CTARC January Meeting - 26 Oct '19

The CTARC's October monthly meeting will be held at the clubhouse at 14h00 on Saturday, 26 October 2019.

The meeting's main topic is a lecture/presentation titled "Noise Doesn't Annoy" and this will be given by Peter ZS1PC.

Further information will be published here and announced on our Sunday morning bulletins, closer to the time.
______________________________________________

Note: This event has now taken place. A report-back will be posted shortly.

CTARC Committee Meeting - 22 Oct. '19

CTARC Committee members are reminded of the forthcoming meeting at 19h00 on Tuesday, 22 October 2019 [and not the Monday, as previously announced], at the clubhouse. Please do make an effort to attend the meeting..

(If you can't be there, please remember to send in your reports and apologies to Rob or Anne.).

CTARC Ragchew - 1 Oct '19

The October 2019 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew" is now published.

Grateful thanks once again to our editor, Anne, for all her excellent work in putting together this month's edition, and to all those who contributed articles.

Remember please, Anne is always on the look-out for articles to publish in Ragchew!

You can advertise ham-related articles for sale in Ragchew, including colour photos, details and prices. To do so, contact the editor here.

Download the PDF file [here];

Ragchew is also on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Centenary for WWV - 25 Sep '19

The well-known American time-signal station at Fort Collins Colorado, call sign WWV, was congratulated recently by the U S Department of Defence on the occasion of its forthcoming Centenary. WWV and its sister time signal stations have been on-air since May 1920.

A special announcement and notice of a Special-Event ham radio station, WW0WWV, was made during their time signal transmission.

Listen to a recording of that announcement [here].
[Note - the link requires Adobe Flash to be installed on your PC]

CTARC September Meeting - 28 Sept '19

This club meeting will be a bit of a change from the formal sit down meetings we normally have.

We will be having a mini flea market and we encourage all members to attend this very social event.

We have a number of items which were donated to the club from the deceased estate of Leon ZS1CI/SK. Some of the items CTARC will keep and use and a great amount of it will be for sale at our next meeting, which takes place at our clubhouse at 14h00 on Saturday 28 September.
We will have a short meeting this month as we have not scheduled a speaker. However, it is anticipated to be an enjoyable social afternoon with a mini flea market.

These items include: several antenna tuners, an MFJ antenna analyser, soldering and test equipment, cables, test leads, power tools, computer, magazines, electronic and electrical goods.

Members are also invited to bring along any surplus goods for the normal Bring and Buy monthly sale.

So, come along and pick up a bargain or two!

This is not meant to replace our bumper flea market [which takes place on the first Saturday in March]; let’s call it a mini flea market for our members.

Due to several request, a braai fire will be lit at 13h30 - you are welcome to bring your own meat and trimmings.....

See you there!

______________________________________________________

Note: This event has now taken place [and was a great success!]
A report-back with photos will be published shortly.

CTARC Field Day - Sat. 14 Sept. '19

Danny ZS1BL and Lem ZS1LEM
operating one of our previous Field Day stations

SARL field day at the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre - Saturday 14th September 2019.

Why not come join us for some family field day fun on Saturday 14th September?

From 10h00 onwards, come and set up a station outside the CTARC clubhouse. Bring that unusual antenna or transceiver, and lets try to make as many HF contacts as possible - anything goes! Our aim is to work as many stations on the HF bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17 and 12 m bands).

Please note - All contacts must be made with transmitters and receivers operating independent of commercial mains power, so bring along batteries or solar panels to power your equipment as needed [it is a Field Day exercise, after all!].

We will light the braai fires from 13h30 onwards, for all to use.

Lets make this a great fun day!

For more information, contact Chris, ZS1CDG via the club's e-mail address.

CTARC Committee Meeting - 23 Sept. '19

CTARC Committee members are reminded of the forthcoming meeting at 19h00 on Monday 23 September 2019 at the clubhouse. Owing to the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend that takes place on 17/18 August 2019, there will be no CTARC Committee Meeting held in August.

Committee members, please do make an effort to attend the September meeting..

(If you can't be there, please remember to send in your reports and apologies to Rob or Anne.).

CTARC Ragchew - 1 Sep '19

The September 2019 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew" is now published.

Grateful thanks once again to our editor, Anne, for all her excellent work in putting together this month's edition, and to all those who contributed articles.

Remember please, Anne is always on the look-out for articles to publish in Ragchew!

You can advertise ham-related articles for sale in Ragchew, including colour photos, details and prices. To do so, contact the editor here.

Download the PDF file [here];

Ragchew is also on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Field Day 14 Sep '19

CTARC Fox Hunt - 24 Aug '19

On Saturday, 24th August 2019, there will be no formal CTARC meeting because of the Lighthouse Weekend that will have taken place on 17 and 18 August.

However, Rob ZS1SA, will be holding a Fox Hunt starting from the CTARC clubhouse on 24 August 2019,  starting time 14h00.

For all of you who built your antennas at the June meeting, you may want to go along and try out your new antennas!

Ideal equipment will be a directional antenna for 2 metres, a 2 meter handheld radio a simple compass and possibly some way to reduce the signal level from your antenna to your radio.

If you do not have all of this equipment come along anyway and bring what you have. It is fun to team up with someone who does have a radio and antenna and together determine where Foxy is hiding.

The hunt should take two hours or less to complete.

You may need to do a small amount of driving to find the fox so teaming up with one or two others would be a plus.

We can discuss it when we meet up at 14h00.

Always a fun event. See you there.

_________________________________________________________

NB: This event has now taken place. A report is in the September 2019 Ragchew.

CTARC Lighthouse Weekend - 17/18 Aug '19

Hi Everyone

It’s that time of year again when CTARC prepares for the International Lightship and Lighthouse Weekend. This year it seem a bit later in the month but actually it’s not. It is always the third FULL weekend in August. For us down in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s a time of cold weather and storms which makes it even more challenging!

Once again we have arranged to man the Green Point lighthouse from the Saturday morning of 17 August until mid-day Sunday of 18 August. We have repeated this so often now that our Lighthouse Team manages to do the set-up and take-down with military precision, but we still need manpower from our members, especially around 10:00 on Saturday morning in order to get our beam antenna raised.

Even if you are not taking part in the Lighthouse weekend, it would be appreciated if club members could come and assist with the set up at Green Point on Saturday morning 17 August 10h00 and for take down on Sunday, 18th at 12h00. (Committee members will meet at the clubhouse at 08h30 on Saturday morning to load antennas and equipment).

We will be having our very popular and always well attended Sunset Bring & Braai on the Saturday evening so even if you are not planning to operate, please join us and bring the XYL along for this social event. Bring your meat, rolls and salads etc; along. We will provide the fire.

We need operators for the event so please pop in and grab a mike or key and make a few contacts with us, it’s always great fun.

If you are planning on staying over (the more the merrier, ) then please do let me know soonest and I can arrange enough room for us all. We already have several staying over this year, which is great news.

See you there!

Regards

John, ZS1EQ
(CTARC ILLW Coordinator)
073-740-0543

PS: We will be working over the next two weeks on getting the equipment up to shape for the event so if you have some spare time available, please drop us a WhatsApp on +27-73-740-0543 so that we can organise suitable times.

Regards,

Anne Bareham
(CTARC Sec:/ Treasurer / Editor)
072-268-1207

 

_________________________________________________________

NB: This event has now taken place. A report is in the September 2019 Ragchew.

CTARC Ragchew - 1 Aug '19

The August 2019 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew" is now published.

Grateful thanks once again to our editor, Anne, for all her excellent work in putting together this month's edition, and to all those who contributed articles.

Remember please, Anne is always on the look-out for articles to publish in Ragchew!

You can advertise ham-related articles for sale in Ragchew, including colour photos, details and prices. To do so, contact the editor here.

Download the PDF file [here];

Ragchew is also on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Annual General Meeting Photos - 27 Jul '19

Below are some photos [taken by Una ZS1UNA nnd nick ZS1ZD] of the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the CTARC, held on Saturday, 27 July 2019 at the CTARC clubhouse.

A very nice collection of all the photos of the event taken by Una ZS1UNA is [here].

The written report-back of the meeting is [here].

Rob ZS1SA reads his Chairman's Report

Anne reads the Secretary's Report

Danny ZS1BL reads the Treasurer's Report, which was accompanied
by the financial statements projected on screen.

Tho Wellie Award went this year to Keverne ZS1ABU

Lem ZS1LEM won the CTARC Club Participation Award

Colin ZS1RS won the Fox Hunt Award

This year, the Len Wells Ham Spirit Award went to James ZS1ZKZ

Chris ZS1CDG was awarded the Buck Taylor Trophy

Honorary Life Membership was awarded to John ZS1AGH...

...and to Ian ZS1SX as well.

Paul ZS1S made a special presentation...

...of a bouquest of flowers to Anne, to say thank you for
all her hard work throughout the past year.

Daniel ZS1DEA proposed a new club trophy for the CTARC
in remembrance of Gerald ZS1GRM/SK

After the formal business of the meeting had been concluded,
the members all tucked into delicious eats and had a good natter.

Mike Z1FP was responsible for the microphone and PA system

Dennis ZS1AU emphasises a poInt with Patrick ZS1PDY

Hendrik ZS1EEE [right] shares a platter
of scrumptious eats

Daniel ZS1DEA in front of one of the new CTARC Event Banners.
He brought along a flagon of ZS1GRM/SK's finest,
that we might all toast the fond memory of our
departed friend.