CTARC RAE Results - 24 Oct '21

We are delighted to report that most (24 out of 27) of the Radio Amateur Exam candidates who wrote the recent exam at the clubhouse have passed. Congratulations to the new radio amateurs! Welcome to the hobby and the ham community, which you will find is a fellowship without equal.

We encourage all radio ham in the Cape Town areas, both new and existing, to join the CTARC.

Congratulations also to Chris ZS1CDG who conducted the course and who shepherded the newcomers through the process. There are already a number of new voices on-air.

CTARC RAE Exams - 23 Oct '21

On Saturday, 23rd October 2021, prospective radio amateur candidates nationwide will write the Radio Amateurs Examination at various centres around the country. This exam and the HF Assessment must be passed in order to obtain the Amateur Radio license and a call sign, both of which are issued by ICASA. Included in this number is a large group of candidates under the mentorship of Chris ZS1CDG.

Some 29 RAE candidates will write the RAE Exam at the CTARC in the Main Hall next to the clubhouse.

This group recently started their HF Assessments with Chris on Saturday, 16th October this year. Owing to the large number of candidates involved, Chris will continue this process on Saturday 23 October before the main meeting at 14h00.

We wish all RAE candidates, and in particular Chris's group, the very best of luck for the forthcoming exam, and we hope to hear them on air soon!

We also invite the candidates to consider joining the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre, our welcoming and friendly radio ham club. Contact the Club Secretary Anne for further details here.

CTARC Forthcoming Meeting - 23 Oct '21

The October 2021 meeting of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Society will take place at the clubhouse on Saturday, 23rd October at 14h00.

The main topic of the meeting will be a talk and demonstration by Dirk ZS1X on Digital Mobile Radio. This new digital feature of our hobby enables licensed radio amateurs to talk worldwide with other radio hams via DMR-enabled repeaters and base station radios. Relatively inexpensive DMR radios are now becoming available. As such this adds a very exciting feature to our available options.

There will also be the usual Swop Shop where amateur radio-related items may be bought, sold and swapped. As ever, should any items you bring along not be sold, please take them home afterwards as there is no room in the clubhouse to keep them there!

As we are all still under Covid regulations, the meeting will be held outside the clubhouse on the lawns. The usual precautions of social distancing, masks and hand sanitising will apply.

At the recent Committee meeting it was decided that, should the weather be unkind to us, the meeting will be held in the hall adjoining the clubhouse.

We look forward to seeing you there!

CTARC Yaesu FT-101 Parts (Still) Wanted - 12 Oct '21

Image from RigPix.com

John ZS1WJ, stalwart member of the Antique Wireless Association as well as the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre, is busy restoring Yaesu FT-101 transceivers, of which he has a number at his workshop in Kleinmond. 

He hopes to make these available to new radio hams to help them get on the air and to introduce them to the mysteries and magic of valve-based radio gear.

But now he's running out of spare parts for these venerable and excellent Yaesu radios.

So, if you have an old FT-101 transceiver, valves, components or spare circuit boards for these rigs that you'd like to dispose of, please do contact him on O82-673-5337. You will also find him on the 40 metre net on 3640 LSB at around 17h00 (Central African Time) most afternoons of the week. He's also looking for a front plate for the FT-101E or FT-101EE.

CTARC Committee Meeting - 18 Oct '21

CTARC Committee members are reminded of the committee meeting to be held on-line at 19h00 on Monday, 18 October 2021.

Please do make an effort to attend the on-line meeting.

(If you can't be there, please remember to send in your reports and apologies to Rob ZS1SA or Anne.).

CTARC HF Assessments - 16 Oct '21

The CTARC Radio Amateur Examination classes continue, ably led by Chris ZS1CDG. He currently  has 29 people attending his course, which is something of a record for our growing club.

On Saturday, 16 October 2021, Chris will be taking these members through their on-air HF Assessments at his QTH in the northern suburbs. He and they will be on-air on the 40 metre band from 11h00 SAST. He extends a request for local radio hams to be there to exchange basic QSO's and signal reports with the RAE candidates.

Thanks in advance for your kind cooperation!

CTARC Ragchew - 3 Oct '21

The October 2021 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew"is now published. Grateful thanks to the editor, Anne, for another fine edition.

Remember please, Anne is always needs articles to publish in Ragchew! This is especially the case during the lock-down. Thank you to those numerous contributors in this edition!

You can advertise ham-related items - for sale, swop or wanted-to-buy - in Ragchew, including colour photos, details and prices. To do so, please contact the editor [here].

Download the October 2021 Newsletter as a PDF file [here];

Ragchew is also on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Result of Bids for CTARC radios - 1 Oct '21

As CTARC members will have learned through our Sunday bulletins and RagChew, two fine rigs from a deceased estate were made available for sale recently.

Sealed private bids were submitted to Anne, the CTARC Secretary and the bid acceptance period closed on 30 September 2021.

The winning bids are:

The Kenwood TS B2000 goes to Shaun ZS1RA;

The Yaesu FT-990 goes to Pieter ZR1HR.

Congratulations, gents!

The monies raised from the sale of these two radios will go to CTARC funds.