CTARC Solar Cycle 25 Forecast Update - 19 Jan '20

Latest from the Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] in the USA, as of 19 Dec '19...

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 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 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