CTARC Forthcoming Meeting - 28 May '22

The Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre will hold their monthly members meeting at 14h00 on Saturday, 28th May 2022, at the clubhouse in Rondebosch.

Colin Porter ZS1RS will present a talk and demonstration on Fox Hunting and direction-finding techniques. Colin has much experience in this field and it promises to be a very interesting event.

While the Covid threat appears to be reduced, it is still a potential factor and common-sense precautions are requested from all present at the gathering.

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 Forthcoming Meeting - 25 Sept '21

The September meeting of the CTARC will take place on Saturday, 25th September 2021 at 14h00, on the lawn outside our clubhouse in Rondebosch. Yes! We will have an open-air meeting again - the first proper one in three months.

Strict adherence to the Covid regulations will be required by all for everyone's safety. Properly-worn masks, social distancing and hand sanitiser (please bring your own along).

The meeting will be a show-and-tell event where members are invited to bring interesting ham items to show off and demonstrate to those present. Don't be shy - bring your project along to the meeting!

Refreshments will not be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own along.

A mini-flea market will also take place. The club has a number of items to be disposed of. You can also use the opportunity to bring along your own ham-related gear to sell or swop.

See you there on Saturday 25 September!

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This event has now taken place. A full report appears in Ragchew of October 2021

CTARC Forthcoming Meeting - 28 Aug '2021

The August meeting for the CTARC will take place on Saturday, 28th August 2021 at 14h00. Owing to the current Coronavirus restrictions, it will be an on-line meeting.

Alan ZS1AL will present a talk on South Africa's involvement with Radar during WW2, which promises to be very interesting indeed. There are still a number of old Radar sites dotted around the Cape Peninsula and beyond. Sadly, some of these are now derelict and efforts to preserve their history must be made.

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This event has now taken place. A brief report is [here] and will appear in the CTARC Ragchew newsletter.

CTARC Forthcoming Meeting - 22 May '21

All being well, the CTARC plans to hold another monthly meeting, on Saturday, 22nd May, at the CTARC clubhouse. It will probably take place outside the clubhouse. Let's hope the weather is kind to us!

Our speaker will be Lem ZS1LEM, who will be talking about Satellites and working them on the ham bands.

The Radio Amateurs Examination and HF Assessments will also be taking place at this venue.

Further information will be made available in due course before the date.

CTARC Forthcoming March Meeting Postponed - 28 Mar '20

Following a considered decision by the CTARC Committee, the planned members' meeting for Saturday 28 March 2020 at the clubhouse at 14h00 has been POSTPONED. We apologise for the last-minute decision.

It is believed that the rapidly spreading Coronavirus is reaching the stage where it would be too risky for many of our members, many of whom are in the "target zone" age profile, to attend the meeting in the closely-packed clubhouse.

Also, large gatherings are now a potential risk too.

When the meeting does indeed take place, Lem ZS1LEM will do a presentation on Satellites and the equipment radio amateurs use to work them. It promises to be very interesting.

Further details will be published via the usual channels presently.

CTARC Forthcoming March Flea Market - 7 Mar '20

Just to give all CTARC members and interested parties a notification of the date of the forthcoming CTARC Annual Flea Market. It is easy to remember, being always the first Saturday in March at the CTARC clubhouse, just off Laidlaw Lane in Rondebosch.

This year it takes place on Saturday, March 7th, 2020.

This announcement is being made early to give sellers time to find, organise and prepare their goods for sale. Remember that the flea market is specifically for electronics- and amateur radio-related equipment, components, antennas and tools.

The CTARC Annual Mega Flea Market, as it is becoming known, has grown into the largest radio amateur-related flea market in the Western Cape of the year. It is an ideal opportunity for sellers to dispose of radio-related equipment surplus to their requirements, and for keen buyers to acquire such equipment, components and items they would like to buy or swop.

There will be a small charge to sellers to help defray our club's costs, but no charge to buyers and browsers to attend.

Sellers are reminded to please bring their own table/s if they do not intend to sell out of their car boot as the CTARC has only a very limited amount of tables available.

All are welcome!

Further details will be announced here on this blogpot, in Ragchew and on our Sunday morning bulletins on 2 metres in due course.
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Note: This event has now taken place. See photos [here].

A scene from a previous CTARC flea market

CTARC No February Meeting - 22 Feb '20

Usually the CTARC Committee holds its monthly member's meeting on the fourth Saturday of the month at 14h00.

However, please take note that there will be NO MONTHLY MEETING at the CTARC clubhouse on Saturday, 22 February 2020.

The reason for this is that date is sandwiched neatly between the SARL National Field Day on Saturday 8 February [where we will operate a field station from outside our clubhouse] and our forthcoming Mega Flea Market on Saturday 7 March 2020.

Please also note there will be no formal CTARC Committee Meeting for February 2020 either.