CTARC All Club Meetings & Events Cancelled - 23 Mar '20

Dear CTARC Members

Reminder: This Saturday, 28 March, Monthly Meeting Cancelled.

I am sure you will have heard by now either on the Sunday bulletin or on our blog spot that this Saturday's meeting has sadly been cancelled due to concerns over the current Covid-19 virus outbreak.

The Chairman and his Committee have decided that all CTARC events, workshops and meetings will be cancelled; this will include Committee meetings and work parties, until this current crisis is over.

Update: With the recently announced national lock-down from 26 March to 16 April, any club-related activities that would take people out of their homes are restricted anyway.

We wish you all well and please be safe, looking forward to chatting with everybody over the air.

Kind regards & 73

The CTARC Committee

CTARC Antenna Work Party - 23 Mar '19

Before the main meeting on Saturday 23 March 2019, CTARC members were at work fixing the antennas at the clubhouse.

I would like to thank everyone who assisted with the repair of our tower rotator system on 23 March, and a special thank you to James ZS1ZKZ. While we were all enjoying Tom Ambrose’s talk about satellites James was busing working and welding outside repairing the club’s tower and had been working on it since much earlier in the morning. He refurbished the winding winch and cabling system for the mast and completed the coupling to the rotator. James bought the new pulley, the new pillow block bearings and supplied the welding rods and tools in addition to getting his brother in law to help. He insists that all of that is a donation to the club and he won’t take no for an answer. A big thank you from all of us James.

Rob ZS1SA

Report-back on Repeater Work Party of 21 Mar '19

On the public holiday of  Thursday 21 March 2019 several CTARC members gathered at the club’s repeater site to form a work party to repair the UHF repeater and mount the UHF antenna onto I.R. Pope’s new tower. The UHF antenna has been mounted on the wall of the repeater building below roof level since the previous tower had blown down in the major storm of June 2016.

The back-up batteries were cleaned and a spare cable was identified and readied to be installed up the tower leg to mount the UHF antenna underneath our existing VHF antenna. Upon inspection, Paul ZS1S discovered that the cable connecting our VHF antenna to its antenna had never been waterproofed! Paul checked the connection and installed the waterproofing. Unfortunately, before he could install the UHF antenna, the wind picked up making further tower work unsafe and he had to come down.

While we were there we also checked the SWR on the VHF antenna and found it to be extremely high. Using his antenna analyser, Peter ZS1PGC discovered there was a very bad connection within the repeater building. Upon inspection we found a badly corroded connection and repaired it. The SWR was now excellent and the repeater works much better than before.

I would like to thank Lem ZS1LEM, Paul ZS1S, Dave ZS1SG, Peter ZS1PGC and Keverne ZS1ABU for coming up the hill and assisting that day. We still need to get our UHF antenna up on the tower and planning is in progress for that.

Addendum:

Following on from this work party, this yesterday Mike ZS1TAF, Peter ZS1PGC and Paul ZS1F put our UHF antenna back on the repeater tower and it is now working fantastically. Now that our Force 12 beam, the new rotatable 40-metre dipole and the tower at the club have all be repaired, all of our equipment is back in perfect working order. What a relief! No more freak June storms please...

Rob ZS1SA



 

 

CTARC Report-Back on Antenna Work Party - 26 Jan '19

On Saturday, 26 January 2019, the first meeting of the year for the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre started earlier than normal. At 11h00, we assembled at the clubhouse to tackle the next phase of our main antenna refurbishment. Under a cloudless sky with a mild south-easter blowing, the coaxial mast was cranked down and then folded over on its main hinge to rest on a conveniently positioned ladder. The next stage was to replace the main feedlines with fresh RG-8X coax cable, generously donated to the club by Barry ZS1FJ. Thanks to ZS1BL, ZS1BOK, ZS1EQ, ZS1FJ, ZS1FW, ZS1PGC ZS1S, ZS1TK, ZS1ZD, ZS1ZKZ and others who attended the work party.

There was a minor set-back when the stainless steel cable snapped while being winched [fortunately with the mast still lying horizontal!], but we still had the old steel cable that was now redeployed as a temporary measure. The mast was winched back into vertical position just as the other club members arrived for the main meeting.

The purpose of the work party was to replace the main feedline to the antennas with some RG-8X coax [kindly donated by Barry ZS1FJ] , and to do some work on the baluns and attachments for the new 40m beam that was recently mounted on the tower. This was achieved in time for our main meeting which followed on at 14h20.

Thanks to all those who attended and assisted with the Work Party!

CTARC Antenna Work Party - 26 Jan '19

Hello Everyone

On Saturday, 26 January 2019, before the Monthly meeting, the club is going to have a work party to replace the two co-axial cables on our tower.

The Committee asks if members are able to help, please come to the clubhouse about 11h00 .

With appreciation,

Rob ZS1SA
CTARC Chairman

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This event has now taken place

The report-back and photos are [here].

CTARC Antenna Work Party - 8 Dec '18

Hello Everyone

We have decided to have an Antenna Work Party on Saturday 8 December.
Paul, ZS1S, will be ‘Commander in Chief’ for the day!

We will be lowering the tower and repairing the Yagi antenna, and also installing the new Dipole antenna that Barry ZS1FJ kindly purchased for us from the USA.

All members are welcome if you can please spare an hour or two to have some fun whilst helping your club maintain the equipment. Do bring your own lunch.

If you’re able to help, see you at 09h30 on Saturday 8th December 2018.

With appreciation,

Rob ZS1SA
CTARC Chairman

CTARC Work Party Cancelled - 29 June '18

Owing to inclement weather, we regret to announce that the scheduled Antenna Work Party at the CTARC clubhouse for tomorrow, Saturday, 30 June 2018 has been CANCELLED until further notice.

With apologies

CTARC Report on Antenna Work Party - 28 Mar '18

The CTARC Antenna Work Party of 21 March 2018 was a great success. At 09h00 the team assembled and set to work.

Present were:
ZS1S - Paul
ZS1SA - Rob
ZS1ZKZ - James
ZS1EQ - John
ZS1TK - Tony
ZS1RIC - Richard
ZS1FW - Noel
ZS1BL - Danny
ZS1FJ - Barry
ZS1PGC - Peter 

The vertical mast for the main beam antenna was finally fixed and the club's beam antenna mounted on top. The vertical antenna was also mounted in position on the western wall of the clubhouse.

At the end of the work party, Danny / ZS1BL tested the antenna on 20m and made a contact with the USA using 100W, so the antenna is getting a signal out. Well done, guys!

Here are some photos and captions, kindly provided by Peter / ZS1PGC.

The guys examine the snagged cable on the mast

Rob / ZS1SA makes up an adaptor pipe
to mount the vertical antenna

James / ZS1ZKZ uses a bit of gentle persuasion to remove a pulley
to release the snagged cable.

Tony / ZS1TK attaches the vertical antenna to the mast
using Rob's adaptor pipe.

Examining the mast to determine catch points. It turns out that
the screws were a bit long and had to be shortened.

The vertical antenna in position.

Noel and then Richard and Tony assemble the beam.

Rob and Paul make an adaptor pipe to mount the bean antenna
to the mast.

The pause that refreshes! Danny / ZS1BL has a quick cup of coffee.

Paul mounts the adaptor pipe to the vertical mast.

Assembling and checking the beam antenna.

The beam antenna now assembled and attached to the mast,
ready to be hoisted up.

Noel enjoys some pizza, kindly provided by one of the team. Tony / ZS1TK provided
some samoosas that were enjoyed. John / ZS1EQ and others also provided
cold drink and water for the team.

The beam antenna up and in position at the top of the mast,
with the two vertical antennas also in the picture.

John / ZS1EQ cranks up the mast to its full height.

CTARC Forthcoming Antenna Work Party - 21 Mar '18

Could all CTARC members please take note that there will be an Antenna Work Party at the Clubhouse on Wednesday, 21 March 2018, starting at 09h00. We would be most grateful to those who can find the time to assist.

We will need some hands to enable us to lower the main club mast as well as to get the central coaxial portion of the tower out of its housing, so that various tasks can be applied to same. These various jobs are not expected to consume the entire day!

Thanks in advance!

This work party has taken place. See the report and photos [here].

CTARC Antenna Work Party - 24 Feb '18

On the morning of Saturday 24 Feb, stalwarts of the CTARC assembled at the clubhouse for a work party to reassemble the club's main coaxial mast. Present were Rob ZS1SA, Barry ZS1FJ, Noel ZS1FW, Danny ZS1BL, Paul ZS1S, and Lem ZS1LEM.

Grateful acknowledgement to Barry / ZS1FJ for the photographs below.

The main meeting at 14h00 is reported on [here]