CTARC ZS1TA & ZD7GWM Set New 70cm Distance Record - 16 Oct '20

In the SARL morning news bulletin of Sunday 18 October, we learned via Paul ZS6NK that a new South African 70 cm band long-distance record has been set.

 

On Friday evening 16 October 2020, at 18h06 UTC, CTARC member Tom ZS1TA in locator JF95EX (in the Cape Peninsula) contacted Gary ZD7GWM in locator IH74DB (on St Helena Island) on 70 cm FM. The distance between the two stations is 3 136,7 km. 

 

Very well done, Tom and Gary!

 

 

CTARC Report-back on March Meeting - 23 Mar '19

Our March meeting, held at 14h00 on Saturday 23 March, was very well attended as Tom Ambrose’s talk on operating the LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites was a big draw card.

Many hams confuse working the more sophisticated SSB satellites with the simple FM birds. Tom explained how easy it was to work these flying FM repeaters with just a dual-band handheld radio or with separate 2 metre and 70 cm mobile radios. He went back to Sputnik and the evolution of satellites right up to today’s most recent birds.

Great software for tracking the satellites is available free of charge on the web for both PCs and Android devices. Tom gets excellent results with just vertical antennas mounted on his bakkie. He enjoys driving around RSA and working from various Maidenhead grid squares as many satellite operators collect different grid squares like a DXer does different countries.

A most interesting meeting and I am sure it will result in a few more ZS1 call signs being heard from space.

Rob ZS1SA

We were prepared for load-shedding...

CTARC Forthcoming Meeting - 23 Mar '19

This Saturday, 23 March 2019, Tom ZS1TA will be delivering the long anticipated talk on ‘Operating the Ham Satellites’.

This talk promises to be very interesting and informative, both for the aspiring satellite operator or those who would just like to know more about how it is done. Tom regularly makes satellite contacts around the country with just the 2 m / 70 cm FM radios in his vehicle.

And yes, we have made contingency plans for the scheduled load shedding that afternoon. Don’t miss this one!

See you all there 14h00 at the club house.

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NB This event has now taken place. read the report [here].

CTARC Forthcoming March Meeting - 23 Mar '19

The CTARC will hold their March monthly meeting on Saturday 23 March 2019 at 14h00 at the usual clubhouse venue in Rondebosch.

Usually we don't hold another meeting in March because the annual flea market, which traditionally is held on the first Saturday of that month, is enough to occupy us for a while thereafter!

However, Tom ZS1TA has kindly agreed to give a talk on Amateur Radio and Satellites on the abovementioned date. Tom is well known in radio ham circles and recently distinguished himself by holding the first QSO on two metres between South Africa and St Helena Island. He was also featured on a recent SARL bulletin, making contact with the same station via satellite.

An exciting new development for radio hams is the geostationary Es’hail-2 satellite, launched in November last year. It carries amateur radio transponders and is now in a geostationary orbit at 25.9° East. These are the first amateur radio transponders to be put into geostationary orbit, and the coverage  is expected to link radio amateurs from Brazil to the West of us to Thailand in the East. South African hams have already started making international contacts through this bird.

It promises to be a most interesting topic. See you at the meeting. Come early to ensure your seat!

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NB This event has now taken place. Read the report [here].

CTARC Report-Back on September Meeting - 23 Sep '17

On Saturday, 23 September 2017, the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre held its monthly meeting at the clubhouse in Rondebosch. Starting promptly at 14h00, our chairman, Rob / ZS1SA welcomed a gratifyingly full clubhouse to the meeting.

We had to start with the sad news of a silent key. OM Geoffrey Tyler / ZR1GFT, who passed away recently in hospital after a brief illness. A moments silence was held in memory of Geoff. We offer  our condolences to his widow, Val and her family. Geoff will be missed.

Rod then had the far happier task of handing over a club award to Richard / ZS1RIC, who won the Golden Wellie (for consistent club attendance through thick and thin). Richard had been unavailable at the July AGM when his award was announced.

Rob then gave a brief report-back on our recent Committee Meeting of last Monday, most of which had to do with progress in the repair and refurbishment of our club antennae. It will take several more work parties to get the club on air on HF. The intention is to get the A3S beam antenna up and running as soon as possible, to take advantage of various contests that are in the pipeline.

We also noted the recent Repeater Working Group meeting where Rassie / ZS1YT was elected chairman and CTARC club member John / ZS1EQ was elected vice-chairman there.

Rob also welcomed visitor Paulo / IU2EFB, visiting Cape Town from Italia. Paulo is in Sea Point at the moment and we hope to work him on air.

Then it was time for the main part of the meeting – Show and Tell.

Rob kicked off by showing us a very handy little cable tester that he built from a circuit in QST. It enables you to test coaxial cables for intermittents, shorts and open circuit, and is far handier than an ohmmeter. The circuit is very simple indeed, using just two LED's and a couple of SO-239 coaxial sockets. Rob also showed us his “chicken stick” -  a nifty device for safely discharging the large capacitors on a valve linear amplifier.

Rob was followed by Mike / ZS1FP. Mike showed us a very handy little power supply unit that he adapted from a broken one that he had found. Using a regulator and variable trimpots, he was able to convert it into one that has four switchable voltage outputs.

Mike also showed us a three-pin mains tester, using three neon tube indicators (two green and one red) that can show instantly whether a mains socket is correctly wired or not.

If that weren’t enough, Mike also showed us a canny tester he made that enables one to conveniently measure the current in a mains appliance by way of a clamp-on ammeter that clamps around an insulated single wire loop that extends from an insulated socket box.

Nick / ZS1ZD was next. He showed us a directional DF antenna that uses two loops (etched on a printed circuit board) in the same plane. It works on 144 Mhz / 2 metres. It has a small amplifier and detector circuit that drives a meter to indicate maximum signal. Sensitivity is deliberately reduced as one approaches the fox by way of three switchable ranges and a variable gain control, to obtain a proper null on the meter.

Tom / ZS1TA followed, with a demonstration of various things:

Firstly, he showed us PowerPoint slides of the noisy conditions at his QTH, especially on 40 and 80 metres. He shared with us his dealings with the municipal power authorities.

Then he showed us a solid project box for a homebrew azimuth-elevation control box that he started building some time ago.

Then he showed us an extensive series of SSTV images he has managed to send and receive by satellite using MMSTV.

Finally he showed us a project he is working on to control satellite tracking antennas with Arduino  / Rasberry Pi type of controllers.

Chris / ZS1CDG was next with two beautifully constructed projects. First was a morse code keyer that can send and read CW signals. Neatly constructed with an LCD readout. Then he also showed us a working milliWatt 10 metre band beacon that he has built. He demonstrated it live on one of the ham rigs in the shack. It transmits a repeating CW ID message.

ZS1AGH / John was next. He showed us an  app available for Android Smart phones for teaching morse code via the Koch method. This app, by IZ2UUF, can be downloaded and used by anyone with an Android smartphone.

Richard / ZS1RIC was up next. He showed us two mast constructions that are small-scale models for bigger ones that he has done as a project for other radio hams. The first is a winch arrangement for a coaxial mast, very similar in fact the the CTARC main mast which he constructed for our club. The second was an ingenious fold-over mast with a thrust bearing in the base, where the rotator may be positioned at the bottom of the mast, allowing easy access for maintenance. Both very well conceived and manufactured items.

Hans-Jurgen / ZS1HJH showed us a very fancy (and surprisingly inexpensive, for what it is) Software Defined Radio he obtained recently. The item, smaller than a pack of cigarettes, covers from 10 kHz up to 2 GHz, with a visible waterfall bandwidth (depending on the kind of computer you run it on) of up to 10 MHz continuous display and recording. Hans-Jurgen, who is no stranger to high-end specification and measurement, put the SDR through its paces and found it to be accurate in frequency to a few Hz at 1.5 GHz, and very accurate in terms of signal level measurement too. Later on he demo'd the unit with the accompanying SdrUno software, running on a PC tablet. Very impressive.

Noel / ZS1FW also showed off his homebrew code practice oscillator project that he built.

With the  Show and Tell section complete, we then held the raffle for the club’s Antenna Fund. Tickets had been on sale for R5-00 since the start of the meeting. Hylton / ZR1HPC managed the raffle and invited Paulo / IU2EFB to draw the winning ticket at random. The raffle was won by Tony / ZS1TK, who generously donated his portion of the takings back to the club. Thank, you, Tony!

The formal section of the meeting concluded, members then had the chance to chat over a cup of coffee and to buy and sell items at the Swop Shop. (ZS1SX, ZS1FP and ZS1TM all brought a variety of items along, and parted with some of them). The club still has a few bits and pieces available, which members will be able to peruse at our next meeting in October.

All in all a most interesting afternoon. Thanks to Rob for running the meeting, to all the participants who Showed and Told, and to all who attended.

Photos are here: Page 1  Page 2.

Our next main members meeting at the clubhouse will be on Saturday 28 October. More details to be announced on the bulletins, in Ragchew and here on this blogspot.

CTARC Ragchew June 2016

The June 2016 edition of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's bi-monthly newsletter "Ragchew" has been published. Grateful thanks to club secretary Anne for yet another fine edition!

You can download the June Newsletter as a PDF directly from [here].

Alternatively it can be found on our Newsletters Page

CTARC Report Back on Meeting of 21 May '16

The May 2016 meeting of the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre was well attended, with 27 members and visitors present. At 14h00 on Saturday 21 May 2016, we met at the CTARC clubhouse.

Our club chairman, Rob / ZS1SA, opened the meeting with a report back from the recent committee meeting held on Monday 23 May. He then introduced the afternoon's speaker - Tom / ZS1TA, who then gave a fascinating talk on the topic of WinLink and e-mail by HF in the marine context.

Tom is well know in our club (and the Cape Town marine community) for his active and enthusiastic yachting activities. More often than not he is to be found skippering very expensive wind-powered hardware across the high seas, on delivery to their new owners.

Under these often arduous conditions, reliable communications with coastal stations (sometimes from deep mid-ocean) are vital. Tom described how he has found the WinLink PACTOR-based system to be a great advantage in staying in touch with suppliers, clients and loved ones.

He brought along his trusty Icom 706 transceiver and PACTOR modems for us to see, and even demonstrated how easy it was to instantly obtain a GRIB file showing weather patterns. He described to us his nifty methods of rigging up a reliable yacht antenna wire, fed by an equally reliable waterproofed AH4 automatic ATU. Yachtsmen (and women) sometimes have the added complication, not shared by landlubber hams, of huge waves sometimes washing over the deck of the yacht... He also described to us the vital CrewSaver equipment and APRS beacon that reports his position while at sea.

In addition to this we were treated to photos and videos of his experiences across the oceans, including some impressive seas and scenes of "water-skiing" alongside the hull in calmer waters!

In addition to this we heard Tom's experiences on the HF marine radio nets (and of their sometimes necessarily strict radio procedures!) that exist to assist yachties within radio earshot.

After the talk members had the chance to chat over coffee and biscuits, in the well-established manner.

All in all, a great talk delivered by Tom, well up to the high standards of our club. Thanks to him for same, and to the members for their attendance for attending.

Here are some photos of the meeting:

Our chairman, Rob / ZS1SA opened the meeting

Tom / ZS1TA's talk attracted a good turnout at our meeting

Tom shows a slide of the cramped operating position (his bunk!) on the yacht.

More luxurious radio operators position on a fancy yacht that Tom delivered.

The location of the AH4 automatic Antenna Tuner Unit on the yacht.

Tom found that the best way to mount his vertical Marconi antenna was to
thread it through a mast stay.

The ATU had to be pretty waterproof, for obvious reasons!

A photo of the yacht's cruising speed (in a fresh wind) in knots.

Tom's talk was fascinating and held everyone's attention throughout.

The PACTOR modem Tom used on the high seas

Tom's well-travelled Icom 706iiG which consistently provided reliable comms
(propagation permitting) while deep in the middle of the ocean.

Another modem

After the talk was the usual option for members and visitors to chew the rag.

Our following meeting will be the CTARC's 70th Anniversary function to be held at the Wild Fig Restaurant in June.

CTARC Forthcoming Meeting - 28 May '16

The May 2016 Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre members meeting, (usually held on the fourth Saturday of each month), is on 28th May, at 14h00, at the CTARC clubhouse in Rondebosch.

Directions to the CTARC clubhouse are [here].

At the meeting, Tom / ZS1TA will present a talk about E-Mail using HF Radio, something extremely useful to long-distance seafarers and overlanders alike.For some years now, yachties have used this facility to stay in touch with their loved ones, report their daily positions, make arrangements with suppliers at their destinations, etc. It promises to be a very interesting presentation indeed.

Further details will be announced on the Sunday morning CTARC club bulletins transmitted on the 145.750 MHz repeater at 08h30, for listeners in the Cape Town area.

All club members and interested parties are most welcome to attend.