CTARC Forthcoming May Meeting - 26 May '18

Deon Coetzee / ZR1DE
with prototype space frame.
Image Credit SA AMSAT

The monthly CTARC meeting for May 2018 will be held at the clubhouse on Saturday 26 May 2018, starting at 14h00.

The speaker for this meeting will be Deon Coetzee / ZR1DE, with a talk on the SA AMSAT radio amateur satellite projects and the FunCube SDR.

Deon's enthusiastic involvement in this field over the years is well known and he is an established authority on the subject, and it promises to be a most interesting talk indeed.

Please note that this topic / speaker replaces previous notifications for the 26 May 2018 meeting. We do apologise for any confusion that might have been caused.

Details of our forthcoming meetings are usually announced on our Sunday morning CTARC bulletins on the 145.750 MHz repeater, in our newsletter "Ragchew" and on this blogspot.

Note: This meeting has now taken place. The report-back is [here].

CTARC Request for Assistance - 24 May '18

There is an urgent request for assistance from Klaus / ZS1QO for fellow radio hams and club members to help him finish dismantling his radio station in Rugby in Cape Town. Klaus and his family are set to depart the QTH quite soon, and his state of health prevents him from doing this big job on his own. While his masts are now dismantled and antennas are down, there is still work to be done.

He also still has quite a large selection of amateur radio rigs, antennas and accessories for sale too. Here is an extracted list of items that appeared recently in the Highway Amateur Radio Club swops page:

Update offer to sale:

• Military Handset, new, for B25 and similar MIL Radios complete with MIL-Plug,

• Synthesized Digital Generator FARNELL DSG-1 0,0001 Hz to 99,99 kHz - very rare, among else used for CTCSS calibration-, 

• Audio Signal Generator HP204C, 

• Calculating Frequency Counter 0.1 Hz to 2.5 GHz, made in Germany by AUERSBERG, 

• Oscilloscope Siglent SDS 1102CML dual-beam storage 100 MHz, 

• D-Link Wireless N150 ADSL2plus Modem Router, 

• Tono 5000E CW / RTTY / AMTOR Encoder/Decoder including keyboard, 

• 12-Pin power cables for Yaesu FT-101 Series and Kenwood, 

• VHF Mobile Antennas with magnetic base,

• Good Quality Coax Cable RG58 - 50m Reel, 

• DC twin-core power cable red/black, 

• Special Radio Power Plugs, 

• Military Plugs - many different types, 

• Commercial Radio Direction Finder 100 MHz to 180 MHz, 

• SWR Meter 1.8 MHz to 570 MHz, ranges 5W 20W 200W, 

• HF Transceiver ICOM IC-751A (including non-volatile EPROM). 

• Transformer Power Supply 220 V / 13.8 V 30 A cont. 32 A peak, 

• Transformer Power Supply 220 V / 13.6 V 3.5 A, 

• Automatic Antenna Tuner Daiwa CN2002 with cross needle meter,
  Range 20 W / 200 W / 2000 W PEP, 12 V operated, 

• Portable 2m Transceiver TR-2300 with built-in CTCSS board and ext. Amplifier VB-2300, 

• 4 x High Quality German Loudspeakers - 4 Ohms 25W, 

• Kenwood Hand Microphone MC35S 50 kiloOhm with 4-pin connector, 

• Other dynamic microphones with 4-pin and 8-pin connectors, 

• VHF 2m Mobile Antennas with magnetic base, 

• Big box of coax plugs and sockets - PL259, N-Type, Barrels, BNC, adapters PL/BNC, N/PL, N/BNC, PL/SMA and more.
  

PLEASE VISIT ME OR CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION AND SEND E_MAIL FOR DETAILS.

Kind regards
Klaus ZS1QO

Klaus requests you contact him by direct mobile phone call, please NOT by WhatsUp nor by SMS. You can do so on: [ zero 8  three = 6 too six = six  9  six  4 ].
He may also be e-mailed at comlab at global dot co dot za

CTARC Project Loon - 6 May '18

This is an experimental research and development project by formerly Google X. This project is to provide internet access to rural and remote areas. This project uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at about 18 Km above sea level.

Two of these balloons have been spotted on an app called "FlightRadar24. (which please Google).

One is about to fly over Cape town in the next few day. As of writing (6 May 2018) at 11h00, balloon Registration N189LB is at an altitude of 57,300 Ft in position Latitude -33.475 and Longitude 13.5493. The track is 104 degrees slightly south of due east. If it continues on it's current track it will pass very close to Cape Town.

It might be possible to bounce VHF or UHF signals off the Mylar balloon material.

There is another balloon which is presently over southern Angola. It's registration is N183LB.

Check out Project Loon on Google and [here and here], and also FlightRadar24 [here].

Hope this is of interest.

73

Hans ZS1HA

CTARC Ragchew - May 2018

The May 2018 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!

Download the PDF file [here];

Ragchew is also on our Newsletters Page

CTARC More Photos of Morningstar Station - May '18

Here are some more photos of the Morningstar Remote Control Station.
Grateful thanks to Dennis / ZS1AU for providing these.

The station's location, sheltered by an aircraft hangar.

The station's mast, Optibeam HF antenna, 6m beam above that,
2x microwave dishes and 2m discone antenna

Fred / ZS1FZ, who concieved and built the Morningstar station

In te background is the Ham Spirit Trophy, which Fred won this year