CTARC KPH Night of Nights - 12 Jul '19

Between 1999 and 2000, commercial maritime radio traffic using Morse Code was phased out, bringing the end of an era in marine radio communications. Officially, that is.

Fortunately, on 12 July 2000 the Maritime Radio Historical Society was founded with the goal of maintaining the traditions of maritime Morse Code by restoring historic coast station KPH back into service. The first steps toward that goal were taken and on 12 July 2000 the first Night of Nights (named by MRHS co-founder Tom Horsfall) was held at the KPH transmit site in Bolinas, California on the West Coast of the USA.

Every year since then the MRHS has held the  Night of Nights on 12 July with opening transmissions taking place x number of years and one minute since that supposed last transmission in 1999.

They will be on air again this year on 12 July 2019, and those CW ham radio operators with an interest in monitoring this interesting event may find out more [here].

The RCA Receive Station at Point Reyes, California

A volunteer marine CW operator at KPH

CTARC Leon Isaacson ZS1CI - Silent Key - 7 July '19

It is with regret that we announce that the key of CTARC member, Dr Leon Isaacson ZS1CI, went silent on 7 July 2019 at his home in Woodbridge Island in Milnerton. He was 92 years old.

Dr Isaacson was a lecturer at the Department of Physiology at the University of Cape Town for many years. In his retirement, despite his advancing years he maintained an active interest in construction and progressive aspects of amateur radio technology, such as digital modes.

Our condolences go to his family and friends.

CTARC Formal Notification of AGM - July '19

Dear CTARC Member

This is the official notification that the Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre's Annual General Meeting has been called.

Date: Saturday, 27th July 2019.

Time: 14h00.

Venue: CTARC Clubhouse, Round Table (Belvedere) Community Centre, off Laidlaw Road, Claremont.

Social: Join us for afternoon refreshments after the meeting.

PLEASE REVIEW THE ATTACHED PDF DOCUMENTS:

[Agenda for 2019 AGM]

[The Minutes of the 2018 AGM]

[Proxy Form] - should you require somebody to vote on your behalf and cannot attend the meeting.

[Trophy & Award Nomination/s] - should you wish to nominate a member for a trophy or award.

To those who received a CTARC floating trophy at the previous AGM, please ensure it is returned to me or Rob ZS1SA at the soonest opportunity. in certain cases we need time for the next repitient's name to be engraved.

We look forward to seeing you on the 27th July 2019.

Regards,
Anne Bareham
(CTARC Secretary and Editor)
Cell: 072-268-1207

CTARC Software Defined Radio Interest Group - Jul '19

We have received the following communication from Deon ZR1DE:

Software Defined Radio

Over the last few years interest in Software Defined Radio (SDR) and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) has been steadily increasing.

Workshops introducing the RTL-SDR dongle and its applications together with a PC have been held, arousing more interest in this field amongst Radio Amateurs.

Advantages of software applications are the opportunity to investigate the digital part of communications without the need for circuit construction. Inexpensive hardware modules have become available and all experimentation is done in software on the PC.

The idea of forming a group of interested persons both from within and outside the Amateur Radio community, who would like to investigate and share knowledge in this field, has been expressed.

As a start in this direction we would like to create a platform to facilitate the process.

Should you be interested to find out more or to contribute, please e-mail me at: pcoetzee715@gmail.com

or alternatively contact the Boland Amateur Radio Club.

Deon ZR1DE

CTARC Ragchew - 1 July '19

The July 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