Radio technicians visit the Reserve

Modderfontein Nature Reserve recently hosted the Kempton Amateur Radio Technical Society (KARTS) in the South African Radio League (SARL) National Field Day contest.

The weather forecast for the day predicted rain for most of the day. and this became a daunting reality.

“Even though it rained for most of the day, and we were the only people mad enough, except the ducks, to be out in the rain,” said Nico Pretorius.

Pretorius is the public relations officer and member of KARTS.

The rainy morning did not stop the determined technicians.

The chairperson of KARTS, Stephan Stuttard, was the first to arrive at the site.

“He wanted to secure the one and only lapa in the area.

“We were concerned someone would take up the only shelter from the rain,” said Pretorius.

Stephen said being a radio amateur enables you to make contact with people on FM radio.

“We can even talk to the astronauts on the international space station.

“Amateur radio technicians are the only members of the public that can talk to astronauts,” he said.

The club practises emergency communications for situations such as disasters.

“We also do a lot of cycling events and other public events.”

KARTS set up two portable masts, one with a Bazooka antenna for 40m and the other a Bazooka for 20m.

The team were active and on air from noon to 5pm.

In two instances they heard some very clear radio signals, on 20m in the morning between Nepal and India, but couldn’t make contact, according to Pretorius.

“We didn’t manage a single contact on 20m, but we had fun on 40m.”

In total, the amateur radio technicians made 17 contacts.

The team managed to contact five different provinces, and scored 850 points in the contest.

“We put in a great team effort, and had lots of fun,” said Pretorius.