CARC is an Amateur Radio Club based in The Tilgate Recreational Area of Crawley near to the K2 Sports Centre, whose members share a passion for Amateur Radio. Amateur Radio is a hobby dating back to the early 1900s when the radio communications and technology we take for granted today was developed. Designed by individual hobbyists as well as Commercial companies. Amateur Radio experimenters and operators were responsible for many ground-breaking advances in radio communication, and who are still in the forefront today.
In 1901 Marconi broadcast the first transatlantic radio signal between Cornwall England and Newfoundland in Canada. He sent the letter ‘S’ in Morse code, three short ‘dits’, It does surprise many that Morse code is still widely used today. Audible tones are often the easiest thing for human ears to hear weak signals above the static and noise of the airwaves,this allows Morse code to remain a reliable method of communication when others methods fail.
However Amateur Radio has moved way beyond the dits and dahs of the last century, Mobile phones and Wireless internet connectivity have revolutionised the world as we know it – both these technologies have evolved from the original communication methods developed by Marconi, Hertz and the other early radio pioneers. Amateur Radio too has exploded with creativity. Nowadays, you’ll find Radio Amateurs talking directly to Astronauts on the International Space Station, developing Software Defined Radios techniques where solder, components and wire are replaced with lines of computer code, using Amateur Radio satellites to communicate worldwide, Television, travelling to obscure islands to set up radio stations or entering the many competitions running frequently on the Amateur Bands. Many Amateurs still build their own equipment with which they communicate World Wide.
CARC members do all of this and more. Come and visit us to find out more.