Arnold Rivett, VE6CN Bio

Arny Rivett, VE6CN

Topic: The Astrolabe: The Oldest Scientific Instrument.

This presentation was developed from research I did after I purchased an Astrolabe in a curiosity shop in Bahrain. (A9). I was fortunate to have a rich library available at Saudi Aramco where I was working in Saudi Arabia (HZ). Saudi Aramco had many valuable out of print books which provided material.

I will give a short history of the development and use of the Astrolabe, showing how the astrolabe works, how it was used and a hands on look at a brass astrolabe. The astrolabe was used to find latitude, longitude and the direction in which the faithful had to pray to face Mecca. It showed a high degree of mathematical sophistication more than 1000 years ago. Those interested in Astronomy will find some interesting bits of information on how and what the ancient astronomers could do.

Arny Rivett VE6CN was first licensed in 1963 as VE7BOU when in high school in Prince Rupert. Upon completing a degree in Geophysics and Physics at UBC in 1968 he came to Calgary and entered the oil exploration business as a geophysicist, first working for Mobil.

Arny has worked in the US, Iran, Libya and Saudi Arabia as well as Canada. While working for ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia he purchased a replica astrolabe in a curiosity shop in Bahrain. This purchase led him on a quest to learn how the astrolabe was used and took him through many books and articles on early astronomy. This study forms the basis of his talk to the QCWA.

Arny has participated in most of the public service events supported by the Calgary Amateur Radio Association and this year has been president of that organization. Arny taught license classes under CARA auspices from 1988 to 1991. Arny's main interest is in HF DX and has 250 countries confirmed with ARRL. He operates CW preferentially but can be found on SSB when conditions are good. Arny has gear and antennas for 160 to 6 meters weak signal work, and vhf/uhf fm on 2 and 70 cm.