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Archive for March, 2012

A Busy Easter…

March 30, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun

This time next week, Easter will be almost upon us, and while the young-at-heart among us will doubtless be tucking into our chocolate eggs, members of Wythall Radio Club will also be busy on the airwaves.

Thursday sees the start of our Easter Contest, a shorter version of our Christmas Contest. While members will be busy from 1000 local time trying to work each other across the holiday period, everyone is welcome to call in and say hello. The contest ends on Easter Monday at 2200 and members will be submitting their best 3 days to see if they can win an extra Easter Egg or two!

But there’s more! The club is also putting on a Special Event Station this weekend at the Hanbury Vintage Steam Fair. Look out for the club station on the field on both Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday with keen members making contacts on both VHF and HF. The fact there is a good flow of real ale on site plays only a little part in our interest! ;-)

Wythall Radio Club wishes you and your families a very happy Easter Holiday.

The mystique of valves…

March 24, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club

In years gone by, thermionic valves were the staple diet of the Ham Radio enthusiast. You still see lots of them for sale at Radio Rallies throughout the country! It was not until the 1950’s and moreso the 1960’s that transistorised solid-state equipment began to become commonplace. We all probably remember our first examples of broadcast transistor radios – the ones we nicknamed “trannies”!

And while valves are still the main drivers in high power linear amplifiers for example, there has been a resurgence of interest in homebrew valve technology in recent years. Even kits have become available for beginners to make QRP transmitters for example.

Valve technology however can be a bit of a mystery to many of us, so this Tuesday night at Wythall Radio Club, why not come along and learn a bit more about them?

Barry M0DGQ is a designer and builder of radio equipment using valves and will be presenting a talk called “A Beginner’s Guide to Valves”. It is bound to be an interesting evening and promises to enthuse many of us into having a go at building something using valve technology.

Can’t wait!

Intermediate Course Announced

March 18, 2012 By: M0MCX Category: Club, News

If you live in or around Birmingham or Midlands area and want to continue your Amateur Radio hobby with an Intermediate Licence then book now for April 2012 to avoid any disappointment

Wythall Radio Club will be running an Intermediate course at their club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall, B47 6LZ from Saturday morning on  21st April, and then every Monday 8-10pm until the examination on Monday 19th June.

Cost for this course is £50 which includes, the examination fee, course book, course notes and project work.

Contact Chris G0EYO on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk if you are interested or go to the Training page for more information.

Garden Antennas for HF

March 16, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club

Years ago, when the UK population was somewhat less numerous than it is at the moment, there seemed to be a little more “real estate” around for UK citizens to have large-ish (or at least long-ish!) gardens.

Since the housing boom of the 1950s and 1960s however, gardens seem to have been ever-decreasing in size.  The upshot of all this is that most of us Radio Hobbyists no longer have large amounts of space into which we can put our HF antennas.

If this sounds like your situation, then this Tuesday, Wythall Radio Club is the place to be!

Callum M0MCX will be giving a talk on growing HF antennas suitable for your garden.   Based on a talk he himself heard many years ago, and added to in the light of experience, Callum will be exploring what it is possible to do in terms of efficient HF antennas in average size gardens.

2030 in the Darts Room at Wythall House – not to be missed!

Thank you for your support!

March 11, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Hamfest

All the members of Wythall Radio Club would like to say a huge “thank you” to the many traders and visitors who attended our annual Rally today. We hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did.

We appreciate the long hours many of you travel to get to us and we trust you felt it was well worth the effort. In particular, we look forward to welcoming you all back again next year.

73 and thank you to one and all!

Wythall Rally 2012 Photos

March 11, 2012 By: M0MCX Category: Club

What a great Rally today! The turnout for both traders and  public was superb. The weather helped too with glorious sunshine for the whole event. We hope you had a great time.

Finally, a *big* thank you to the members that participated in the build and tear-down. Many traders commented that Wythall is the only rally that supplies members to assist with the traders at the huge level we do. Great work. Many hands make light work!

A picture is better than a 1,000 words though, so see the collection here:

https://www.wythallradioclub.co.uk/photos/2012-2/2012-rally/

See you next year.

Wythall Radio Club Rally is here!

March 10, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Hamfest

After months of preparation and hard work, the 27th Wythall Radio Club Rally has arrived!

Members and traders will be busy from 0700 in the morning at Woodrush School getting tables and stands ready for all our visitors. Some of our traders have to come from very far afield and will be getting up at around 3 in the morning to get to our corner of the West Midlands – that’s dedication!

The rally opens to the public at 1000 tomorrow morning and all members of Wythall Radio Club hope you all enjoy the experience. Admission is just £2.50 and all monies received go directly to offset the cost of putting on the rally and the profits go towards keeping our club solvent financially.

So see you tomorrow morning at Woodrush School, Shawhurst Lane, Wythall. B47 5JW. There are signs to help you find us and radio talk-in is on 145.550 MHz if you don’t have a Sat Nav.

We hope you have a great, fun-filled day.

The Fantastic Four…

March 05, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club

No, not the Marvel Comic book heroes, but our very own successful Foundation Licencees!

Tonight at the club, Keith, Anita, young Daniel & Chris were successful in passing their Foundation Exams.  Well done to you all and welcome to our great hobby!

Our thoughts are also with two candidates who only just missed out on making it a six-some. However, youngsters Tara and Jake will, we are sure, be successful at a re-sit in a few weeks time.

Meantime, we now await callsigns for our Fantastic Four…

Exciting times…

 

 

Foundation License Exam tomorrow night!

March 04, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club

After 6 or so weeks of fun and hard work, our intrepid group of Foundation License Course members get to take their exam tomorrow night.

Under the tutelage of Chris G0EYO and a few others, they have been preparing for this evening.  Last week was the mock exam and apparently quite a few of the candidates learned that it is not always a good idea to change answers from your first choice! :-)

All Wythall club members send their best wishes to everyone taking the exam tomorrow night.  Watch this space for the results and hopefully soon, some new callsigns.

All systems go for Wythall Radio Rally!

March 01, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Hamfest

It’s all hands to the pump now as we are just days away from this year’s Wythall Radio Club Rally!

For anyone who doesn’t know, this is a day long event on Sunday 11th March, where radio related traders from all over the UK descend on Woodrush School in Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, (B47 5JW for those who have SatNavs!) and ply their wares to radio, computer and electronics hobbyists of all kinds. It’s a fun day and you are sure to come away with a bargain or two!

Doors open at 10.00 am and it is worth getting there early to snap up the bargains which will doubtless be on offer! At £2.50 entrance fee, Wythall is still one of the least expensive events in the UK and has a reputation for being one of the friendliest.

Members are keying themselves up for a busy weekend on 10th/11th March as to put this on involves a huge effort from everyone connected with the club. The rally keeps the club solvent financially too for the rest of the year, so all members are very much encouraged to get their hands dirty!

Our last planning meeting for the rally is at the club this coming Tuesday evening, 6th March, and we encourage all members to attend if at all possible.

See you there! :-)