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Archive for December, 2012

Happy Christmas to one and all!

December 25, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun

Santa Mic

The members of Wythall Radio Club would like to wish all readers of and visitors to our website the best season’s greetings!

We wish all radio enthusiasts a fantastic Christmas holiday and our wishes that “Santa” has bought you all the radio equipment you could possibly want! :-)

It’s been a great year at Wythall RC and we look forward to building on our successes in the future. Remember to check our Events page regularly – why not make it a New Year’s Resolution to come along to one of our Club events and say hello sometime?

73 es 88 de Wythall Radio Club

1-2-3 for G4VPD

December 23, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club

Further to the previous post, more results from the Radio Society of Great Britain Contest Committee just released once again reveal great news for Wythall Radio Club.

Chairman Mike G4VPD, in addition to scooping the top prize on 144MHz as described in the last news item, has now made it a hat-trick of successes with placements in two other UK Activity Contests too. Mike finished 2nd in the same low power section on the 70MHz (4 metre) band and squeezed into 3rd place on the 50 MHz (6 metre) band. Once again we congratulate his achievements and dedication to the hobby.

Mind you, with such fantastic results arriving this often, we think his shack may be due a redecorate… …with certificates! (Click below for a closer look)

2m ukac 20124m ukac 20126m ukac 2012

Wythall Radio Club Chairman is Top of the Pile!

December 20, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Contest, News

Wythall Radio Club’s Chairman Mike Pugh G4VPD is celebrating today with the release of a new set of contest results. Mike has been our stalwart performer and has hit the top spot in the RSGB’s 144MHz UK Club Activity Contests throughout 2012.

G4VPD

Taking place every first Tuesday evening for 2.5 hours, the idea is to make as many contacts as possible within that time-frame. Mike won outright the “AL” Section of this event where only low power and one antenna may be used at any one time.

As the RSGB’s Contest Website reports… “G4VPD was the run-away winner scoring 7976 (points), topping the table in seven of the twelve sessions”. Even more remarkable is that Mike didn’t actually operate in all 12 events in the year – he actually missed January and December’s contest nights!

His scores and that of other members who took part lifted our club to 15th position out of 92 UK Radio Clubs who entered. We are very proud of these achievements and give our thanks and congratulations to Mike and all the other folk who came on during the year to get points for Wythall RC.

If you are interested in having a go yourself next year, click this link but be aware that the next session is on, wait for it… New Year’s Day! Will anyone be awake enough to take part?

Wythall RC Christmas Contest approaches!

December 16, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Contest, Fun, News

Not long to go now before one of the events of the year in the Wythall Radio Club Christmas Calendar. Our in-house Christmas Contest started from small beginnings and is now a major part of the club’s calendar. Some amateurs have been known to join our club just to take part!

Trophies

The G7OJO Trophy
& its little brother!

The idea is to work as many members as possible each day from 2000 on Christmas Eve till 2000 on New Year’s Day. You are allowed to work stations each day for points but each station worked also counts as a “multiplier” to your total score. So to win, you need to work as many members as you can across the 9 days but also try to make lots of contacts with those members every day too! As if Christmas wasn’t busy enough as it is! Your best 5 days totals are sent in and the adjudication team sorts the wheat from the chaff and declares the winners at a presentation evening in January. They are presented with the G7OJO Trophy and another as yet unnamed trophy (for members using 144 MHz only.)

So why are we telling you this now? Well this Tuesday 18th December, there is a presentation by Contest Supremo Lee G0MTN on the history and development of the Contest and on the innovations introduced in recent years, which include more points for using more bands and modes and a fantastic logging spreadsheet which scores you automatically!

It will be a fascinating evening for sure. So be there at 2030 this Tuesday 18th December in the Club Shack. It will be full so arrive early!

Intermediate License Training Course starts January!

December 10, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club

If you live in or around the Birmingham or Midlands area and want to continue your Amateur Radio hobby with an Intermediate Licence, then why not book now for our January 2013 Intermediate course?

Wythall Radio Club will be running the Intermediate course at our well-equipped club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall, B47 6LZ starting with a Saturday morning session on 26th January, and then every Monday 8-10pm until the examination, which will be on Monday 18th March.

The cost for this course is just £50. This includes the examination fee, the course book, course notes and project work. There are small concessions for those under 18 or unemployed and on benefits.

Contact Chris G0EYO on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk for more details and let Wythall Radio Club help you to the next stage of your license!

Having fun… without RF!

December 09, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun

Sometimes club life is just plain fun! Last night Wythall Radio Club held its annual Christmas Party. Over 60 members, family and friends all came together for a fun-filled evening at Wythall House.

Now “homebrew” to Radio Amateurs usually refers to making radios from parts and building your own receivers and transmitters. Last night it was more about food. Home-brewed curries, tagines and savouries were supplemented by homemade cakes, brownies & all manner of other kinds of bites. No surprise then that we were all stuffed and there was still food left over by 11pm.
Perhaps we should also start a Wythall Baking Club!

With the Wythall House bar serving anything from Cappuccinos to real ale to wash it all down, we disproved our own club motto by having tons of fun, but without any RF being transmitted (for once).

Even Ian our Treasurer was happy as the evening actually made a profit, thanks to many folk’s efforts! We should especially mention Jim 2E0BLP who ran, single-handedly, what must have been the longest raffle known to mankind!

As one local West Midlander once sang… “Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day!”

Advancing onwards…

December 05, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, News, Training

Tonight is the night that our four Advanced Course students (plus an outside candidate) take their examination at Wythall House. We wish club members Chris 2E0ETH and Jim 2E0BLP plus non-members Tony 2E0TKS and Carl 2E0CWC together with external candidate Shaun 2E1BWN the very best. We hope to hear their new M0 callsigns on the air as soon as they get them.

The Advanced Course covers a large number of technical topics in some depth and passing the exam is a real achievement, equivalent to an NVQ qualification.  It is also the longest course the club runs with 15 two hourly sessions on Monday evenings and a couple of Saturday mornings.

Chris 2E0ETH, Jim 2E0BLP & Tony 2E0TKS ready to roll

As Lead Instructor & Training Coordinator, Chris G0EYO has attended every session.

Nonetheless Chris paid tribute to his assistants. “Running this course would not be possible without the help and expertise of my fellow tutors, Peter G4LWF, Barry M0DGQ and Dave G3YXM together with invigilators David G0ICJ and Mike G4VPD. It surely is a team effort and I am sure all our candidates appreciate their efforts. As a club, we are lucky to have the facilities of a classroom with multimedia technology at our disposal.”

While we await tonight’s results, you might be interested to know that Wythall Radio Club will be starting an Intermediate course in January, so watch this space for more news!

Party Time!

December 04, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun, News

This Saturday, 8th December, is a very special date in Wythall Radio Club’s Calendar. It is the date for our annual Christmas Party! Members come along and bring friends & family and we basically just have a lot of fun together!

We hire one of the larger rooms (with bar of course!) at Wythall House and have a mixture of excellent food and drink (in the “American Supper” style), live entertainment, games, raffles, and even a skittle alley!

Great chat, a relaxed friendly atmosphere and a “no pressure” environment, it’s the perfect way to start the festive season off with friends. This Saturday in the Britannia Room at Wythall House, Sliver Street, Wythall from 19:00.

The Lynch Mob!

December 01, 2012 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun, News

What a fun day! Our first club visit to Martin Lynch’s shop in Chertsey, Surrey.

Six of us made the trip down a frosty, foggy M40 early this morning to enjoy the ML&S open day & hog roast and we were not disappointed! We arrived around 8.30am to find a Car Park space reserved for our Chairman Mike G4VPD. He won’t live that down in a hurry!

We then spent a happy few hours browsing the shop, enjoying a breakfast of unlimited free bacon sandwiches, free drinks and very friendly chat with the ML&S staff.

G5HY from Kenwood(UK) presents Mike G4VPD with our £600 voucher

This was also the day when we were presented with our £600 voucher, won in the ML&S raffle at the National Hamfest in September, to spend in store. Kenwood’s David Wilkins G5HY was on hand to present the voucher, which was very promptly exchanged in part payment for a Kenwood TS-590S!

Needless to say, there were a few other pre-Christmas deals done and Santa obviously came VERY early for all the members who travelled down!

A hot pork lunch and more drinks and soon it was time to leave, but not before we felt we had made a few new friends in the South-East.

Many thanks to Martin, Richard and all the staff and Martin’s family at ML&S. We look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.