wythall radio club

The popular Morse training class run by members of Wythall Radio Club starts again this week.

From this Tuesday, 9th October, Chris G7DDN and Barry M0DGQ will be starting a new class for the year. Both absolute beginners and “old hands” alike are welcome. We try to make learning the code as fun as possible and at all times try to ensure that you learn by sound rather than any other way.  CW is all about sound and that’s the correct way to learn it!

These classes are now into their third consecutive year and have proved very popular with students. So if you have been promising yourself a shot at learning Morse Code, why not turn up this Tuesday at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall at 1945? (see other links on this website for more information on our meeting place and how to get to it). You will be made very welcome.

SPRAT (Small Powered Radio Amateur Transmitters) is the club magazine of the G-QRP Club, QRP being the amateur radio code for “low power”.  Many radio enthusiasts like to see how far their tiny QRP signals will travel, often from simple home-made transmitters, receivers and antennas.

Barry, M0DGQ, is one member of Wythall Radio Club who enjoys doing just this kind of thing and for the second time in recent months, one of his home-brew projects has appeared in the SPRAT journal. This time, it is a companion receiver to go with the transmitter he has already had featured for the 40m shortwave amateur band.

Getting an article into SPRAT is no mean feat, but then Barry is no ordinary amateur! Take a look at his homepages at m0dgq.co.uk to see what sorts of things Barry does with his hobby!

Meantime, congratulations to him for another top class article published for the world to enjoy!

It’s been a great year for Wythall Radio Club.

Just browsing through the posts on this website shows how busy members have been with all kinds of projects.

How good then, to see Wythall RC featured as one of the Amateur Radio Clubs in the 2013 RSGB Yearbook.

Since it is well known that “all publicity is good publicity”(!), it can only be a good thing that so many Radio Amateurs and enthusiasts will read of the Club’s most recent achievements.

The RSGB itself is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2013, so an even more appropriate edition of the yearbook to be featured in, we cannot think of! Visit the RSGB website to get more information and maybe even order your copy!

Thanks to our friends at Martin Lynch & Sons and Kenwood UK, Wythall Radio Club is now the proud owner of a top-notch transceiver in the club shack.

The Kenwood TS-590S is a very high performance radio, capable of excellent receive operation.  The old adage “If you can’t hear them, you can’t work them” is certainly true. Receive performance is often the limiting factor in amateur radio communications. No longer for G4WAC! Wythall Radio Club has taken a leap into the 21st Century with the purchase of the TS-590S with its excellent specifications.

The ceremonial “unboxing” took place in the club shack last night and it wasn’t long before members were on the amateur bands working the world via our excellent triband beam on the club tower.

Our thanks once again to the staff at Martin Lynch and Kenwood UK for their help in securing an excellent deal for the club – this radio is going to get a lot of use!

Thanks to stalwart members, Darren and Carol (a.k.a. the Welsh Contingent!), and aided & abetted by several other Wythall Radio Club members, the weekend’s Special Event Station at the Stoke Prior Steam Fair was a great success!

While the beer tent and entertainment was doubtless a great draw,(!) on the radio front a lot of fun was had, with quite a few pile-ups over the weekend. There was not too much in the way of long distance working to be had, but one highlight was working another Special Event station also operating from a steam fair! Now that IS spooky!

Click the photos below to get some idea of the fun that was had. And why not take a peek at http://photobucket.com/stokeprior for more?

This weekend you will find Wythall Radio Club members out literally “in the field!”

Image © R G Newman 2012

Down at Stoke Prior, a village not too far from Wythall, the annual Autumn Steam Rally is taking place across the weekend and Wythall Radio Club puts on an Amateur Special Event Station in the rally field to coincide with it. We operate on 40m, 2m and sometimes other bands too and our aim is always to have fun!

Watch out for Darren GW7HOC & family as well as Les M0COK and others manning the station on the field this weekend.

For more information about this popular event, or to plan a visit, you can click the link below to the rally website – it gives you all the information you need to know!  http://www.shakespearesrally.com/Stoke_Prior.htm

Just about a year ago now, a team of intrepid operators made their way to Timor Leste in Australasia with the intent of putting on air the Amateur station 4W6A.

4W is a rare prefix in the Amateur Radio world and Wythall Radio Club are fortunate in having one of the members of that DXpedition team, Tim Beaumont M0URX, as a club member.

This coming Tuesday, Tim is set to reveal all the secrets of the 4W6A DXpedition to Wythall Radio Club members with an illustrated talk/presentation. Somewhere in the region of 40,000 QSOs were made during the event and Tim will doubtless have some fascinating stories to tell us.

As always, visitors are very welcome. The talk begins at 2030 in the Darts Room at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ

I am happy to report that SSB Field Day went according to plan. We entered the unrestricted section although with only a fan-dipole for 80, 40 and 20m at 45 feet. We did run an amplifier though. 811 contacts made with many more dupes than I can remember. Lots of fun, laughs and we even slept the night. The days of 24×7 operating finally over for the old duffers?

Pictures score more points than words. Check these out.

Last night at Wythall Radio Club, there was a proud moment for one of our members.

Chris G0EYO was presented with the latest club trophy, the Lew Williams Shield. Lew was a former President of our club, who, although not a licensed radio amateur himself, was an expert in Morse Code. Many longer standing members have him to thank for passing their, then mandatory, morse test.

Wythall Radio Club decided to honour Lew’s memory after he sadly passed away last year with a memorial shield, this to be awarded to the member who, in the opinion of the judges, had made the most progress in Morse proficiency during the year. Chris’ entry was an excellent submission and a story of how he overcame his nerves to start making contacts on air using the code.

With the engraving complete, Chris is seen in the photo receiving the trophy from the Chairman of the judges, Lee G0MTN, who himself is a very well known Morse Code contester and fast sending/receiving expert! Congratulations, Chris!

Wythall Radio Club will be running their annual Advanced Class starting Monday 3rd September and every Monday until 3rd December with the exam being taken on Wednesday 5th December.

The classes run from 8-10pm and there is one Saturday morning session which covers measurements with practical demonstrations.

The cost of the course including exam fees, course book, course materials and exam room hire is £60.

We have just a few spaces left on this course so if you know of anyone who is interested, please contact Chris G0EYO on g0eyo at blueyonder dot co dot uk.