wythall radio club

having fun with RF
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Archive for February, 2013

Construction fun!

February 27, 2013 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun, News

Wythall Radio Club members were certainly living up to their motto of “Having Fun with RF” last night!

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Barry M0DGQ assists David G7IBO (left) & Juliet M6RSC

20 members crowded into the club classroom, soldering stations at the ready, to have a go at building the M0DGQ designed TRF Radio Receiver. In truth, most of us did not know what to expect, but Barry, the project designer, handed out our bags full of components and led us very professionally through the build. Suffice it to say that it did get rather warm with 20 or so soldering irons adding to the general bodily warmth(!) and as the photos show, things were a little cramped!

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Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Nonetheless, all the participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves and much banter was heard during the 2½ hour session. We had started at 1930 but had to wrap up by 2200 as we were all getting too tired!

A couple of folk managed to finish the project to the point where they could get their receivers tested by Barry, but the rest will either be finished at home or at this Friday’s shack social evening.

Many comments were heard to the effect of “we must do more of this”. However, the preparation involved was considerable so thanks must go to designer and teacher Barry M0DGQ for his time and efforts in sourcing materials and preparing the project so well. We do indeed look forward to doing more construction work!

Wythall Radio Rally – Update

February 25, 2013 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Hamfest, News

8Further to yesterday’s post, we can now announce that all trader spaces  for the 2013 Wythall Radio Club Rally have now being booked. We thank our valued traders for their support for our event.

Perhaps this is a reminder that the popularity of Wythall Radio Club Rally, being ever growing, means that early booking for 2014 will almost certainly be essential!

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Among our visitors this year are our friends from Radioworld, W H Westlake, JAB Electronics, Sandpiper, Bowood Electronics, FISTS CW Club, Czech Army Morse Keys, Surpelectronics, WonderWand Antennas UK, Peter Hall Embroidery (for those fancy embroidered callsign shirts!) and many more.

Click and take a look at our floor plans for full details.

Wythall Radio Rally is on its way!

February 24, 2013 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Hamfest, News

RallyThe 2013 Wythall Radio Club Rally is just a fortnight away!

This is a day long event (this year on Sunday 10th March), where radio related traders from all over the UK descend on Woodrush School, 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 will open at 10.00 am and it is worth getting there early to snap up the bargains which will doubtless be on offer! And the real bonus is the £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.

Wythall Club Members are keying themselves up for a busy weekend on 9th/10th March as to put this event on involves a huge effort from everyone connected with the club.

Plans are being finalised to make sure the day goes as smoothly as possible. More updates will appear on this website so watch this space!

A Club Construction Project

February 17, 2013 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun, News

Winter is traditionally a time of year for Radio Amateurs to spend long evenings indoors “playing radio”. For many of us, that means the opportunity to build our own radio equipment. In this, we are following a ham tradition which goes down the years (the early radio pioneers HAD to build their own equipment as there was nothing to purchase!)  and indeed, this is one reason why one needs to pass exams to join our hobby.

So it is then that this winter, Wythall Radio Club’s members are undertaking a simple construction project to get us “back to basics”.

Wythall Club Member Barry M0DGQ is leading us in a two week project  to build a simple TRF  (Tuned Radio Frequency) Receiver. The set Barry has designed covers 2.6 MHz to 3.9 MHz approximately. This includes all of the 80 metre Amateur Band and some of the Shortwave Broadcast band. Using a good antenna and ground, we would hope to receive international shortwave broadcast stations, as well as Amateur SSB and Morse signals.

This Tuesday, 19th February, Barry will lead us in an informal presentation of the basics of the circuit and how it works and the pitfalls we will have to watch out for in constructing it. The following Tuesday, 26th February, we will be making a set each. Should be fun!

Why not come along and see how we all get on? 2030 at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall. B47 6LZ

An unexpected award!

February 10, 2013 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, News

A certain law predicts that as soon as one says things have gone quiet, they start perking up again!  Following the last published post, it came to our attention that Wythall Radio Club member Dave G3YXM had that very morning received a most unexpected surprise, courtesy of Royal Mail!

In the post arrived a letter and a rather fine commemorative plaque from Giulio, I2FGT on behalf of the IQ2MI 500 kHz Propagation Beacon Group.

Plaque

The accompanying letter reads…  “The IQ2MI 500 kHz Group sends you this plaque as a token of thanks for having made your “grabber” available to the community of Radio Amateurs, giving us the opportunity to verify the propagation day and night of our beacon on a path of 1113 km.”

Amateur Transmissions recently ended on the 500 kHz Band as we now have an allocation at 472 kHz instead. However, most of the tests that led to the official award of these frequencies to the Amateur Community are assisted by hobbyists such as Dave taking such a keen interest in propagation.

So well done to Dave and we are sure he will be looking forward to working a few of you on 472 kHz this year!

All Quiet on the Wythall Front?

February 09, 2013 By: Chris G7DDN Category: Club, Fun, News

It might seem to folk looking in from the outside that not much is happening at Wythall Radio Club just now. Well nothing could be further from the truth!

Club channels

The fact is that many of us are now so busy monitoring our club frequencies (and using them!) that both this website and our club email reflector have seen an equivalent decline in activity! Long may that continue!

Since the whole point of being a Radio Amateur is to “have fun with RF”. as our club motto suggests, then it seems entirely appropriate that while there may be less chatter via computer,  there is most definitely a lot more going on on the airwaves!