wythall radio club

Further to the previous post, Wythall Radio Club members have been busy again on the antenna front!

The club antenna project continues apace – this week it’s been Chairman Mike G4VPD, Stu M0NYP, Rob 2E0MEX and Kevin 2E0NCO getting their hands dirty! 

The fab four managed to get onto the roof at Wythall House and build the first of our replacement antennas.  The VHF and above stack was tackled as a priority. Click on the photos for a better view!

So now we have beams ready to put up for 23cms, 70cms, 2m, and 4m/6m. The 5 band HF yagi is to follow.

We are sure our friends at Innovantennas will be watching this carefully – we don’t want to be having to order replacement parts before we even get the metal in the sky!

More developments on this project soon – there is a Bank Holiday weekend coming up here in the UK, so if the weather is kind, there may be more news and photos for you next week!

Wythall Radio Club’s main antennas are down! Not because of adverse weather conditions or such like – this was actually planned!

Recently we have purchased a whole new raft of antennas for our club mast, thanks to our friends at Innovantennas and Martin Lynch & Sons. But before anything can go up, the old has to come down!

So it was, that a few days ago, a working party, which consisted of Chairman Mike G4VPD, Dave G3YXM, Pete M5DUO, and John M1JSS, went up to our clubhouse to make a start on the big job.

We are pleased to report that all went very well and subject to some maintenance, it shouldn’t be too long before the new antennas are seen above the Wythall skyline. Of course, you will hear about it first here on www.wythallradioclub.co.uk.

Proof of the hard work of the guys involved can be seen below!

It seems to be coming thick and fast at the moment – publicity for Wythall Radio Club, that is!

This time the Redditch Standard has published a piece not too dissimilar to the one the Redditch Advertiser did a little while ago. Thank you to our friends at the Standard for picking up the story and running with it.

Any publicity is good publicity, or so they say.  The members of Wythall Radio Club hope it will help our club become better known around the communities where we operate.

You never know who’s reading…

Once again it is pleasing to report that both Wythall Radio Club news and members are making it into the Radio Society of Great Britain’s monthly journal.

The September edition of RadCom is now hitting doormats across the UK as we write and so news of our impending repeater, GB3WL will also be getting out, as you can see from the snippet. The article appears on page 84 but if you click on the picture of the article (left) you can have a sneak preview!

That’s not the only mention for our members this month though, as club member Dave G3YXM is also quoted a few times in the Mobile section of Peter G3LDO’s Antennas column on page 68. Well that’s what happens if you run 400 watts when out mobile on the HF bands!

We do seem to playing spot the Wythall Radio Club members in most RadComs these days – long may that continue!

Wythall Radio Club is today saying a very big thank you to our friends at Kenwood (UK).

That’s because they have helped us out with our future training courses thanks to a generous donation of some USB sticks – and they are not just any USB sticks, they are in the design of a Kenwood Handheld Transceiver!

Chris G0EYO, our Training Co-ordinator, is moving away from using CDs for his course material, preferring to use USB sticks instead. And when David Wilkins G5HY at Kenwood UK heard about our need for 10 of the devices, he was more than pleased to help us out.

In future then, all our trainees will be the proud owners of these rare Kenwood USB sticks, while they are on our courses at least! They will have to hand them back once they have “graduated” – they aren’t keeping them forever!

It’s always gratifying to see our local press, in this case the Redditch & Alcester Advertiser, printing a story about Wythall Radio Club.

In the most recent edition, they have an article about our new repeater antenna and how we were helped with it by our friends at Western Power Distribution.

WPD gave us a generous grant in order for us to purchase a 4 stacked dipole antenna towards our new relay station GB3WL. You can read more about that here.

News like this is always of interest to our colleagues in the press and Wythall Radio Club try to let them have as much community-based information as we can, if for no other reason, it helps enhance our club’s profile in our local community.

So thank you, Redditch & Alcester Advertiser!

Every August, the villagers of Wythall come together to celebrate with a summer carnival and this year, Wythall Radio Club members are heavily involved again.

Having fun with RF at the 2013 Carnival!

Some of our hardy souls will be helping out with car parking and marshalling at the event, which takes place on Sunday 10th August at 1400, while another group of members is putting on a stall to advertise the club and its activities.

You can read more about the carnival and what is on offer here. Expect the usual Classic Car exhibition, Dog Show & lots of stalls, together with a Birds of Prey display and some dogs playing “Flyball”! Sounds like great fun!

The members of Wythall Radio Club will be setting up a demonstration radio station and a “hands-on” activity stall, showing all that is good about Amateur Radio and Wythall Radio Club in particular. This Tuesday evening (5th August) we will making our final preparations for the event so it is important that you turn up if you fancy being involved!

So come and join us at 2030 in the Club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ.