wythall radio club

Nine happy students passed their Foundation exam at Wythall Radio Club.

Congratulations to Terry, Tim, Marcin, Mo, David, Darren, Andy S and Andy W, and Paul!  We hope to hear them on the air soon with their new M6 call signs.

The photos show them completing their practical assessments, and three of the successful candidates – Paul, Darren and Andy.

We expect that some will want to progress to the Intermediate course offered by Wythall Radio Club’s training team.  And some of the graduates from this course have recently signed-up to study for their Advanced amateur radio licence!

Perhaps there are more aspiring radio amateurs out there who would like to study our on-line courses? 

Further details are on the Wythall Radio Club web site or visit the Club which meets every Tuesday evening from 8pm at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall!

Runners and Wythall Radio Club members are getting ready for Sunday’s Wythall Fun Run 2018.

Over 20 members of the Radio Club will be providing communications and helping to marshal the event.

The Fun Run is a big draw for local runners and families.  Radio Club members always turn out in force, and use their skills and equipment to help ensure a successful and enjoyable day for all! 

Our local Scouts and Beavers discovered the joys of amateur radio when Wythall Radio Club visited them during June. 

The 1st. Tidbury Green Beavers – aged 6 to 8 years – tapped their names in Morse code and used the phonetic alphabet to send messages to each other over hand-held radios.   Lee G0MTN and Michael M0IEQ were on hand to run the activities, assisted by the Beaver leaders and parents. 

The keen Beavers soon got the hang of these communication skills!

Other members of the Club ran a special event station for 1st Tanworth Scouts‘ 60th anniversary fete.  This followed two evenings where the Scouts were introduced to amateur radio and passed greetings messages over air. 

Dave G3YXM showed his expertise at casting a fishing line, enabling the team to haul up an antenna between two tall trees. 

David G0HVN and Ian 2E0LQY helped young visitors to send their names using Morse code.  They also used voice and digital communications to contact stations around the UK and Europe more widely. We will be providing more radio experience for Scouts and Beavers during Jamboree on the Air later this year.

May is “Morse Code Appreciation” month at Wythall Radio Club – and some of our new members received special awards to mark their progress in learning the ‘dots and dashes’!

Harry M6NKW, Stuart M0SRZ, Ian 2E0LQY and Kim M6SSV were singled out for special praise.  Kim made his first ever Morse code contact – with a station in Germany – during one of the Club’s Friday morning ‘open shack’ sessions.

The overall winner of the Lew Williams Memorial Shield was Sue 2E0LUJ.  She not only learnt Morse code but also built a small transmitter/receiver.

The Club also recognised the contribution of members who teach and promote use of Morse Code, awarding certificates of commendation to John 2E0XET and John G4OJL.

So very well done to our members, and we look forward to hearing you try out your new skills on the air!

Wythall Radio Club is pleased to announce that GB3WL, our 432Mhz repeater is now back on the air. 

Thankfully the the flood damage was not too severe and power has now been restored. 

Wythall Radio Club is sad to announce that GB3WL is temporarily off the air. This is due to flooding in the area where the repeater is located.

The Wythall area itself was subject to an Amber warning of thunderstorms and rain earlier this evening – much of Wythall village has been under water with vehicles stranded around the area.

Sadly the location of the repeater was not immune to this either. The repeater itself is above water so that is not an issue, but the power to the repeater is, as is the D-STAR capability. Therefore we have had no alternative but to temporality power down the unit.

Needless to say, just as soon as we can assess the situation, the intention is to restore GB3WL to service as soon as possible.

Thanks for your understanding and patience.

Travel 1100 miles on 1 watt of power?

That’s what was achieved with a miniature home made transmitter/receiver by Wythall Club members Sue 2E0LUJ and David G0HVN.

Signals from the Foxx transceiver were received across Europe. Their most distant report was from the west coast of Finland, over 1000 miles (1800 km) away.

This was Sue’s first venture into radio construction, and Dennis from Kanga Products (who supply the radio in kit form) provided lots of helpful advice and some spare components free of charge.

To celebrate, Wythall Radio Club held a ‘Foxx evening’. Other members brought their Foxx radios (all mounted in different sweet tins!) and other low powered equipment.

The Foxx 3 is very popular with radio amateurs who specialise in low power, and Sue and David’s results show what can be achieved with such a tiny radio!

‘Chasing a DXpedition requires a certain amount of commitment!’ writes Wythall Radio Club member Tim Beaumont MØURX.  ‘A little studying of what the team’s priorities are, a close eye on the propagation to decide your best band choices and a little bit of luck along the way!’

Here’s his report of chasing 3B7A operating from the tiny island of Saint Brandon in the Indian Ocean.

‘Saint Brandon in the Indian Ocean was last activated 11 years ago in 2007 when we had similar low sunspot conditions and poor radio propagation.

So to contact 3B7A on high frequency (HF) I was going to have to work them either early in the afternoon or later afternoon around tea time. With no sun spots and a Solar Flux Index of just 67, propagation doesn’t get much worse than that!  

Saturday morning I had seen them spotted on DXCluster on 20m, 17m and 15m, but nothing was heard here. 

I came back after a couple of hours and they were still working North America on 15m phone.  Then silence….  Just a brief “3B7A – stand by 5 [minutes]”…. I set my transmitter 8 KHz up from their frequency and poised my foot over the radio foot switch, ready for them to get back on air.  

It seemed an age and I wondered if they had just changed bands or mode? I decided to stay put… then “3B7A listening all stations 5 to 15 up”. The adrenaline starts pumping…. “Mike Zero Uniform Radio X-ray” hoping that the DX was also listening on the frequency I was calling…. “M0URX you’re 59” . I reply quickly “59 TU [Thank you]”

Wow, it doesn’t often happen like that, right place right time and luckily the pile up was sleeping at the re-start. By 6pm 3B7A’s HF signal quickly dropped and was lost for the day.’

Read Tim’s full report here!

Wythall Radio Club are celebrating this week. 

2015 was the last time we held this trophy

That’s because we had news at the weekend that we have won the Midlands Region Club of the Year competition run by our National Radio Society. 

The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) run this competition and while Wythall doesn’t enter it every time, every year that we have taken part, pleasingly for us, we have won the regional heat.

Now we go through to the finals to compete with the other regional clubs for the title of “National Club of the Year”, something we have not yet attained.

Fingers crossed then…

Four candidates passed their Foundation exam at Wythall Radio Club on Sunday.  This enables them to apply for Foundation amateur radio licences and get on the air!

Ed, Emily, Stephen and Les (pic left to right) passed their practical assessments with excellent scores, having studied  Wythall Radio Club’s on-line course.  Emily is the daughter of club member Stuart M0SRZ. 

Given their high scores, we expect some of our successful candidates will want to progress on to the Intermediate course, which is also run by the Club.

All are Midlands based, so we hope to hear them on the air soon with their new call signs!!

The exam and assessments were managed by Wythall Radio Club members Chris G0EYO, Roger M0GWM, Peter G4LWF and John G4OJL.

The next on-line Foundation course starts on 21^st May.