wythall radio club

A distant thumbs up from Martin G8VXX and a cheery wave from Peter M5DUO. New member John M7PIR is nearest the camera on the right and behind him Martin M7XFD

               Tuesday night saw a healthy gathering of members of Wythall Radio Club for their informal annual Christmas Social. 

(Not knowing the collective noun for an assembly of Radio Amateurs the Club would welcome suggestions for future posts.. polite entries only please.)

Mince pies, cake and even some (Wensleydale) cheese were also provided by members and,  as is evident from the smiling faces (one Scrooge in the foreground!), a good time was had by all.

The Club were delighted to welcome new members Martin M7XFD and John M7PIR.

Amongst those  present were the President Mike and Chairman Chris behind the camera.

“The best laid schemes of Mice and Men

Gang oft a-gley”

Despite an unavoidable late alteration to the programme  Wythall Radio Club hosted a  very successful and informal session on HF, Digital  Radio and FT8 at their recent very well attended meeting on Tuesday Night.

Visitors Gary , Derek and (very much hidden) Paul with Ian M0LQY in the operating seat. Clive 2E0IKN and a rather sceptical looking John M6KET

With numbers boosted by three very welcome visitors from  Sutton Coldfield, Gary, Derek and Paul, Ian M0LQY took us through the basics of  FT8 radio on 7074, the 40m band, and even obliged with a QSO with a Ukranian station to prove the point.

M6KET had previously warmed up the Kenwood TS 590 with some 40m CW and a QSO with SP2DGV on 7027 but thereafter  it was the After8 show (FT8!) with Ian at the helm, answering questions and demonstrating the potential of this mode.

There was also an  very welcome opportunity for more wide-ranging Amateur radio chat after Ian’s presentation and it was good to hear animated conversations still going on past 9.30 p.m.

Many thanks to Ian for his expertise and very clear demonstration of HF Digital Radio.

The session on Allstar node, Fusion and D star will be rescheduled for another Tuesday night  and all visitors will again be very welcome. 

LOOKING AHEAD WE HAVE OUR INFORMAL XMAS GET-TOGETHER IN THE BAR NEXT WEEK FROM 8.00 PM (MINCE PIES FROM ANY SOURCE WELCOME) AND LEE WILL SOOM BE CIRCULATING DETAILS OF THE XMAS CONTEST TO RUN FROM TUESDAY 26TH-31ST DECEMBER

Jamie, 3B8/M0SDV in Mauritius, has been contacted by several Wythall Radio Club members.

Now a very experienced DXer and contester, Jamie was a member of our Club as a young person at the start of his amateur radio exploits.

Besides several trips to Mauritius, Jamie has also operated from Curacao, Togo and Bonaire – amonst other DX locations.

He’s also been very active in helping to secure the future of our hobby by promoting youth amateur radio – especially through YOTA.

He’s seen here on a previous dxpedition to 3B8 – sitting next to the 40m vertical.

Dave M0IFT and Mike G4VPD were amongst the Wythall club members catching Jamie on SSB this week, before he puts his mic away and turns to CW for this weekend’s CQ WW CW contest.

Best wishes for a great score, Jamie!

 SOMETIMES IT TAKES  AN AGM TO REMIND MEMBERS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR ,

AND SO IT CAME TO PASS THAT CLUB CHAIRMAN, CHRIS G3YHF REMINDED US.

The chairman in his natural habitat: out doors and portable!

An abbreviated version of his report follows

NOVEMBER  ‘How  low can you go?’ asked CW/QRP obsessive 2E0XET and a week was spent on low power , highlighting the ever popular FT817/8 and the Wonder Whip.. Kev on the South Coast reporting his results on the reflector.

        Lee addressing the RSGB Convention.

 Later in the month Lee G0MTN gave a presentation to the RSGB Convention on HF antennas and repeated this for the benefit of Club members at one of our regular Tuesday night meetings.

DECEMBER:  Lee G0MTN hosted several members at his well-equipped contest station to use the special call G5AT in the 10m SSB/CW Contest. (G5AT celebrating the first European amateur contact with the USA in 1922.)

MARCH: The Club hosted a lively and fun evening for the local Beaver colony: Roger M0WGM ran a phonetics session using licence-free handhelds, John 2E0XET and Chris  G3YHF inducted the eager Beavers into the mysteries of Morse Code and Les 2E0LRV stole the show setting up a digital voice link enabling the Beavers to talk to amateurs in Seattle.

Les and the eager Beavers at the March Event- with Seattle at the other end of the line.  

APRIL: We put GX4WAC on the air on a Tuesday night to celebrate World Amateur Radio Day.

JUNE:  GB0BUS was a special event station at the Transport Museum Wythall to celebrate International Museums’ Weekend. A team of 9 members erected 2 wire aerials for HF with Dave G3YXM again impressing with his catapulting skills. The team had QSO’s with stations in 20 countries with the best DX being Texas. Ian M0LQY’s FT8 operation attracted a steady stream of visitors and the weather stayed kind.

AUGUST:  Chris G0EYO took on the challenge of coordinating the many responses to the OFCOM consultation regarding amateur radio regulations. Thanks also to Chris for the tremendous amount of work updating and spring cleaning the Club’s website: an onerous task and long overdue.

      Neil and some fascinated onlookers

SEPTEMBER: Our Plug and Play in the Park involved 12 members setting up portable stations : Phil 2E0WTH and Peter M5DUO disappeared into the shade of the trees in what turned out to be improbably the hottest day of the year. Neil G1TZC QO100 portable satellite station impressed the many visitors and included a contact with the St Helena’s island in the South Atlantic Ocean. A few days prior to the Plug and Play Ian M0LQY and Clive 2E0IKN hosted a ‘come and meet us’ evening with aim of attracting several potential new members.

OCTOBER: Clive 2E0IKN and Chris G3YHF  gave a talk on SOTA, POTA and WWFF schemes highlighting the attraction of the great outdoors and amateur radio.

OTHER EVENTS IN THE YEAR

Meanwhile   Lee’s G0MTN ever popular DXCC Challenge has continued with some great DX worked particularly the stand out performance of  M0IFT (216 countries); as we approach the peak of this sunspot cycle expect scores to rocket!   

The ever competitive Christmas and Easter Contests have continued ,, expertly run by Lee G0MTN. The Easter All band winner was Chris G0EYO and,  appropriately the 2 metre/70cm section was won by Jim 2E0BLP.

Don G0NES receiving the Christmas Trophy (All bands/all modes) from Club President Mike G4VPD

In the Christmas Contest Ian M0IDR won the 2m/70cm Trophy and Don G0NES won the all modes Trophy.

An effort has been made by John 2E0XET to regularly update the Club’s website and Radcom has been provided with a steady stream of Wythall Radio Club reports and photos.

Other achievements during the year include Neil G1TZC’s great success with with his QO100 satellite operation and  his bronze award for working 50 DXCC . G0MTN was just pipped into  place second place in the QRP unassisted portable section of National Field day  but at the time of writing in the CQ WW RTTY contest the raw scores suggest he may be the leading European operator in the single operator, all band , low power category: some achievement.

Clive (ex M7OCB) is now 2E0IKN and studying hard for his full licence. Chris G0EYO has dusted off his CW skills through regular schedules with John M6KET and thriving with both  straight key and paddle.

Sadly the Club lost two of its much loved and longstanding members with the passing of Vic M0AEJ and Jim 2E0BLP. Vic joined the Club in the 1990’s and was always very supportive of the rallies and field days; he was always there as a volunteer and highly dependable: a wonderful member of the Club Jim, the Voice of the Midlands, was a big presence in the Club a mainstay of the Easter and Christmas Contests and a regular at our Plug and Play events; he was also a regular on the club frequency 144.225 , often chatting to Peter M5DUO whilst mobile on the way to work: both will be very much missed.

and so what of the next year?

Well for starters..

TUESDAY  7TH NOVEMBER.. THE VENUE : THE DARTS ROOM AT WYTHALL HOUSE. THE TIME 8.00 P.M..

AN ACTIVITY EVENING FEATURING THE CLUB EQUIPMENT (AND OTHER ) WORKING DIGI MODE , HF, CW AND  SSB.

NEW MEMBERS AND INTERESTED PARTIES VERY WELCOME TO ATTEND

COME ALONG AND MEET OUR EVER OBLIGING CLUB MEMBERS!!

Visitors welcome at Wythall Radio Club’s free demo of short-wave and VHF radio communication, on Saturday 9th Sept. between 10 and 3.

We’ll once again be operating various radios from Wythall Park, using a variety of antennas – and hopefully we’ll have some contacts via a satellite!

You can find us on the far side of Wythall Park, furthest from the car park. 

Follow the tarmac footpath on the right hand side of the small playground, and keep going bearing right at any junction!

You’ll see vehicles, antenna masts and flags – that’s where we are. 

Here’s a report on a recent radio field-day in Wythall park.

Neil operating in IARU HF World Championship weekend 11/7/20

Our resident satellite member, Neil G1TZC, amused us all recently with a tale from his past on the club’s group.io forum with a tale about a visit to Canada. We thought this would make good first addition to our Articles’ section in the Library folder on the club’s website.  READ IT HERE 

Enjoy!

Thanks to the internet, it’s possible to listen on amateur radio frequencies without a special short wave receiver.

There are many WebSDR (Software-Defined Radio) receivers connected to the internet, allowing multiple users to listen simultaneously.  

A list of WebSDR receivers and links to them is at  http://www.websdr.org/   

To use WebSDR…

1. Navigate to a receiver like Hack Green, Cheshire (one of the closest WebSDRs to Birmingham) or KFS WebSDR in California (where you can listen in to the US amateurs).
2. Once on a WebSDR site, enable ‘allow keyboard’, which permits you to tune the receiver using mouse wheel or keyboard arrows.
3. You may have to enable audio settings on your browser – see the advice on each webSDR site; eg for listening to Hack Green using Chrome: Click the Lock in the address bar of your Chrome browser. Click Site Settings. Under Sound, select Allow.
4. Select the band you want to listen on – you will find most stations on 80, 40 and 20 meters, in the frequency ranges in the table below.
5. When listening on 80 and 40 meters, select LSB (lower side band); when listening on 20 meters, select USB (upper side band).
6. Once you hear a station, it may sound like ‘Donald Duck’ – tune slowly and the voices will become clear
7. Once you become proficient at tuning in stations, try some of the other receiver functions – e.g. narrow IF bandwidth and IF passband can be used to reduce interference.

Over the next few months, you can expect the following radio conditions:

CALL SIGNS

You can identify the countries from which stations are operating by comparing their call sign prefix (the first one or two letters/numbers) with those on the list of international call sign prefixes e.g. the Wythall Radio Club call sign is G4WAC – G means the station is in England. 

Q CODES AND OTHER SHORTHAND YOU MAY HEAR

You may hear the following…

CQ, CQ – I am calling for a contact; please reply to me

DX – long distance (normally, outside the operator’s continent)

QRZ? – is anyone there?

QTH – location of the station

QRM – interference on the signal

QSB – fading on the signal

QSL – confirmation of the contact or information passed

73s – best wishes and goodbye

GAINING AN AMATEUR RADIO LICENCE

The ‘Foundation licence’ is not difficult to obtain.  There is some simple electronics and radio operating to study.  You can find details of the licence levels and courses on the Wythall Radio Club web site and there is more information at the RSGB.

Visitors welcome at Wythall Radio Club’s famous ‘Plug and Play’ event on Saturday 9th Sept. between 10 and 3.

We’ll once again be operating various radios from Wythall Park, using a variety of antennas – and hopefully we’ll have some contacts via a satellite!

You can find us on the far side of Wythall Park, furthest from the car park.  Follow the tarmac footpath on the right hand side of the small playground, and keep going bearing right at any junction!

You’ll see vehicles, antenna masts and flags – that’s where we are. 

Here’s a report on a recent ‘Plug and Play’.

We are also holding an open evening for anyone interested in becoming a member of our Club, or in obtaining an amateur radio licence so you can transmit and make new friends locally and around the world.

The open evening is on Tuesday 5th Sept. from 8-9pm in the Darts Room, on the ground floor of Wythall House.  Follow the signs.

We’ll have some radios operating making contacts outside the UK, as well as members who can chat with you.

If you can’t make these dates, there are members at the Club most Tuesday evenings – email us to fix a date to visit at:  wythallradio@gmail.com

Feeling on top of the world is Clive (formerly known as M7OCB) who recently passed his intermediate examination and has now become 2E0IKN

Inspired by his success Clive, a keen SOTA operator , will now go on to study for the full licence in the Autumn. Delighted to have passed Clive paid  tribute to the excellent on- line tuition of  Wythall’s very own G0EYO who has introduced so many  into the hobby; he is crossing his fingers that G0EYO may again be one of his on-line tutors for the full licence course.

The good weather has encouraged many operators to venture out and to prepare for future outings.

Down on the South Coast Kev has received the SOTA pole ordered and is actively experimenting with different antenna options, in particular getting down to the sea front (Torquay) to take the salt water advantage.

Kev writes “I’ve got three portable antennas I can use , a shortish 7m ish random wire, a 20m length long wire as well as the dipole: plan to test one antenna per evening and see which one works best”

He has also been out and about on the Moors (See picture right) operating mobile for the car.

Lee G0MTN meanwhile is planning a National Field Day   CW QRP entry from his garden but has warmed up nicely on Minehead Sea front making 32 CW contacts over the recent contest weekend (WW WPX CW) using only 2.5 watts and a FT817 to the much discussed Miracle whip.

To avoid unwanted attention whilst operating Lee can set up in minutes, croc clip a random wire to the back of the 817 and sit innocently on a sea front bench working the USA and Canada and many  European stations, all on his miracle whip.

In preparation for the NFD weekend on June 3rd and 4th Lee writes:

“I’ve built a linked doublet (see picture). It’s a commonly used idea in NFD- to have a longer antenna overnight for the low bands  and shorten it to make the antenna more efficient during the day on the higher bands. For QRP work my junk box phono connectors will hopefully suffice” 

And finally Chris G3YHF in Manjana is feeling the heat and  has taken the sensible option and retreating  for a cold beer planning to erect a 10m dipole in the near future!! (See picture below left)

All this recent activity has generated some very informed and lively discussion within Wythall Radio Club on  SOTA and portable operating; we are indeed lucky to have such expertise available in the Club

Watch this space as we prepare for the GB0BUS  operation at The Wythall Transport Museum on Saturday  17th June. We would be delighted to see interested parties so do come along , see our operating stations and enjoy a friendly chat and ask questions about the amazing Wythall Radio Club

More information on all our  events to follow