wythall radio club

Chase the Gyrfalcon.. oblivious to all the trouble caused !!

THE CHALLENGE

This adventure was interesting and unusual in equal amounts. A bird that went missing. The original message on Facebook was picked up by Clive (M0KNP) in the Wythall Radio Club and posted to the Groups.io reflector. I picked up the information but as I don’t use Facebook I got someone else to contact Nick, the owner of the bird.

Nick got hold of me by phone and we had a chat. The bird, a Gyrfalcon, had a beacon attached but it was on 216MHZ, which is not a band that many amateur operators in the UK have available. He explained that ‘Chase’ has flown away and they had lost both visual and radio contact so had put the call out by as many routes as possible.

Armed with this information I was able to get together some basic, less than ideal equipment. I used a RTL SDR (software defined radio) and a yagi antenna (like the ones you see on houses for TV). This is then connected to a tablet which shows the frequencies in graphical form along with any sound. The rest of Friday afternoon was spent in the Lickey Hills with the equipment scanning around hoping to pick up the beep from the beacon on the bird.

Unfortunately, nothing was heard and after several hours I headed home. Nick was kept up with my lack of progress during this time. However, it did give me time to think. If I was to make a vertical antenna with a magnetic mount for a vehicle this would make tracing quicker and able to cover more area is a faster time. As the weather was poor there was a good chance that Chase was not going to be that active.

A SOLUTION

It was decided that Nick and his dad, Kevan, would come to the workshop where something could be put together.

Magmount and vehicle..(at this stage not attached)

On the Saturday morning, Nick and Kevan duly arrived. We headed to the workshop where I got to look at their tracker. A neat bit of kit with a built in Yagi, but this wasn’t going to work well from inside the van. So we went for the external antenna solution. In the workshop I have a piece of equipment called a nanoVNA which allows you to analyse how an antenna will work in real time. It was at that point I realised we could speed this process up. I had a telescopic antenna that was designed for another band, but by not extending it fully it should be good enough. We put it on the analyser at the frequency we needed it to be and adjusted. Worked like a charm. The only other issue as this antenna had the wrong connector. Fortunately Nick had a spare patch lead, so we quickly soldered a new end on to turn it in to an adaptor.

THE PURSUIT …..AND THE HAPPY ENDING!

The mag mount and antenna were attached to the vehicle and off they went. Nothing was found between where I was, the last reported sighting and their home. Another visual siting was reported and investigated. Visual confirmation was made at the reported location and the antenna received the beacon. Switching back to the yagi and with visual checks, the bird was indeed Chase.

With some persuasion, in the way of food, she was reunited with Nick and is happily back home.

The author Neil G1TCZ and Chase.. 

Since then Nick and I have been collaborating on a UHF tracker. This is very much in the early stages and is a great way for two hobbies to work together. On UHF there will also be a lot more member of the amateur radio community who could help in similar situations.

SEE  AND TALK TO NEIL ABOUT HIS  AMAZING STORY AT THE STOKE PRIOR STEAM FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND.

A TEAM OF OPERATORS FROM  WYTHALL RADIO CLUB WILL BE THERE WILL BE  FOR THE EVENT SO PLEASE VISIT, ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR AMAZING AND VERSATILE HOBBY.

Little Intall Fields, Stoke Pound Lane off Hanbury Road (B4091), Stoke Prior Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B60 4LF

Members of Wythall Radio Club are not just based in the West Midlands: we can boast membership as far afield as  St. Helena , Cardiff and Torquay! Kev G4XLO is a tremendous supporter of our activities and a real QRP enthusiast. Here he writes of a successful low noise G4XLO/P outing to Daddyhole Plain. (Lovely place name: Ed.)

Kev G4XLO in relaxed mode with friends

“Ever since I moved to Devon in late 2016 I’ve wanted to operate portable as the noise level here in Torquay is really bad- there is so much noise it’s sometimes impossible to really ‘see’ what is out there .

I was quite lucky last year as I’d saved some pennies for a portable setup and has taken a few attempts to get it all working as it should and streamlining the setup so it deploys quickly. Sadly with family and work   I can’t get out as often as I’d like but these are the times I really look forward to.

I woke up this morning and as I have a weeks leave and the station manager (!) gave me a pass out to play some radio, I headed to my normal place I love here called Daddyhole Plain which is in Torquay and the spot I use is a clifftop car park (free of course!) located 300 yards from the Coast watch station.

My equipment is quite simple, this is the station I use:

1.Yaesu FT817ND

2.Yaesu SCU17 digital interface

3.LDG Z817 auto tuner + 4. Long wire supporter on a SOTABEAM 6m mast

          Kev’s very neat mobile set up.

The kit  can be quickly up and working and in 20 minutes I was fully charged on batteries and ready to go with  2.5 Watts maximum. 

It was a breezy morning on the plain so I had secured the mast with velcro supports (again purchased from Sotabeams.) 

Sotabeam 6 metre mast supporting Kev’s long wire mounted high on Daddyhole Plain

I initially started calling CQ on 20m FT8 and then calling individual stations

I worked just the 4 stations in about an hour, Balearic Islands, Mainland Spain as well as a new one for this year Algeria 7X3WPL which was just over 1200 miles away from my QTH; there was also an SSB QSO I didn’t log as I forgot the last letter of his callsign. (note to self, next time take paper and pen!)

There were a couple of people walking on the Plain who were keen to see what I was doing so I spent a good 20 minutes explaining what Ham Radio is and how we communicate using different modes; they were witness to my HB9 SSB QSO. (Incidentally he gave me a 5 by 2 report) 

Another reason I forgot the last letter of the call for the log as I was busy explaining how the radio was working !!

The breeze picked up…. the mast fell down…..  so time to head for Tesco up the road from where I was to get lunch for the XYL and the junior op!!

G4XLO’s impressive log for the mobile QRP session on Daddyhole Plain

A morning well spent  and  some very satisfying  QSO’s with  very low power.”

Kev G4XLO in Torquay

POSTPONED DUE TO POOR WEATHER

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR A RESCEDULED EVENT

Wythall Radio Club members will be demo-ing their radio equipment at their ‘Plug and Play’ event this Sunday 8th Sept.

Come and visit us!

We’ll be in the field behind Wythall House, near the Scout Hut.

We’ll have antenna masts up and Club flags flying!

If you do visit us, don’t forget there is a modest charge to use the Wythall Park car park until mid-day.

More sunny Tuesday evenings extended Wythall Radio Club’s portable operation from the lawn outside our base.

On our third week of activity, we had three stations operational. 

The Club call GX4WAC/P was activated using Neil G1TZC’s portable satellite gear. 

This resulted in an impromptu net through the geostationary satellite QO-100 with DJ4FF (Robert), HB9FIY (Chris) and our new Club member Garry ZD7GWM.

The station was the usual ground-station with the 60cm folding dish. The Goonhilly webSDR was used on receive because the satellite was partially obscured by a tree, but the up-link signal into QO-100 was enough to be given a 58 signal report from receiving stations.

Martin 2E0XFI/P set up on another part of the lawn and was delighted with the results using his IC705 and 17 foot-long telescopic vertical, achieving 5 watt FT8 QSOs with Indonesia and 3W9A Vietnam. 

To complete the trio of stations, Chris G3YHF/P brought a home-made 20m delta loop on an 8m pole. 

With Ian, M0LQY, he worked around Europe on the key and had a very pleasant chat with Torgen SA5TBE on SSB – 59 both ways. 

Finally, the light faded, the midges came out and the lawn was emptied of kit and activity.

But that’s not the end of the story!

Our portable lightweight antennas inspired Ian M0LQY to search the SOTABEAMS web-site, where he found a design for a multi-band doublet. 

Quickly purchasing some lightweight SOTABEAMS cable and spaces, he had one constructed within an hour. 

For the doublet centre, he crafted a small piece of plastic tube with two holes drilled in it and a cable tie to fit the top of a telescopic mast.

The following week the doublet was quickly raised on Chris G3YHF’s 8m telescopic mast. 

The mast survived some bending as the two doublet legs were untangled – as the photo shows!  But within a few minutes we were on the air.

Using an FT817 and small auto-atu, a very low SWR achieved on the higher HF bands and 5 watts of FT8 gave PSK-Reporter spots across Europe.

Even as dusk turned to night, members – and visiting RSGB District Representative Martin M0JZT – could be seen discussing the results of Ian’s experiments.

Members went home for an early night or retired inside the Wythall clubhouse for refreshment, and to continue sharing experiences and ideas.

Very pleasant evenings! 

Our Club meets every Tuesday evening and visitors are always welcome there and at our special events, the programme for which is on our web site.

Our next big event will be ‘Plug and Play’ on Sunday 8th September on the rugby pitch behind the Wythall House complex. 

Members will be bringing along their own equipment to operate, using power kindly provided by Martin G8VXX’s generator.  Come and visit!

Neil G1TZC  describes yet another successful Tuesday Evening Activity at Wythall Radio Club

” This evening we had an outdoor activity to demonstrate the use of the nano VNA tool. The aim of the evening was to demonstrate how we can see what our antenna is actually doing rather than what you think it is doing.

Several members brought along an array of interesting antennas for testing

                                               The test station ready for use

The test equipment was the VNA with the N type connectors. This was my preferred choice only because I find the N type more durable than the SMA. The VNA was connected to a Fusion 5 tablet with a clip on keyboard, running Windows 11. My reasoning is that I find the software easier to use than using the touch screen.

An important thing that many people don’t understand is how to set the unit up for use. Until recently this included me. This next bit is vital!

Once you have selected the device you must set the sweep parameters BEFORE you run the calibrate sequence.

The sweep parameters will give you the lowest hand highest frequency that you are interested in. For the first round of tests we used 1MHz to 31MHz so that it showed the full HF band for people who thought they might have multi band antennas.

Neil (foreground) demonstrates to R-L Mike, Peter and Martin. Phil and Dave G7IBO in earnest conversation in the background

Next is the calibration sequence. Connect the short / open / load adaptors to the port you are using (we used 0). After connecting each adaptor click on the button on screen. There will be a short pause as that calibration is done. This is repeated three times. Then apply the calibrations.

We were looking at SWR so we set both the SWR11 and SWR21, from the dropdowns, as what we were looking at in this instance. As soon as the antenna is connected you get to see the SWR for the entire sweep that you set. The SOTA vertical was resonant at around 6.6MHz and with a quick shortening of the antenna it was retuned to 7.1MHz.

                                        Phil’s mystery military vertical

The military antenna was attached as Phil didn’t know what it was. Instantly on connection it was showing that the it was a 28MHz antenna. We recalibrated the VNA to sweep 25MHz to 55MHz and Phil removed a couple of the lengths that made the whip and moved it down to 51MHz, so he now has two bands on the old bit of military kit.

Martin and Pete also came along with compact HF antennas designed for portable working. Martin left understanding much more about the way his antenna does what it does. Pete liked the confirmation that his antenna really did work as it said on the packet.

Chris works on his impressive 40m vertical.. with a shortening of the vertical wire an impressive SWR achieved for CW operation at the lower end of the band.

It was a very productive evening and already people are asking for a re-run focussing    on seeing how portable VHF, UHF and SHF antennas work.

If you live in the south Birmingham area, please pop along to the Tuesday club night. Sometimes we are doing stuff, other times it is a pint and a chat. “

                               TUESDAY  6TH AUGUST   8.00 ONWARDS ON THE ‘LAWN’ WYTHALL HOUSE.

RADIO ACTIVATION  AS WE TRY THE RECENTLY DONATED  HUSTLER VERTICAL (THANK TOU CHRIS EYO) WITH THE FT857

Do want to know how to use cheap drone transmitter/receivers to get on 5.7GHz? – the photo shows one in operation at Broadway Tower.

Or build a J-pole antenna for bicycle mobile operation? 

Or with more activity on the HF bands as we approach the solar cycle peak, perhaps you’d like to build a small profile ‘C’-beam for 20m using easily available plastic conduit?

It’s shown in the photo left.

It’s all there – and more – in the Wythall Radio Club newsletter archive!  Click here to find the index to articles.

Or brouse the issues by clicking here.

You’ll find lots of invaluable advice, projects and ideas.

We don’t publish a newsletter these days, but try to keep the world informed on this web site.

Or come along to the Club any Tuesday evening or to one of the special events. 

Our location and contact details are on this web site.

COMING SOON .. A REPORT ON OUR RECENT EVENING SPENT ON THE LAWN OF WYTHALL HOUSE WITH OUR VERTICALS AND THE VECTOR NETWORK ANALYSER (VNA)

Tiny VNAs can now be bought cheaply.

Here’s one Lee G0MTN used to test his rebuilt band-pass filters.

But how can we use them to analyse our antenna systems and improve their performance?

Wythall Radio Club members will be gathering next Tuesday 23rd. July for a practical workshop. 

We’ll be using a VNA to analyse some portable antennas.

We will plot SWR over a given frequency range and display this as a line graph.  And see what else the VNA will tell us!

As usual, 8pm at Wythall House (in the garden if the weather is ok).

Visitors always welcome – bring an antenna!

On a rare day of Summer this year our intrepid chairman Chris G3YHF braved speeding lorries, the threat of flying golf balls and angry golfers  and searing heat to operate  SOTA from an inaccessible peak on the Sussex Downs : his report follows:

FORE!! Chris risk life and limb in this SOTA activation.

“Down here in Sussex I unfortunately chose the hottest day of the week to activate Cliffe hill, near Lewes, for a new SOTA summit.  This is also in the South Downs National Park and so counts for the WWFF scheme.

The summit’s in the middle of a golf course and previous activators report dodging golf balls and angry golfers – but the activation zone extends a little beyond the golf course boundary in places -so that was my target.

The footpath to my chosen spot is carefully concealed by undergrowth off a busy road with no pavement, but having managed to find it and dodged some speeding lorries there was a climb up through woods to a beautiful meadow covered in marbled white, common blue and meadow brown butterflies, and multiple orchids  and with wonderful views across Lewes and to other parts of the South Downs.  

It was a very hot ascent up the meadow to a copse next to the golf course fence where I found some shade.  There were some branches about 7 feet off the ground, so I threw my End Fed Half Wave antenna for 20m across these and called CQ SOTA/WWFF using 5w cw from the lab599 rig.

X marks the Spot: a small prize offered to the first to identify the efhw for 20m.

Delighted to be called by W2WC in New York- nice dx for /p qrp – with a 529 report! Also worked about 10 European stations, best DX eastwards being Ukraine.

Fortunately I’d taken a lot of water, and after an hour’s operating in the shade I’d cooled down enough to walk back down and catch the train to Eastbourne for a welcome dip in the sea!  Maybe Clive gets a dip in some mountain pond after his Lake District SOTA activations?”

Undercover and ready for a quick getaway.. is that a golf ball under the branches??

Whilst the nation dozed in front of their football screens on Tuesday night a very different and dynamic team (11 players ) assembled in Wythall Park for their much trailed Foxhunt organised by Neil G1TZC. The evening was warm and the almost deserted Park looked lovely in the midsummer light.

Wythall Park in the late evening sunshine

Their mission: to find a needle in a haystack or more specifically the location of a very small transmitter putting out milliwatts (see picture).

The Fox!!

There it is!! the ‘needle in the haystack’

But first 70cm tape measure antennas had to be built from  individual kits provided by Neil.. these to be attached to our hand -held radios via a length of coax before venturing out into the wilderness in search of the ‘fox’.

The individually assembled ‘tape measure antennas’ and kits ready for distribution at the start of the Foxhunt

Dogs and dog walkers alike quickly sought cover at the sight of 11 members of Wythall Radio Club , antennas held aloft  combing the wide-open spaces of Wythall Park.

In the end the ‘fox’ was discovered at the foot of a tree by Derek G1INC who returned to base triumphantly holding the trophy aloft:

A triumphant Derek (centre) returns to base with his trophy

Phil and Lee have slightly different ideas on the direction to take

Mike and Pete have just heard the England score

The assembly .. Gary in the foreground gets to grips with the screwdriver

A great evening’s entertainment superbly organised by Neil and Debra and we were able to return to the long faces in the bar with smiles on our faces and a spring in our steps.

“It was good fun – I was definitely out of practice working out what was a reflection and how strong signals should be a particular distance from a very low power transmitter. Great mid- summer evening entertainment.” Lee G0MTN

A Midsummer Night’s Team

The team on the night: Neil G1TZC, Winston 2E0EGP, Derek G1INC, Gary G5RGS, Pete M5DUO, Phil M6PCN (2E0WTH), John M6KET, Mike G4VPD, Lee G0MTN, Ian M0LQY, Martin M7XFD.

NEXT EVENT TUESDAY 2^ND JULY.

G4WAC ACTIVE IN THE DARTS ROOM . COME ALONG AND USE THE CLUB EQUIPMENT AND THE 240’ DOUBLET AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN WORK