wythall radio club

Almost every month at the moment, it seems one member or another of Wythall Radio Club is in the National Radio Press for some reason!

David G0ICJ operating the club’s new Kenwood TS-590S in the club shack

This month it is the turn of David G0ICJ, whose name and callsign appear in the February edition of RadCom, the national magazine of the Radio Society of Great Britain, out today. David appears in the Old Timer’s Honour Roll of Radio Amateurs who have had unbroken membership of the RSGB for 50 years or more.

David’s name appears in the 51 years list, alongside some other very well-known callsigns in the radio world, notably Peter Martinez G3PLX, inventor of the digital mode PSK31.  Don Beattie G3BJ, one of the leading lights in the reconstruction of the RSGB and Paul O’Kane EI5DI, writer of the very popular SD Contest logging software are also in the same list.

Our congratulations to David and here’s to another 50 years!

Rockall – a name familiar to most of us from the UK Shipping Forecasts on Long Wave, but what exactly is it?  An extremely small, uninhabited, remote rocky islet in the North Atlantic Ocean, and therefore a very dangerous and inhospitable place to attempt a DXpedition to!

Rockall Islet

Indeed, not many have attempted it but one intrepid Belgian Group has; what is more, they made a DVD of their exploits so we can all share in the excitement of their trip.

Wythall Radio Club recently purchased one of these DVDs and next week, Tuesday 15th January, we will get to experience a little of what it felt like to mount one of the most dangerous DXpeditions to have taken place off our shoreline.  Costing over €35,000 to mount, that ‘s a lot of money to allow you to spend some of your valuable time on Earth sailing into a Force 11 storm!

For a taster of what is to come, you can visit this link but then make sure you come along this Tuesday at 2030 to Wythall House, Sliver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ to see (and hear) the whole story!

Following the very pleasant surprise about Wythall Radio Club winning the Martin Lynch and Sons Prize Raffle at the 2012 National Hamfest, it now seems the UK Amateur Radio press have cottoned on to the news too!

February’s edition of Practical Wireless magazine has just been released and it has an article about our day trip to the ML&S goodie store where Chairman Mike Pugh G4VPD together with other members received a cheque for £600 worth of radio goodies from the store.

Thanks to Rob Mannion, the editor of PW Magazine for picking this story up and giving the club another useful spot of publicity in the UK Amateur Radio scene.

Why not pop down to your local newsagent and get a copy?

The members of Wythall Radio Club would like to wish all readers of and visitors to our website the best season’s greetings!

We wish all radio enthusiasts a fantastic Christmas holiday and our wishes that “Santa” has bought you all the radio equipment you could possibly want! :-)

It’s been a great year at Wythall RC and we look forward to building on our successes in the future. Remember to check our Events page regularly – why not make it a New Year’s Resolution to come along to one of our Club events and say hello sometime?

73 es 88 de Wythall Radio Club

Further to the previous post, more results from the Radio Society of Great Britain Contest Committee just released once again reveal great news for Wythall Radio Club.

Chairman Mike G4VPD, in addition to scooping the top prize on 144MHz as described in the last news item, has now made it a hat-trick of successes with placements in two other UK Activity Contests too. Mike finished 2nd in the same low power section on the 70MHz (4 metre) band and squeezed into 3rd place on the 50 MHz (6 metre) band. Once again we congratulate his achievements and dedication to the hobby.

Mind you, with such fantastic results arriving this often, we think his shack may be due a redecorate… …with certificates! (Click below for a closer look)

Not long to go now before one of the events of the year in the Wythall Radio Club Christmas Calendar. Our in-house Christmas Contest started from small beginnings and is now a major part of the club’s calendar. Some amateurs have been known to join our club just to take part!

The G7OJO Trophy
& its little brother!

The idea is to work as many members as possible each day from 2000 on Christmas Eve till 2000 on New Year’s Day. You are allowed to work stations each day for points but each station worked also counts as a “multiplier” to your total score. So to win, you need to work as many members as you can across the 9 days but also try to make lots of contacts with those members every day too! As if Christmas wasn’t busy enough as it is! Your best 5 days totals are sent in and the adjudication team sorts the wheat from the chaff and declares the winners at a presentation evening in January. They are presented with the G7OJO Trophy and another as yet unnamed trophy (for members using 144 MHz only.)

So why are we telling you this now? Well this Tuesday 18th December, there is a presentation by Contest Supremo Lee G0MTN on the history and development of the Contest and on the innovations introduced in recent years, which include more points for using more bands and modes and a fantastic logging spreadsheet which scores you automatically!

It will be a fascinating evening for sure. So be there at 2030 this Tuesday 18th December in the Club Shack. It will be full so arrive early!

If you live in or around the Birmingham or Midlands area and want to continue your Amateur Radio hobby with an Intermediate Licence, then why not book now for our January 2013 Intermediate course?

Wythall Radio Club will be running the Intermediate course at our well-equipped club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall, B47 6LZ starting with a Saturday morning session on 26^th January, and then every Monday 8-10pm until the examination, which will be on Monday 18^th March.

The cost for this course is just £50. This includes the examination fee, the course book, course notes and project work. There are small concessions for those under 18 or unemployed and on benefits.

Contact Chris G0EYO on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk for more details and let Wythall Radio Club help you to the next stage of your license!

Sometimes club life is just plain fun! Last night Wythall Radio Club held its annual Christmas Party. Over 60 members, family and friends all came together for a fun-filled evening at Wythall House.

Tonight is the night that our four Advanced Course students (plus an outside candidate) take their examination at Wythall House. We wish club members Chris 2E0ETH and Jim 2E0BLP plus non-members Tony 2E0TKS and Carl 2E0CWC together with external candidate Shaun 2E1BWN the very best. We hope to hear their new M0 callsigns on the air as soon as they get them.

The Advanced Course covers a large number of technical topics in some depth and passing the exam is a real achievement, equivalent to an NVQ qualification.  It is also the longest course the club runs with 15 two hourly sessions on Monday evenings and a couple of Saturday mornings.

Chris 2E0ETH, Jim 2E0BLP & Tony 2E0TKS ready to roll

As Lead Instructor & Training Coordinator, Chris G0EYO has attended every session.

Nonetheless Chris paid tribute to his assistants. “Running this course would not be possible without the help and expertise of my fellow tutors, Peter G4LWF, Barry M0DGQ and Dave G3YXM together with invigilators David G0ICJ and Mike G4VPD. It surely is a team effort and I am sure all our candidates appreciate their efforts. As a club, we are lucky to have the facilities of a classroom with multimedia technology at our disposal.”

While we await tonight’s results, you might be interested to know that Wythall Radio Club will be starting an Intermediate course in January, so watch this space for more news!

This Saturday, 8th December, is a very special date in Wythall Radio Club’s Calendar. It is the date for our annual Christmas Party! Members come along and bring friends & family and we basically just have a lot of fun together!

We hire one of the larger rooms (with bar of course!) at Wythall House and have a mixture of excellent food and drink (in the “American Supper” style), live entertainment, games, raffles, and even a skittle alley!

Great chat, a relaxed friendly atmosphere and a “no pressure” environment, it’s the perfect way to start the festive season off with friends. This Saturday in the Britannia Room at Wythall House, Sliver Street, Wythall from 19:00.