wythall radio club

Graham Coomber G0NBI, RSGB General Manager meets Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid MP

This afternoon, Wythall Radio Club was proud to welcome two distinguished visitors to their activation of G100RSGB.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid MP and the General Manager of the RSGB, Graham Coomber G0NBI came to see for themselves how to have fun with RF!

Mr Javid revealed his interest as a 12-year-old in CB radio and how he spent his youth building radio equipment bought from Tandy! He also expressed a wish to visit us again informally in the future. Graham Coomber meantime took to the microphone and worked the RSGB callsign as if it were his own – well, in a sense it is!

Chairman Mike G4VPD demonstrates a 10m contact to the USA to Sajid Javid MP

The members of Wythall Radio Club would like to thank our visitors for their time in coming to see us and we look forward to seeing them again in due course.

Meantime, there are still stations to be worked, so keep an eye on our live board here to see how we are getting on and if you are in our recent logs.

We are trying hard to activate as many bands as we have antennas for and reach our target of 2000 contacts in 2 days!

(Note: Live Log book and chat facility have now been removed)

What a weekend! 7 members of Wythall Radio Club have been joining with radio amateurs from all over the world at the Radio Society of Great Britain’s Annual Convention.

Wythall Radio Club’s “Magnificent Seven”?

Since this is the RSGB’s 100th year of existence, this a was a very special event and those who represented Wythall Radio Club were very honoured to be there.

The highlight for many was a lecture given by Nobel Prize winner Joe Taylor K1JT. Many amateurs have heard of (and use!) his JT65 and WSPR software, but he opened our eyes to other digital worlds out there too!

Other fascinating lectures included an historical stream, complete with dips into the RSGB archives and a fascinating talk by Dr Elizabeth Bruton from Leeds University on the role of Radio Amateurs in World War 1. Many of us did not realise what an important part the earliest radio enthusiasts played in the 1914-18 conflict.

Ofcom, the UK regulators, were also welcome visitors, kicking off lively discussion on a forthcoming licence review that will affect all of us. But of course, lots of food and drink were enjoyed with friends old and new, notably Laurent F1JKJ, who travelled from the south of France on his own to visit the Convention and became an honorary WRC member for Saturday night!

It all ended on a happy note for Tim M0URX – he won a Yaesu Desk Mic in the raffle!

Enjoy the photos below and see if you can catch some of the flavour of the weekend.  We are looking forward to going back next year, almost certainly in greater numbers!

It’s that time of year again, when the members of Wythall Radio Club start thinking of having another go at learning Morse Code!

Our weekly Morse Code learning class started up again last Tuesday and a record number of members attended the introductory session. It seems that in these days of noisy HF locations and short gardens with restricted antennas, radio enthusiasts are instead turning to more efficient modes like Morse and PSK31 Data to help them make contacts.

Using Morse Code can give you up to a 20dB advantage on transmit (depending on who you listen to!)  That’s like running full legal power into a beam in comparison to using a standard G5RV antenna that so many hams use…. (and you can keep your G5RV too with no need for a tower and costly amplifiers!)

If you are interested in learning the code and want to see what the fuss is about, the Morse class is on every Tuesday (usually!) at 1945 in the shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall. B47 6LZ.  Visitors are always welcome.

Traders outside the hall

A grand total of 7 Wythall Radio Club members have been having great fun (with just a little RF involved!) today at the RSGB National Hamfest.

Dave G3YXM acted as driver for Ian M0IDR, David G0ICJ (sporting his 50 years of RSGB membership badge!) & Chris G7DDN. Making their own way there were David G7IBO, Tim M0URX and Chairman Mike G4VPD.

It was great to be able to welcome Eric Swartz WA6HHQ to the event and get his signed QSL card too!

Bargains were seen everywhere and there is no doubt that those who went had a great time, even if their wallets were lighter upon the return journey.

Check out the photos below – the weather was fantastic too!

Today is a big day in the UK Amateur Radio calendar and it’s one that Wythall Radio Club members will be enjoying too!

At 1000 this morning, special guest Eric Swartz WA6HHQ, founder of Elecraft Radio (on his first visit to the UK)  opens the doors to the RSGB National Hamfest at Newark in Nottinghamshire.

A team of Wythall Radio Club members is spending today (Friday) at the event and will probably be “having fun with ££” which we hope will lead to more “having fun with RF” as our club motto states!

We look forward to meeting many friends at this event, and doubtless a bacon sandwich (or three!) will be swilled down with a beer or two…

CW on the beach!

Wythall Radio Club member Barry M0DGQ has arrived back from the Cape Verde Islands and does he have some tales to tell!

From August 27 until September 11 together with wife Ann, he took the holiday of a lifetime to the Isle of Sal. While planned as a special birthday treat for Ann, Barry knows that, for a Radio Amateur, no holiday is complete without some form of radio! So also along for the ride came a home built 3-band Morse Code transceiver, 10m fishing pole, antennas and battery!

Operation was from both the beach and the hotel apartment. Of all the bands used however, 20m was by far the most successful. Europe, Japan, Africa, Ukraine and Brazil were all worked with ease. Even more exciting was that Barry was heard and worked here in Wythall by quite a few other club members – quite an achievement given the huge pile-ups Barry had to handle.

For more details on Barry’s operation, why not visit his own account here?

G7DDN’s 40m antenna in South Devon

Members of Wythall Radio Club have been busy operating holiday style this summer and tonight we will find out more about exactly what they have been up to!

Whether it is Barry M0DGQ operating low power morse code with his home-built transceiver from the Cape Verde Islands or Callum M0MCX playing with high power and vertical antennas by the sea in Cornwall, or even Chris G7DDN trying out his new Icom radio from the South of France, there has been plenty going on “away from home”.

Callum M0MCX will lead us tonight in an interactive interview/presentation to discover exactly what Wythall Club Members  have been up to over the summer. Lots of photos and even audio recordings are on the menu. Callum also promises some hints on developing your operating style which will enable that precious DX station to be snagged!

2030 tonight in the Club Shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ. Not to be missed!

Members of Wythall Radio Club had a fabulous time at SSB Field Day 2013 as G4WAC/P.  A photo gallery upload appears below but a full write up will appear in our next Club Newsletter.

Chairman Mike G4VPD at the controls during SSB FD 2012

You could be excused for thinking that Wythall Radio Club members are gluttons for punishment! Once again a group of hardy members is taking to the field on Wythall Park this coming weekend, 7th-8th September. This time it is to take part in the Radio Society of Great Britain’s SSB Field Day Radio Contest.

The idea is to work as many worldwide stations as possible using Single Side-Band (SSB- an efficient Voice Mode used by Radio Amateurs). Several members will be shouting away for 24 hours in the middle of a field – they will of course be also hoping the rain stays away!

Planning such an event is not completely straightforward though, so this Tuesday at Wythall House, our regular weekly meeting will be taken up with sorting out the finer details for the weekend’s event.

Visitors, as always, are very welcome. This Tuesday, 3rd September 2013 at 20:30 in the Club Shack, Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ

Whenever there is a little respite in the regular stream of posts on the Wythall Radio Club website, it is usually because there is something going on, on which you have yet to hear! This time it is holiday time!

Quite a few members are once again away from the Midlands enjoying the last chance to get a summer break before the Autumn hits us in September.

However, just because the website is quiet, it does not mean that Wythall Radio Club members are! Our monthly Activity Ladder continues apace in the Wythall area; also many members have taken their radio equipment away with them and have been amassing contacts either back to the UK or indeed within the UK or even working rare DX!

Even during the summer holiday time, Wythall Radio Club members are still “having fun with RF”!