wythall radio club

Elsewhere on this website, you can read a tribute to Lew Williams,  former President of Wythall Radio Club and our original CW tutor.  Many current members took their first steps in Morse Code with Lew.

Some time ago, after Lew sadly passed away, it was thought appropriate to honour his memory in a suitable manner and so the Lew Williams Sheild was born!

In order to win this trophy, Wythall Club members are being asked to view the 31 days of the month of May as a “Morse Code Activity Month”.  The shield will be awarded to the club member who has shown the biggest contribution to the event, and/or shown the greatest improvement in Morse Code skills.  Certificates may be also awarded for various levels of achievement.

Morse Code Activity Month

The quantity of contacts will not be the most important factor. Log submissions and personal statements will be equally important in the judging process.  The sort of things the judges will look for include… “First live CW QSOs on HF”,  or “First CW QSOs not using an automatic reader”, “First ever CW QSOs, but did use receive assistance”,  ”Log shows 20 Wythall club members contacted using CW”, “Log shows 30 countries worked during the month.”

As a fun, friendly event, it is hoped that members will recognize improvement in their fellow club members and submit feedback and nominations for them. Like the Oscars, the Lew Williams Shield can be largely decided by your peers!

So it may be time to dust off that key and finally see what you can do with the code!

Frank Breedon, G3MZU, SK

It was with great sadness that the club learnt of the passing of honorary member Frank G3MZU on Thursday, 23^rd February aged 83. Frank died in his sleep at his nursing home in Clent where was being cared for.

Franks obituary has been posted to the main club site here:

• https://www.wythallradioclub.co.uk/about-wythall/frank-bernard-breedon-g3mzu-silent-key/

He took a great interest in the club during its early years, helping out at field days, social events and of course the big project of installing the mast at the back of Wythall House.

“I well remember several Saturday’s spent digging out the foundations with Frank and others”, said Chris, G0EYO.

If you live in or around Birmingham or Midlands area and want to continue your Amateur Radio hobby with an Intermediate Licence then book now for April 2012 to avoid any disappointment

Wythall Radio Club will be running an Intermediate course at their club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall, B47 6LZ from Saturday morning on  21st April, and then every Monday 8-10pm until the examination on Monday 19th June.

Cost for this course is £50 which includes, the examination fee, course book, course notes and project work.

Contact Chris G0EYO on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk if you are interested or go to the Training page for more information.

Due to personal circumstances, the date for Callum M0MCX’s talk on Garden Antennas has had to be changed.

Instead of taking place this coming Tuesday 28th February, it will now take place on Tuesday March 20th at 2030.  Venue within Wythall House to be confirmed.

Our apologies for this late change to the programme.  This Tuesday will be a social evening at the club – a chance to chat RF and put the Amateur Radio world to rights! :-)

Time to get ready for your new Wythall Radio Club polo shirts, t-shirts and fleece  jackets!   The “club tailor”(!) Peter Hall will be visiting us this coming Tuesday evening.

Many regular folks will have noticed the recent proliferation of club branded wear.  Peter will be doing a demonstration of how the logos are created and how his bespoke computerised machinery makes the garments.  He will also make a few shirts on the night for any last minute orderers, and bringing some pre-ordered garments with him too.

His first visit in November was excellent but this time, we will be meeting in the Darts Room, which will allow us to see more “up close” just exactly what goes on!

We are looking forward to welcoming him again, this time with his wife, Carol.

Don’t forget to bring your wallets, folks!

Wythall Radio Club’s latest Foundation Course begins this evening.  With a full complement of students, we are hoping for yet more successes at Foundation level.

All at Wythall Radio Club send their best wishes to our new students for a successful course and we hope to hear new callsigns on the air come March.

Remember if you are interested in becoming a Radio Amateur or just have any queries with regards to what the Foundation Course is all about, just drop a line to Chris G0EYO at g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk anytime.  He will be more than pleased to give you any advice.

The Radio Society of Great Britain and Ofcom have reached agreement on the optional use of special callsigns for two significant events during 2012.

For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, all UK amateur stations will have the option of applying for a variation to their licence if they wish, to use a special prefix for a five week period. This will add or substitute the letter “Q” in the place of the Regional identifier in the callsign. For the period of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, a similar facility will exist for a seven week period, using the letter “O”. Both the above facilities will also be available to Amateur Club licences, so expect to hear GQ4WAC and GO4WAC during this year!

More info at http://www.rsgb.org/news/articlelinks.php?id=0263

The Club’s programme of events on this website has been further updated and is now accurate to the end of September 2012.

October – December 2012 will be added shortly.

The latest issue of the Wythall Radio Club newsletter is now on-line and available.

January 2012 Newsletter (opens PDF in new Tab)

We are pleased to announce that all four of our candidates (pictured) who took the Advanced course and exam with us in December,  passed and gained their coveted M0 callsigns. Well done to them.

The Advanced course is not a walk in the park and requires a  lot of work and effort to slog your way through the 15 sessions of theory and  practise and then face a 2 hour, 62 question examination at the end of it. But  it is achievable as our record at Wythall shows. It is almost 100% pass over  the past 5 years. Our next course will be in September 2012.

Pictured left to right: Paul, M0TVU, Paul K. M0PYT, Stu M0NYP and Mark M0RKX

Very well done.