wythall radio club

RadCom ‘Club News’ for April reported on Wythall Radio Club.

Here’s an edited version…..

It’s been a busy Spring at Wythall Radio Club.

Our annual Christmas Contest attracted keen competition between members.  Lee G0MTN, our contest supremo, announced the results to an expectant meeting in mid-January, with the top scorers only separated by a few points. 

David G7IBO won the 2/70cm FM section, and Mike G4VPD found a couple of extra multipliers to gain first place in the all-bands/all-modes section. 

The 6-day competition involves Club members contacting eachother on various bands and modes, with bonus points and multipliers leading to keen competition – although there is always time to chat!  We are delighted to report increased activity from members compared with previous years.

Lee GoMTN made remote QSOs from Poland, Munich, and the centre of Birmingham, using his mobile phone to access his home rig.  There was much greater use of CW, with 5 members active most days. 

Some QSOs were on 12 meters, where ground wave propagation enabled contact between members 10-15 miles apart.  Good use was made of the Club 145.225MHz frequency and GB3WL repeater.

Our new members are making a very positive impact in the Club.  Martin, who joined the Club in 2023 as an SWL, has made rapid progress through the exams with the help of tutoring by our training coordinator Chris G0EYO and the Bath scheme, and now has his full licence – M0XFI. 

Like several other members, he participated in the Club’s ‘How low can you go?’ QRP month in January. 

Impressive results were achieved using a maximum of 5 watts on CW and 10 watts on SSB/digital, including working north and south America and Asia.

In our ‘miles per watt’ challenge, the top scorers were John 2E0XET with a stupendous 3543 miles/watt for his 1-watt CW qso with Virginia USA and Lee G0MTN’s 713 miles/watt from his 10-watt digital contact with Argentina.

The Club has a growing group of CW operators, many of whom used this mode to work other members during the Christmas Contest.  Clive M0KNP, having recently achieved his full licence, is  participating in the CWOps training programme (and just completed the first module – well done, Clive!) and made his first QSOs on the key, as has Neil G1TZC. 

And not just CW operating!  Chris G0EYO has continued the restoration of his historic Morse code key collection…. as you can read here.

In February, a large gathering of members welcomed Jamie M0SDV, to talk about the 8R7X dxpedition to Guyana that he co-led in 2024. 

Jamie obtained his Foundation licence through our training scheme and is now a highly experienced contest and dxpedition operator and leading advocate for younger amateurs.  His talk provided an amusing and insightful look at this very successful operation.

Our re-established Friday-in-the-Shack, held monthly, has a good attendance.  The focus is ‘bring and show’ hands-on activity and technical discussion. 

Recent sessions have covered John G3VRF’s modular QC100 rig and Phil 2E0WTH’s mag loop.

Amateur television is an interest of Derek G1INC and Neil G1TZC’s – both also new members – including home-brewing gear.  Thanks to their work, the Club has applied to host a SSTV repeater using the existing collinear on the chimney and spare 2-meter FM rig (this is now active, details here).

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

Wythall Radio Club is pleased to announce its new SSTV repeater is now live on-air.

Operating on 144.500MHz FM, this ‘store and forward’ repeater will give good coverage around the south Birmingham/north Worcestershire area.

Neil G1TZC and Derek G1INC have been working hard in the Club’s shack to get the repeater on air. 

It uses a 2 FM meter mobile rig (kindly donated by John G3OIC) running 5 watts to the Club’s collinear mounted above the GB3WL 70cms repeater array on Wythall House chimney. 

The system is controlled by a computer in the shack with remote management by repeater keeper Neil G1TZC.

A 1750 hz tone of 1 second is needed to open the repeater.  It will respond with a fast morse ident.

Then you have 5 seconds to start uploading your frame.

After the frame is received, the repeater will re-transmit it on the same frequency.

You can find Neil’s presentation about how to use the repeater here…..

Here are some images from the first days of the repeater’s operation…..

The Marconi Nato Morse Key
…..or to give its proper nomenclature 5805-99-541-1439 Key Telegraph. This is a
serious morse key, clearly for use in a military or service environment.

Unlike most morse keys which basically have two terminals that you connect via a jack plug to
your transmitter KEY socket, this beast has a 6 way terminal block under the cover
and an internal wiring loom. But before we get into the detail, why did I purchase this
particular key? Well it was on my list of “always wanted” keys together with the
Vibroplex semi auto bug; the Eddystone Semi-auto Bug; the Marconi Marine 365
straight key and a Kent straight key. I have promised myself that, apart from the
Marconi 365, the list has been satisfied, and it will have no further additions. There
were also historical connections of a past life working for the Marconi Company,
where we made the communications systems equipment for the Navy that these
morse keys worked with. 

Nato key with cover removed

This key was designed for use by NATO forces by Marconi S & R Systems and
made by Pryce Edwards Ltd in the 1970-80s and has the serial number PES 022 85
which would indicate a manufacture date of 1985. The key weighs 3 ½ ls (1.6kg) and
the cover measures 8” x 3.25” (203mm x 83mm) with an overall length including key
of 10.5” (268mm). My key has an ABS cover, others with slightly different NATO
numbers had covers made of brass or steel painted battleship grey.

The key is based on the Swedish Twin Contact design key c1940 by Lennart
Petersson, which is also known as the Swedish pump key; It uses a spring plate for
the support and spring tension on the main rocker/sending lever arm. There is a
spring tension adjuster, using a spanner and an allen key, that can only be accessed
by removing the cover.  The key has preset contact gap adjustments using a round
black knob on the top marked 0 -9. 0 being closed contacts; 9 being widest open.

Swedish Pump Key Spring action

I bought this key at an auction in Newcastle, so had no opportunity to examine
before bidding on it. It was with a collection of 5 other morse keys. Some few months later I took it off the shelf and decided to have a close examination of it. The first thing I noticed was that it had a ON/OFF switch which is unusual in a morse key.
Second, there did not seem to be any cable entry point, although there was a blank panel at the rear of the cover. Two thumb screws hold down the cover which slides off the base, revealing the key, the terminal block, contact adjustment knob, and ON/OFF switch. This was clearly a complex piece of equipment. Behind the terminal block there was a removable aluminium panel which could be removed and have a hole drilled for a cable gland. This made me think that the key had never been usedin service or modified for amateur use.

The Terminal Block can be seen at the rear of the key and it has the following label
markings;

6- C
5- S
4- LINE
3- MK (MARK)
2- SP (SPACE)
1- E (EARTH)

As this is a “two contact” key, I assumed that key lever was LINE and the UP contact
when key is pressed is MARK. When the key is at rest (down) this connects the LINE
to the SPACE contact. Trying to prove this with a continuity meter proved
problematical for reasons I will explain later. I could clearly see stand-off insulators
interfaced between the terminal block and the base of the key. Further investigation
led me to unscrew the base from the bottom place. This turned out to be some
hollowed out plastic material containing a pair of Capacitor – Resistor Key click
filters. (See below for a comment on Key Clicks). Faced with this and the continuity
problem, I decided to trace out the wiring diagram for the key, but I still couldn’t be
sure how the key click filter was wired into the circuit. Fortunately FISTS member Bill
G0ELZ sent me a circuit he had which confirmed everything. The circuit is shown  below.

C & R Key click Filter in base

I made some enquiries on the FISTS forum and Facebook about the key and was
told that the ON/OFF switch on the front of the key, is for switching the key out of
circuit of any transmitter, thus giving the operator control, and can prevent
accidental keying of the transmitter by knocking the key. Given that these keys would
be controlling transmitters located somewhere else on the ship or establishment this
seemed a reasonable explanation. Dave M0VBY another FISTS member said that
the S and C on the terminal strip probably stood for Screen and Common.

Dave’s first encounter with the Marconi NATO key was late 1972/73 when he served on
HMS Bristol taking the new Integrated Communication System 2 (ICS2) to sea for
sea trials and later as a fully operational capability. (Dave was a maintainer, not an
operator).

Dave said he had no evidence that this key was used anywhere other than the RN
and that the Nato stock number plate has given rise to the assumption that it was
Nato use. All naval equipment had a Nato stock number, replacing the old Admiralty Pattern no. The two digit 99 was the indicator that it was manufactured in the UK. In ICS2 the key was fitted in a comms bay on a sliding tray and could not be removed. It was connected by a Switch Unit Radio to the KMM control system, (Thanks for that
information Dave)

The continuity problem I referred to earlier concerned the MARK contact. When I
pressed the key lever the LINE contact on the lever should make with the MARK
contact and complete the circuit resulting in the key tone. There was nothing.
Eventually I realised that there must be corrosion on the key contacts so I removed
the screws holding the lever arm to get access to the contact points on the lever and
the key base.

Up/Down contact

The contacts proved easy to clean up with a light file and when I re-assembled the
lever arm back on the key I was able to get a tone when the key was pressed. The
contact spacing knob is very stiff to turn so that could also do with a check out.
Seeing how it is put together, its looks to be a very fiddly job so I will leave that for
later.

I haven’t restored this key yet. It only needs a good clean to remove marks and dust.
I also haven’t modified the rear cable entry plate behind the terminal block, I will
defer a decision on this until later. What I have tried to do in this article is to find out
how the key works and how it was used in operation. I have learnt a few things which
is never a bad thing. Until the next one!
Chris G0EYO 31/1/25

Key Clicks – a perpetual problem
Nothing can be more annoying (and a quick way to ruin your reputation) to your
fellow operators, when, unknowingly, you generate key clicks on your signal. Clicks
are generated by any transmitter whose RF carrier amplitude rises or falls too
rapidly, (which essentially is what a square wave CW signal is). They are heard as
clicking in time with the CW but audible on many frequencies right across the band
and are nothing to do with the operator keying speed. They arise because of the
rise-time of the carrier when the key is depressed. A very fast rise-time can be
thought of as a small part of a high frequency audio signal and it produces very wide
side bands. Conversely, a slower rise time equates to a lower frequency audio
signal. Key clicks can be reduced by a simple CR timing filter in the keying stage
which will round off the edges of the CW square wave. See Figs 7.3; and 7.4 below 1
Note 1: copied from the RSGB Intermediate Training Manual 2nd edition

No, it wasn’t the Flowerpot Men wot done it!

But my Flowerpot antenna – a ‘single’ band vertical dipole for 12 meters.  Those ‘inverted commas’ are significant – read on!

This is an antenna that’s cheap and easy to build (you just need to be able to strip some coax and solder on a PL259 or similar), and it’s hardly noticeable.  It can be hung from a pole, tree, window, etc.  It doesn’t have radials or a counterpoise.

I like experimenting with homemade antennas, and I wanted to take advantage of this sunspot maximum to work as much DX as possible on 24MHz.  My doublet works quite well, but perhaps a vertical would help by giving me greater low angle radiation?

The Flowerpot antenna is a centre fed vertical half-wave dipole made from coax. 

It comprises a quarterwave radiator made from the centre of a length of coax, below which is a quarterwave of complete coax that is then wound into an rf choke.  The tail of the coax beyond the choke forms the feeder.

The antenna radiates from the top quarterwave section of coax core, and from the outer braid of the bottom quarterwave section.  The choke prevents the outer braid from radiating further along the feeder.

There’s lots of material on-line about how to make one.  

It didn’t take long to measure up some RG58 and expose the inner core at one end.  I then marked a further quarterwave for the position of the choke, which I wound around some 40mm plastic pipe.

I used a dipole length calculator for my measurements.  As I usually do with my antennas, I cut it a bit longer than the calculated figure so I had room for adjustment.

I tied the top to my 8 meter Sotabeams telescopic mast, and pushed the mast up between the branches at the bottom of my garden.  The radiating section cleared the fence on one side and the shed on the other.

The antenna analyser showed there was a dip at about 24.9MHz and an swr of 1.7:1, easily resolved by my rig’s ATU.  To my suprise, there was a bigger dip on 28.5MHz and an swr of 1.1:1 that covered the CW and SSB sections of that band.

So it looked like the antenna wasn’t too long, but too short!  Perhaps this was caused by the close proximity of tree branches?

Two bands for the price of one!

My K3 has dual antenna sockets, so switching between the Flowerpot and doublet on receive, I immediately noticed signals were affected by up to +/- 2-3 s-points on both bands.  Presumably signals ariving by different paths.  There was not much difference in the noise floor.

Now I can alternate between antennas when I put out a CQ call, and also choose the antenna with the strongest receive signal when I call someone.

Each January it’s Wythall Radio Club’s ‘How low can you go?’ month devoted to QRP operating.

And what great results!  41 countries worked on CW and 66 on digital modes.  Several also on SSB.

Power was restricted to 5 watts CW and 10 watts SSB and digital – although several members thought this was too generous and used even less power!

Wire antennas were used – no beams to boost the dbs!

Kev G4XLO – our own DX member down there in Devon – worked 55 unique DXCC entities using digital modes, closely followed by Martin 2E0XFI (now M0XFI) with 48.  Lee G0MTN worked 59 countries using multiple modes. 

John M6KET topped the CW table with 38 countries.  Meanwhile Neil worked 10 countries using SSB with a mix of HF and satellite.

To add some fun, we ran a ‘miles per watt’ challenge. 

The top scorers were John 2E0XET with a stupendous 3543 miles/watt for his 1-watt CW QSO with Virginia USA and Lee G0MTN’s 713 miles/watt from his 10-watt digital contact with Argentina.

John used his trusty K2 (or was it his KX3?) and dog-leg doublet antenna. Great result!

Down in devon, Kev started off using 10 watts of FT8 but then dropped down to 5 watts for the last 2 weeks to see what could be achieved. 

Here’s his report….. 

“January was a really interesting month for me on the QRP challenge.  I was on 10 watts digital the first couple of weeks and my main bands were 30m and 40m. 

These gave me the normal European regulars as well as the USA one morning. 

The fourth week it all came alive.  I swapped between 5 watts and 10 watts maximum. 

Tuesday, I had a totally awesome day, working China, Japan, Brazil as well as Puerto Rico and Ceuta & Melilla in one day, and yesterday bagged Turkey as well.

Was good to work Belize yesterday – that was my best DX for the week at over 5000 miles away – ones that got away included Venezuela, Indonesia and Brazil although they were quite audible for me in the shack.

It’s been encouraging too to see other members efforts thru the month.”

As well as everyones’ great QSOs, our QRP signals have also been spotted in a variety of locations, including Australia and New Zealand.

Several members have 10 watt maximum rigs, but others have decided to turn down the wick to see what they can work with QRP during the rest of the year.

Just for comparison, here’s our report from last year’s QRP challenge!!

12 DAYS IN GUYANA  8R7X AS TOLD BY  JAMIE M0SDV AT WYTHALL RADIO CLUB LAST TUESDAY.

73,500 QSO’s ..  poisonous snakes  and machetes.. 30 degrees of sweltering heat and high humidity…. welcome to Jamie’s world (M0SDV) last February 2024 as he and three other like-minded  young operators visited this rarely activated country on the northern  tip of South America for an operation that proved to be enormously popular.

Include , whilst there, successful forays into the ARRL 160m SSB competition and the ARRL CW contest then it is surprising that there was any time for sleep but there was time for a great day at the Mashramani Festivities (known locally as ‘Mash’) where they experienced  the true hospitality and friendliness of the Guyanese.

In a highly entertaining talk on the activation Jamie took us through the logistical challenges of such an expedition (but emphasised the independence of the four young operators involved in choosing their own antennas  etc.), the radios used (Icom 7610’s and K3S) , the challenges  to get the necessary visas and permits, and even handed out some valuable tips on where to call amongst those mighty pile-ups . (V73WW coming up!)

It was great to welcome Jamie back to the Club where it all started for him some 11 years ago and a well attended gathering in person and on Zoom thoroughly enjoyed hearing the talk.

 We welcomed  Philip DK6SP to our  Zoom call on the night. Philip was one of the other operators on the Expedition which included Tomi HA8RT, SvenDJ4MX.

The team on Guyana..Jamie 2nd from the left?

Many questions afterwards and more in the bar.

Postscript: On Saturday 8^th February Jamie is off again to the Marshall Islands( look it up!) for another DXpedition V73WW.

 WE WISH JAMIE ALL THE BEST IN THIS NEW VENTURE AND HE LEAVES US WITH A MUCH CLEARER IDEA OF THE CHALLENGES: WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO WORK HIM AS V73WW??

COMING SOON.. 

FRIDAY 21ST FEBRUARY ; 9.45-11.45  a.m. OPEN PRACTICAL SESSION IN THE DARTS ROOM 

TUESDAY 4TH MARCH  ‘ASK THE EXPERTS’  8.15 PM. GET YOUR QUESTIONS READY NOW – TECHNICAL OR OPERATIONAL

Ask the experts-Last year’s team in full flow.

 Jamie M0SDV and  the 2024 DXpedition to Guyana: 8R7X

 In February 2024 our very own past member Jamie M0SDV co- led a 4 man expedition to Guyana .

We are delighted that, although busy preparing for a Marshall Island expedition departing in 13 days time (V73WW), Jamie has agreed to come to Wythall Radio Club to share his memories of that expedition.

 Tuesday 4^th February   8.00 pm.  The Darts Room Wythall House.

PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER 8.00 P.M. START

Zoom- and Visitors welcome

David G7IBO proud winner of the 2m/70cm competition. The 2E0BLP Trophy

Mike G4VPD winner of the All Modes Xmas Competition 2024. The G7OJO trophy

Congratulations to David  G7IBO (2m/70cm trophy)  and Mike G4VPD (All modes trophy) on their successes in the recently held (and hotly contested) Wythall Radio Club 2024 XMAS contest.

In an award ceremony at Wythall House  hosted by the organiser Lee G0MTN  Lee spoke of the welcome increase in activity in the event with 16 Club members involved

Other highlights of the 6 day competition were:

Increased activity from members; ; unusual bands and modes tried; more focus on the HF bands this year but a dip in the FT8 activity.

A regular CW get together involving 5 of the Club members

Remote activation by Lee from Poland , Munich, and the centre of Birmingham.

Good use made of the 145.225 frequency and GB3WL

IN THE END, AS LEE REMINDED US, THE AIM WAS TO HAVE FUN AND INCREASE ACTIVITY WITHIN THE CLUB (AMD PERHAPS PROVIDE A VALUABLE ESCAPE ROUTE FROM THE XMAS RELATIVES?!)

Many thanks as ever to Lee for masterminding the whole operation and even now we look forward to the Easter Competition. April 17th-April 21st.

COMING NEXT .. 8R7X DXPEDITION TO GUYANA; A PRESENTATION BY JAMIE M0SDV

 WYTHALL HOUSE. THE DARTS ROOM FEBRUARY 4TH

8.00 P.M. START … 8.00 PM START… 8.00 PM START 

 PROGRAMME FOR WYTHALL RADIO CLUB  JANUARY 1^ST– JUNE 30^TH 2025

  Other Events to be added and announced

Tuesday January 14th ^8.30 Open Committee meeting .

 Tuesday January 21^st. 8.30 Xmas Contest Results.

Friday January 24^th 9.45-11.45   Practical/Operating/problem solving : the Darts Room

Tuesday February 4^{th 8.00} M0SDV on the DXpedition to Guyana 8R7X

Friday February 21^st 9.45-11.45 Practical/Operating/Problem Solving in the Darts Room.

Tuesday March 4^th 8.30 Ask the Experts- Round the Table Q & A Session

Friday 21^st March 9.45-11.45 Practical/Operating/Problem Solving in the Darts’ Room

Tuesday April 1^st. 8.30 Open Committee Meeting

Thursday April 17^th-Monday 21^st April The Famous Wythall Radio Club Easter Contest

Friday 18^th April 9.45-11.45 Practical /Operating /Problem Solving in the Darts’ Room

( rearranged to accommodate Good Friday)

May –SOTA sessions to be announced

Tuesday May 6^th 8.30 Easter Contest Results.

Saturday May 10th : Open shack day: Neil G1TCZ

Friday May 23^rd 9.45-11.45 Practical/operating /Problem Solving Session in the Darts’ Room.

Tuesday June 3^rd 7.30 onwards: Foxhunt in the Park and DIY activities.

Tuesday 10^th June 7.30 pre G0BUS meeting in Bar.

Friday 13^th June 9.00 a.m. meet WRC  to collect gear and  Transport Museum set –up

Saturday 14th 9.00 Wythall transport Museum Activation G0BUS

Friday 20^th June 9.45-11.45 Practical/Operating /problem solving: The Darts Room.

THE CLUB MEET SOCIALLY EVERY TUESDAY EVENING AT WYTHALL HOUSE  AT  7.30 P.M.

The K2 ready to go .. no wasted power there and heading for 14060

Members of Wythall Radio Club limber up for the January challenge ( note the dress code!)

THE JANUARY 2025 WYTHALLRADIO CLUB QRP(P) MONTH.

Not contest .. just a challenge to work in whatever mode .. reduce the power.. push the boundaries..and let fellow members know of your experiences.. best bands .. antennas used and of course the power.

Lee has set up the DXCC QRP ladder  and comment board so we can all learn of  each others successes and, as a bonus,  the current World Wide Award (WWA) activity can provide extra stimulus. Good luck!!