wythall radio club

An LF Receive Loop at G3YXM

It’s all happening at Wythall Radio Club this coming Tuesday! 

Loop antennas are something of a mystery to many of us but they are gaining in popularity.

This is partly down to the modern twin scourge for radio hobbyists of both local noise and small gardens!

While small antennas are always a compromise, magnetic loop antennas are particularly popular due to their quiet receive and quite effective transmit capabilities.  

In addition, they can be used close to the ground so they are even useful outdoors too.

So this week, on Tuesday 30th May, Club Member and antenna guru, Dave G3YXM, is giving a talk on Practical Loop Antennas.

Dave is a veteran of many a loop, so to speak, and this, our final presentation before the summer activity season starts, is bound to be a very popular one.

Get your seat early then – the talk is at 20:30 in the club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street. B47 6LZ.

We can’t wait!

Back in January, Bob G3PJT gave Wythall Radio Club a demonstration on remote operating of his radio station over the internet.

This would cost most of us far too much £££, but…

The purpose of his talk was to demonstrate remote operations mainly to young people with the aim of encouraging younger people into the hobby with technology that they understand.

This was quite an expensive setup though and, being radio amateurs, we would always like to do it less expensively!

So tonight Club Member Lee G0MTN, is giving us a demonstration on a much cheaper set-up that will achieve a very similar end. Lee has trialled his remote station operation from Poland back to Wythall, so we know it works!

Come along tonight and find out more.

It kicks off at 2030 in the Club Shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, B47 6LZ.

See you there!

Some good news this morning at Wythall Radio Club. One of our youngest members has gained his Advanced callsign. 

16-year-old Jamie has been a member of Wythall Radio Club for a few years, starting with his Foundation Licence and then gaining his Intermediate quite soon afterwards.

The great news is he has just passed his Advanced exam and gained the full licence privileges that this gives.

We are looking forward to hearing his new callsign on the air soon, complete with the full 400 Watts of power!

Well done Jamie, from all of us at WRC.

Colin G6ZDQ

It is with sadness that Wythall Radio Club reports the loss, early this morning, of founder member Colin G6ZDQ.

Colin was one of the original members of Wythall Radio Club back in 1981. Among other things, he helped dig out the cellar where we now meet and was for many years a stalwart of the club. 

In recent years, declining health meant he was not heard as much on air as he, and we, would have liked, but he especially loved VHF and would, even in later years, be found taking part in the Club Contests at Christmas and Easter.

We send our condolences to his family, especially his partner Jan and daughter Anna.

RIP Colin G6ZDQ Silent Key.

A fuller appreciation will appear on this website at a later date.

Neal, Andy & Matt show off their pass certificates today

Wythall Radio Club’s training team are reporting yet more successes today. 

Following our latest Online Foundation Course, we are pleased to announce we have 3 new members of the Amateur Radio fraternity.

We extend a congratulations and warm welcome to the hobby to Neal, Andy and Matt.

They completed their practical assessments yesterday and the final exam this lunchtime at the club – this was following a few weeks of online tuition from Chris G0EYO and our Training team.

We wish them all the best in the hobby and we look forward to seeing them at the club soon!

People join clubs for various reasons, but high among the reasons people join Wythall Radio Club is the opportunity afforded them to “play radio” with a group of like-minded colleagues.

So it was yesterday, when the weather in Wythall turned decidedly warm – for once, we were quick off the mark too, to arrange one of our “Plug and Play Days”.

Several members managed to get out on the fields behind Wythall Park for some back-to-basics radio, with a generator providing power and members bringing all kinds of strange antennas and radios to do some RF experimentation.

A great time was had by all, and the sun was caught by a few! Just as well there was an ice-cream van and a refreshing cooling bar nearby!

Perhaps we should change the name of such events to “Plug, Play & Pint Days”…

The May 2017 edition of the Wythall Radio Club newsletter is out today. 

This edition features a report on our fantastically successful recent Hamfest together with articles on Maritime Communications, Sleeve and Coaxial Dipoles & the role of the QSL manager.

There’s also news from both Ofcom and our in-house Training team.

Full details of our Easter Contest and the results are also included.

This bumper edition can be found by clicking on the Newsletter icon to the left or by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Overall winner Simon G4TVR

This evening the winners of the Wythall Radio Club Easter Contest were revealed. 

And it’s a big congratulations to our two winners, Simon G4TVR and Jim 2E0BLP.

For Simon it means two wins on the trot in this event – clearly the lure of a large chocolate egg is too much to resist!

FM winner Jim 2E0BLP

For Jim it marks a return to form – his son Kevin 2E0NCO took the title of Christmas Contest winner and there is nothing like family rivalry to bring out the competitive nature.

Congrats too to Phil 2E0WTH, Chris G7DDN, David G7IBO and Stu M0NYP who also won chocolate eggs for second and third places.

Les M6IOI and Juliet M6RSC also won certificates for highest placed Foundation Licencees.

Most importantly, we all had a lot of fun with RF with entrants and QSO numbers up on last year.

Our thanks to Lee G0MTN and Chris G7DDN as the organising team behind the event. 

See you all in December for the next Christmas Contest!

Click the pic for a better view!

Enid Blyton would be proud! Thanks to the Wythall Radio Club Training Team, there are 5 new entrants to our wonderful hobby today.

Our online Foundation Course is very popular these days and attracts people from all around the East and West Midlands.

Congratulations from the whole club then go to (left to right in the photo) David from Stratford-upon-Avon, Ian from Warwick (at rear), Ben (aged 10) from Swadlincote in Derbyshire and Kim from Stratford-upon-Avon. (Sadly Carl from Redditch is not pictured)

Our thanks as always to our training team and invigilators.

We are now looking towards May 13^{th &} 14^th when three more online Foundation students will be taking their practical assessments and examination. Watch this space!