wythall radio club

3 New Radio Hams!

Wythall Radio Club’s training department are celebrating today – on two fronts!

Training Co-ordinator Chris G0EYO informed us recently that all 3 of our latest cohort of online Foundation Licence students have passed with flying colours – one with 100% in the final exam.

Hearty congratulations then to Neal from Loughborough, Stuart from Solihull and Martin from Maypole, South Birmingham.

But on further delving, Chris was able to give us some other revealing statistics.

Wythall Radio Club’s training courses began in January 2008, with an Intermediate Course. Since then we have accrued 84 Foundation passes, 62 Intermediate successes and 53 Advanced Licence holders.

Furthermore, these new entrants to the hobby make up almost 60% of our current club membership, which numbers well over 80. No wonder Wythall Radio Club continues to flourish.

Our special thanks then to Chris G0EYO, Roger M0GWM and all our training team, not forgetting John M6KET and the Morse Code class, which also draws new members into the club!

6 Eggs up for grabs!

Yes we know it’s a little on the late side, but Easter will be coming to WRC this Tuesday.

That’s because the chocolate egg prizes of our in-house Easter Contest will be awarded this week!

Members will gather this Tuesday at 8.30pm in the Club rooms to discover who the 6 lucky winners of the choccy prizes will be.

Contest adjudicator and supremo Lee G0MTN will be in the hot-seat, doling out the prizes and there will be a fair few folk in the running this year, judging by the entries, which are up on last year’s event.

The proceedings will be preceded by a necessary Committee Meeting but, needless to say, there will be some smiling faces, and we daresay a few disappointed ones too, come the end of the night…

For those that didn’t notice, our friends Dave & Annette Hayward from Radioworld couldn’t make it to this year’s Wythall Hamfest.

But they had a good excuse for being missing – they were in the thick of a shop move!

Dave & Annette’s new store at 263 Walsall Road, Great Wyrley, WS6 6DL is very much improved on the old one as you can see in the pictures on their website. It’s a great time to buy from them too, as they have a special April offer on with a 5% off vouchercode!

With Radioworld well settled in their new abode, we very much hope to see the pair of them, and their son Sam, at next year’s Wythall Hamfest.

We very much appreciated their kind words on their website too

Along with Radioworld, we’re already looking forward to 2017!

Dogger, Fisher, German Bight? No, just Jim Lee!

Wythall Radio Club is proud to welcome a very special guest this week.

Jim Lee G4AEH is one of Radio 4’s “continuity announcers” – one of the folk whose voices we hear in between programmes or sometimes reading the Shipping Forecast!

Inevitably, Jim has a plethora of anecdotes about his time on air and this Tuesday evening, 29th March, he will be sharing some of those with us.

This is a return visit; Jim’s first time with us was so well-received that members immediately requested another evening – and at last, it has been made so!

If you would like to come along, please feel free to do so. This Tuesday in the Darts Room at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall. B47 6 LZ – the talk starts at 20:30.

Three Wythall Radio Club members are celebrating a very “Icom” Easter this weekend, thanks to our friends at Martin Lynch & Sons.

Mike G4VPD, Simon G4TVR & Mark M0RKX today took delivery of three of the very first batch of IC-7300 radios in the UK.

ML&S had their first batch of this remarkable new radio arrive in the UK on Thursday and customers like Mike, Simon & Mark are receiving theirs via courier today.

The IC-7300 is arguably the most awaited transceiver in our hobby for many years, effectively being a software defined radio in a traditional radio casing and with no external PC necessary for operation.

ML&S will doubtless be selling a lot of these radios and it is a pleasure to see one close up so early on, thanks to the Wythall Radio Club photographer, who was on hand to see one of the arrivals.

Photos below – click to enlarge and get close-ups!

The members of Wythall Radio Club would like to thank all who attended our Hamfest today.

Initial impressions are that this was one of the biggest Hamfests in recent years – probably helped by the pleasant weather and the extras we put on, including the lecture stream.

We are grateful to all of you who came along – we hope you enjoyed yourselves!

Thanks go to all our traders, especially to Martin Lynch & Sons – Rich, Big Dave & Gary, who were on the M40 before most of us were thinking about breakfast!

Thanks also to all who helped, in whatever capacity, whether on car parking, marshalling, organising, burger cooking, clearing away etc. We had a great time and we hope you did too.

Photos below and these will be updated over the next few days so please keep checking back for more – maybe you will spot yourself!

We hope to see you again next year!

The 31st Wythall Hamfest is all systems go!

Members spent this afternoon setting out the halls with tables and power sockets ready for all the traders who will be piling in from 7am tomorrow morning. They will then be busy setting up ready to meet YOU from 10am.

With Martin Lynch & Sons heading the trader list, we are expecting very large numbers just like last year – especially as we have today heard that Gary, the ML&S DMR/SDR guru will be there with some demo gear working live on the stall!

But Wythall Hamfest is more than just the traders – there’s the famous burger van(!)  and this year we have a top quality lecture programme with some of the most experienced hams in their fields giving short talks throughout the day.

The latest addition to this programme is a fascinating presentation by Dave G4DPZ on the ARISS/AMSAT/Astronaut Tim Peake initiative – this is VERY current, as you probably know, and Dave will be giving us the latest news!

So after many weeks of preparation on our side, we look forward to meeting you tomorrow – 10am start (9.30am disabled) at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ.

Admission to the Fest is only £3.50 and that includes access to all areas, including from noon, the main house bar (real ales on tap!) and free admission to the lecture programme.

See you there!

With the Wythall Hamfest just days away, how fantastic to see our event getting top billing at Martin Lynch & Sons website! 

ML&S bill themselves as the “World’s Favourite Hamstore” and indeed their reputation goes well beyond the UK; a reputation for excellence in both customer service and in doing great deals on all kinds of Amateur Radio gear.

We like to think of our event as the “Midlands’ Favourite Hamfest” and we are delighted that ML&S are visiting us for the very first time.

There will be extra special prices on the day but you can take advantage of those early by calling ML&S and pre-ordering your Hamfest goodies by quoting the code “Wythall Hamfest” when you call.

0345 2300 599 is the ML&S Hotline – order today for Sunday pick-up at the Hamfest!

Michael, Jonathan & Greg with pass certificates

In amongst all the excitement over the Wythall Radio Club Hamfest this coming Sunday, it is easy to forget that this is not the only activity going on at our club.

Last night was the culmination of the latest Foundation course and the great news is that all three candidates passed with flying colours.

Training Co-ordinator Chris G0EYO said “All three candidates passed with excellent marks tonight. Well done to Michael, young Jonathan & Greg. Those M6 callsigns will soon be available for you to pick up from Ofcom but don’t get too used to them – we have an Intermediate course starting in early May.”

So that’s let the cat out of the bag then! Click here for news on the next Intermediate Course at Wythall Radio Club.

Meantime, back to dreaming of Hamfests…