wythall radio club

Dressed for the occasion and the sweltering heat  the hardy members of Wythall Radio Club took to the great outdoors at Wythall Park on Saturday and operated G4WAC/P in all its various  modes: Digimode, Satellite, CW, SSB and VHF.

                            The operating site in Wythall Park on a sunny Saturday

In this first instalment Ian M0LQY, operating digimode takes us through his thoughts on the experience.

“What a glorious day was had by all at our field day with the weather being perfect and lots of people dropping in to see a real range of radios and operating methods great stuff. For me I wanted to try out a few things a new antenna which I purchased last year and was waiting for the right opportunity and in particular a project I had been working on for a while to use a specially built operating system for my raspberry pi. The experience of using it in the field for my favourite digital modes was informative and a real lesson in what I got right and more importantly what was not.”

                 Ian cheerfully going about setting up on Saturday

“My aim was to have a working setup that I could use portably contained within a single carrying case. Back at the shack I set about building both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the raspberry pi operating systems from source rather than using prebuilt binaries. Having had a number of Raspberry Pi’s I find that building the software from source produces better performance and stability. Therefore, I decided to do everything that way to produce a bespoke purpose-built Pi that suited me and my exact requirements.”

“So how did it go? Like all things it was a mixed bag with the main aims achieved but unexpected niggles and self-inflicted incompetence’s  all conspiring to make the day interesting. My requirements for the Pi were as follows:

Only have the software loaded that I would actually use. Mostly, digital mode applications. Logbook and other useful Amateur Radio programs.

1. Be able to operate without a monitor (Headless).
2. Remote operation from another computer, tablet or even a mobile phone.
3. Have automatic availability of my home NAS shares with read and write capability in both directions. Any Connection must be able to pass username and password , so no guest access.
4. Ability to use the programs installed with two Radios (Yaesu FT991A and Xiegu X6100) both of which have USB CAT control and built in sound cards”

“Having spent time building the operating systems at home and getting the radios to talk to the pi with audio, CAT control it was all working well. So the field day was the ideal chance to test out the antenna a 80-10 40 metre EFLW from UKAntennas which was supposedly to work on all of the bands and did not require an ATU. Also, I could test the pi setup with the bare minimum before choosing a suitable carrying case with foam inserts.”

 Ian goes on to detail some of the problems on the day: the voltage  and an issue synchronising the clock to the NTP server  (no internet connection in the field) and a full account of the challenges and solutions  can be read on Saturday’s posting on the Repeater

“As for the antenna, well it works and does indeed allow operation on all of the advertised bands without an ATU. My issue is that I like to operate with low SWR and at 40M it was showing 1:1 as I went to higher bands the SWR crept up and on 17M reached 2:2 although that was with 50 watts at 20 watts my normal operating power this became 1:9. So yes it works and was surprisingly quiet although the location must have helped.”

IN THE NEXT EPISODE :WHY ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE GATHERED ROUND A GAZEBO IN THE MIDDLE OF WYTHALL PARK?? (AND IS THAT REALLY WINSTON?)

Visitors welcome at Wythall Radio Club’s free demo of short-wave and VHF radio communication, on Saturday 9th Sept. between 10 and 3.

We’ll once again be operating various radios from Wythall Park, using a variety of antennas – and hopefully we’ll have some contacts via a satellite!

You can find us on the far side of Wythall Park, furthest from the car park. 

Follow the tarmac footpath on the right hand side of the small playground, and keep going bearing right at any junction!

You’ll see vehicles, antenna masts and flags – that’s where we are. 

Here’s a report on a recent radio field-day in Wythall park.

Neil operating in IARU HF World Championship weekend 11/7/20

Our resident satellite member, Neil G1TZC, amused us all recently with a tale from his past on the club’s group.io forum with a tale about a visit to Canada. We thought this would make good first addition to our Articles’ section in the Library folder on the club’s website.  READ IT HERE 

Enjoy!

Thanks to the internet, it’s possible to listen on amateur radio frequencies without a special short wave receiver.

There are many WebSDR (Software-Defined Radio) receivers connected to the internet, allowing multiple users to listen simultaneously.  

A list of WebSDR receivers and links to them is at  http://www.websdr.org/   

To use WebSDR…

1. Navigate to a receiver like Hack Green, Cheshire (one of the closest WebSDRs to Birmingham) or KFS WebSDR in California (where you can listen in to the US amateurs).
2. Once on a WebSDR site, enable ‘allow keyboard’, which permits you to tune the receiver using mouse wheel or keyboard arrows.
3. You may have to enable audio settings on your browser – see the advice on each webSDR site; eg for listening to Hack Green using Chrome: Click the Lock in the address bar of your Chrome browser. Click Site Settings. Under Sound, select Allow.
4. Select the band you want to listen on – you will find most stations on 80, 40 and 20 meters, in the frequency ranges in the table below.
5. When listening on 80 and 40 meters, select LSB (lower side band); when listening on 20 meters, select USB (upper side band).
6. Once you hear a station, it may sound like ‘Donald Duck’ – tune slowly and the voices will become clear
7. Once you become proficient at tuning in stations, try some of the other receiver functions – e.g. narrow IF bandwidth and IF passband can be used to reduce interference.

Over the next few months, you can expect the following radio conditions:

CALL SIGNS

You can identify the countries from which stations are operating by comparing their call sign prefix (the first one or two letters/numbers) with those on the list of international call sign prefixes e.g. the Wythall Radio Club call sign is G4WAC – G means the station is in England. 

Q CODES AND OTHER SHORTHAND YOU MAY HEAR

You may hear the following…

CQ, CQ – I am calling for a contact; please reply to me

DX – long distance (normally, outside the operator’s continent)

QRZ? – is anyone there?

QTH – location of the station

QRM – interference on the signal

QSB – fading on the signal

QSL – confirmation of the contact or information passed

73s – best wishes and goodbye

GAINING AN AMATEUR RADIO LICENCE

The ‘Foundation licence’ is not difficult to obtain.  There is some simple electronics and radio operating to study.  You can find details of the licence levels and courses on the Wythall Radio Club web site and there is more information at the RSGB.

Visitors welcome at Wythall Radio Club’s famous ‘Plug and Play’ event on Saturday 9th Sept. between 10 and 3.

We’ll once again be operating various radios from Wythall Park, using a variety of antennas – and hopefully we’ll have some contacts via a satellite!

You can find us on the far side of Wythall Park, furthest from the car park.  Follow the tarmac footpath on the right hand side of the small playground, and keep going bearing right at any junction!

You’ll see vehicles, antenna masts and flags – that’s where we are. 

Here’s a report on a recent ‘Plug and Play’.

We are also holding an open evening for anyone interested in becoming a member of our Club, or in obtaining an amateur radio licence so you can transmit and make new friends locally and around the world.

The open evening is on Tuesday 5th Sept. from 8-9pm in the Darts Room, on the ground floor of Wythall House.  Follow the signs.

We’ll have some radios operating making contacts outside the UK, as well as members who can chat with you.

If you can’t make these dates, there are members at the Club most Tuesday evenings – email us to fix a date to visit at:  wythallradio@gmail.com

Was the break for sustenance (a sausage roll?) the crucial lost few minutes  the moment that Lee (G0MTN) just lost out to M0RYB/P  (Loxlot Club) in the QRP Unassisted Portable Station Section in the recent National Field Day Contest??

Lee endured extremes of heat and cold in his one man 24 hour operation

Lee writes:

“NFD results are out and  G4WAC/P *almost* won the QRP shield… I came second. I had more QSOs than the second placed entrant (and previous winner) but couldn’t find / work enough multipliers.  All the Russians that called are worth zero points too currently. Have a look at the attached chart to show how close the race was. It does show there’s no time for sleeping!  

I submitted the log to the German DARC society for their (and the IARU) Field Day – let’s see if it’s the same result there.

https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/hfresults.pl?Contest=NFD&year=2023

A magnificent performance  and please see the previous report on Lee’s extraordinary marathon

Chris and Lee on the TS590 HF station operating CW and SSB

Last weekend was the occasion of the International Museums on the Air  Weekend and WRC rose to the challenge magnificently activating  The Wythall Transport Museum and operating  three stations   as London Routemaster buses , Vintage Morris Vans and curious visitors  wandered past our site.

The special callsign of GB0BUS had been assigned to us for the occasion

Under the protection of 3 gazebos (assembled the day before in Chris G3YHF  logistical masterplan) the Club operated an HF station (the Club’s TS590 on HF- voice and CW- 40/20 and 15 metres on the OFCD) and  a K3  providing  digital  contacts on a 17 metre flat top dipole. Les 2E0LRV provided the VHF coverage from his well-equipped Landrover

Phil takes questions on how the ‘Easy -Up’ Gazebo got its name

The dipole and OFCD were positioned the day before with the aid of Dave’s  (G3YXM) magical catapult and open faced fishing reel (a real art of casting this!) and although short of room in our operating corner the two  HF antennas eventually performed well despite some initial inter- antenna reaction!! 

In all some 49 stations were worked including: Cyprus, Isle of Man, Canada, USA (Texas), Kazahkstan, Iceland and many similarly minded Museums on the Air stations listed below:

In all some 20 separate DXCC  countries were worked and the following Special Event stations

YQ0RN Radionostalgia – Brusturi- GB2ST Standedge Tunnel -GB2KDR Keith and Dufftown Heritage Railway Museum- GB1MHM Moseley Heritage Museum  (not our Moseley) GB2SPY wasn’t in the official list but is a museum special event- GX3EFX The Forties Experience- GB2CPM Amberley Museum- GB0MFM Moira Furnace Museum-MX0WGS Wings Museum-GB0WFX (not Museum, but 110th anniversary of Northampton Club)- GB2RRM Ramsey Rural Museum- GB2ST Standedge Tunnel- GB0MMH (not Museum but Men’s Mental Health special event.)

50 QSOs  were made on SSB / CW/FT8 (49 different stations – one station called us a second time after an earlier QSO.)

Les’ trademark Land Rover and self contained VHF station

Just look at the reach of Ian’s FT8 signal

Ian M0LQY and  visitor Richard view the world through F T8 on 17 metres

Lee G0MTN  heroically entered the National Field Day 24 hour contest  last weekend , operating alone in his garden , using low power (QRP) with a battery pack and topped up with a solar cell. Such was the heat in in the gazebo during the day that the 3D printed paddle started to melt and the laptop overheated!

During the night the opposite occurred and 4 layers of clothing , a winter coat and thermal trousers failed to keep Lee warm: under these harsh conditions Lee reports that the last hour of the contest was a real challenge.

Lee’s full report appears below:

‘I operated the RSGB National Field Day CW contest from the garden. The rules say no existing structures are to be used, so I put up a gazebo and ran a 250 foot doublet as the main antenna. I didn’t want to use a generator, so opted for one of the QRP sections and ran on a battery being refreshed by a solar panel in the daytime. The antenna was mounted on a 12m Spiderpole. I used my trusty FT817 as the transceiver.

I didn’t have any real aspirations other than to give it a serious go.  I’ve not entered NFD properly for a long time, and never QRP.  The build went successfully, and the antenna seemed to tune ok.

As the contest began at 4pm Saturday I started the process of tuning up and down the band, trying some CQ’ing, and repeating on other bands as propagation and activity beckoned. At the right moments I could call CQ and get responses, although overall CQ’ing brought one third of the contacts and the majority came from tuning and calling others.

As expected I almost only worked Europe – there were a few USA stations early morning on 20m, and then later on 15. Canary Islands, and a non-counting Asiatic Russian. I did hear 5V4ZJ, 9N7AA, VP2MKP, Brazil and others but they were ‘gotaways’. But discounting the DX, even France or Wales weren’t easy multipliers on easy bands. I moved Chris G3YHF from 40m to 10m to get an extra multiplier there!

It was fun to put the club call on the air again for the full 24 hours. ‘

Lee’s  tally of points was impressive as shown in the final table submitted   

A total of 639 QSO’s with 129 separate DX entities worked and a final magnificent score of  249357  (129×1933)

Kevin 2E0NCO proudly displaying his Dad’s  Trophy and  Shield

A  moving service paying affectionate tribute to Jim’s life was held this morning at Lodge Hill Crematorium attended by family: members of Wythall Radio  Club also attended or watched on line.

Feeling on top of the world is Clive (formerly known as M7OCB) who recently passed his intermediate examination and has now become 2E0IKN

Inspired by his success Clive, a keen SOTA operator , will now go on to study for the full licence in the Autumn. Delighted to have passed Clive paid  tribute to the excellent on- line tuition of  Wythall’s very own G0EYO who has introduced so many  into the hobby; he is crossing his fingers that G0EYO may again be one of his on-line tutors for the full licence course.

The good weather has encouraged many operators to venture out and to prepare for future outings.

Down on the South Coast Kev has received the SOTA pole ordered and is actively experimenting with different antenna options, in particular getting down to the sea front (Torquay) to take the salt water advantage.

Kev writes “I’ve got three portable antennas I can use , a shortish 7m ish random wire, a 20m length long wire as well as the dipole: plan to test one antenna per evening and see which one works best”

He has also been out and about on the Moors (See picture right) operating mobile for the car.

Lee G0MTN meanwhile is planning a National Field Day   CW QRP entry from his garden but has warmed up nicely on Minehead Sea front making 32 CW contacts over the recent contest weekend (WW WPX CW) using only 2.5 watts and a FT817 to the much discussed Miracle whip.

To avoid unwanted attention whilst operating Lee can set up in minutes, croc clip a random wire to the back of the 817 and sit innocently on a sea front bench working the USA and Canada and many  European stations, all on his miracle whip.

In preparation for the NFD weekend on June 3rd and 4th Lee writes:

“I’ve built a linked doublet (see picture). It’s a commonly used idea in NFD- to have a longer antenna overnight for the low bands  and shorten it to make the antenna more efficient during the day on the higher bands. For QRP work my junk box phono connectors will hopefully suffice” 

And finally Chris G3YHF in Manjana is feeling the heat and  has taken the sensible option and retreating  for a cold beer planning to erect a 10m dipole in the near future!! (See picture below left)

All this recent activity has generated some very informed and lively discussion within Wythall Radio Club on  SOTA and portable operating; we are indeed lucky to have such expertise available in the Club

Watch this space as we prepare for the GB0BUS  operation at The Wythall Transport Museum on Saturday  17th June. We would be delighted to see interested parties so do come along , see our operating stations and enjoy a friendly chat and ask questions about the amazing Wythall Radio Club

More information on all our  events to follow