wythall radio club

Communications is what the hobby of Ham Radio is all about but this week at Wythall Radio Club, we will be learning about a slightly different communications infrastructure.

One of our newer members, Martin M6GYH is going to talk to us about a subject he is bit of an expert on, namely Trans-Atlantic cabling.

It was a real struggle to create the first few Trans-Atlantic cables and Martin will be telling us about the history of cross-continent communications.

He will also be bringing us bang up-to-date on the current state of communications under the oceans – he will introduce us to WDM (see, you don’t know what that is yet!), the use of infared laser technology and explain to us how in the 21st Century, Gigabits of data are transmitted around the world.

Wythall House is the venue, Silver Street B47 6LZ – Tuesday 24th May is the day and 20:30 is the time.

Get there early for the best seat!

The worlds largest Amateur Radio event is coming to Wythall Radio Club, well… kind of!

One of the many Dayton halls

Dayton Hamvention takes place this weekend in Ohio, USA and amateurs from all over the world are currently travelling there. One way they are keeping in touch with each other is via the D-STAR amateur digital network.

Fortunately, Wythall has it’s own D-STAR repeater, GB7SO and for the next few days it will be linked to the Dayton Hamvention reflectors, enabling local Hams here in Wythall not just to listen to the radio traffic taking place there, but also allowing us to actually talk to people in the halls live!

So if you want to get a flavour of what the world’s greatest Ham event is like, just tune your D-STAR radio to GB7SO, listen in and maybe even take part!

2014 UK Contesters Mark M0DXR & Olof G0CKV watched by referee N5AW

Radiosport is the theme at Wythall Radio Club this week.

The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is the focus of our weekly meeting.

This is a radio contesting event, held every four years, which attracts the very cream of ham radio operators from across the world.

In essence, it consists of 50+ two-person teams of amateur radio operators competing in a test of operating skill.

Previous WRTCs have been held in places as diverse as the USA, Slovenia, Finland, Brazil & Russia. But it is the most recent one held in New England in 2014 that is the subject of this Tuesday’s club evening.

A fantastic video was made of this event and, thanks to our facilities in the club shack, we will be watching this on our own “big screen”.

What not come along and join us for this fun evening? This Tuesday 17th May at 2030 at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ. You will be very welcome!

The May 2016 edition of the Wythall Radio Club Newsletter is now available for download. Just click here! 

Features include a report on the fantastic 2016 Wythall Hamfest; a look at going bicycle mobile with new member Chris G3YHF; more details on how we achieved a Foundation pass for our visually impaired student, David and a 100 watt amplifier for 144MHz at little cost. There’s lots more besides, so download today – worth a read, especially as it’s free!

Thanks to all our contributors and of course Chris G0EYO, our faithful newsletter editor, who is in the throes of a house move, so how he’s found the time, who knows?

Ignore this! The meeting starts at 8.30pm!

No, it’s not the departure time of the next train to London…
…but it is the title of this week’s offering from Wythall Radio Club.

Three of our members are giving mini-talks lasting 15 minutes each, hence the 3-15.

Contents are of course a tight secret(!), but we hear that we can expect a little something on antennas…

If you want to find out more about this mystery evening, why not come along to Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ. We kick off at 20:30 and you will be very welcome!

Steve 2E0SDD won the FM Section

…and the results of the Wythall Radio Club Easter Contest are out – and there are new names in the top spot positions!

Despite heavy competition, the winners of both sections of the WRC Easter Contest are first-time first-placers.

Simon G4TVR won the Open Section

In the 2m/70cms FM section, Steven 2E0SDD was victorious over David G7IBO, while in the All Bands section, it was Simon G4TVR who won top prize from Dave M0IFT, who has now finished second in both his last two Wythall contests.

It seems the Easter contest, though more sedate than our Christmas event, is the little more popular for its chocolate prizes! Maybe we will have to add something to the next Christmas contest to make it a little more “palatable’… :-) Selection boxes, anyone?

Catch all the egg winners begin presented with their fayre by Contest Supremo Lee G0MTN by clicking on the thumbnails below…

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…

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!