wythall radio club

Marie G7OKF, Dawn M0LIJ, Juliet M6RSC, Anita 2E0DUO & Lynne M6FAB (all without wine – how odd!)

There’s no keeping those Wythall Radio Club girls down! Would you believe they’ve now made an appearance in a book?

The Radio Society of Great Britain have recently published the latest version of their Amateur Radio Operating Manual and in the very early part of the book, there is a photo that caught our attention.

Marie G7OKF, Dawn M0LIJ, Juliet M6RSC, Anita 2E0DUO & Lynne M6FAB were all part of our fantastic G100RSGB team, when we took part in the centenary of the RSGB’s foundation. One of the photos we used for promotional purposes has now resurfaced in the Manual – it was spotted yesterday by club member Roger M0GWM after he purchased a copy at the National Hamfest.

Nice to see our girls’ beautiful faces and Wythall Radio Club’s name making a splash in print. The only question is, why were there so few glasses of wine in the picture???

The UK’s National Hamfest kicks off today and Wythall members will of course be putting in an appearance over the weekend!

Wythall does Hamfest!

A couple of carloads of members are even making their way to the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire today to enjoy browsing the traders, perusing the flea market and visiting radio equipment manufacturers.

This trip has become a regular outing in the Wythall Radio Club diary since its inception a few years ago and is eagerly anticipated by those who thrive on visits out.

We do expect the cars to be slightly heavier on the return than on the way out though. We will be full to the brim with bacon rolls for starters!

Who knows? There may even be some radio equipment to bring back too!

Members of Wythall Radio Club are enjoying the fruits of their labours this morning, thanks to the excellent work done at the recent Wythall Fun Run.

Although it is not too much of a hardship for members to be outdoors in the summer using their handhelds, it is always nice when one’s efforts go rewarded.

So when Roy Clarke of the Fun Run Committee popped into the shack last night bearing a gift from the organisers to the club for our recent efforts, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a photo of him handing over a cheque for £250 to our Chairman Mike G4VPD.

A little help for the club coffers is always very much appreciated…

Chris G0EYO informs us that the latest edition of the Wythall Radio Club Newsletter is now available for download.

This edition has details on what we have been up to this summer, news of the Lew Williams Shield award, a report on our work at Wythall Carnival and an extended article on young Jamie 2E0SDV’s DXpedition to the Brecon Beacons with the RSGB Youth Committee.

There’s also a report on Tim M0URX’s DXpedition to Ramsey Island and a few technical articles on SDR, Variacs & a historical article on Armond Taylor & Co.

Just click on the newsletter thumbnail on the right, or the icon in the sidebar to the left of this article or maybe just click here and enjoy!

Wythall Radio Club does Wythall Carnival!

Yesterday saw several members having fun with RF at our local summer family event, the Wythall Carnival.

Held in the grounds of our meeting place at Wythall House, the fields were teeming with families out to enjoy themselves for the day. Most of the local societies and organisations were to be seen, and WRC is no different.

We put together a stall featuring Amateur Radio demos, Morse Code, RSGB information, rolling video programmes, home-brew projects, an HF Station, a VHF/UHF Station and even a D-STAR demonstration station. Much fun was had by all who took part, and there were more than few expressions of interest in the next Foundation Course! Several WRC members were also on duty in the car park, helping the public to find a space (not an easy job, that!)

The weather gods were kind to us too and we were grateful to be placed close by the Hog Roast! All in all, though tired by the end of the day, we went home with the feeling of a job well done!

Get a flavour of the day by clicking some of the photos below.

One of Wythall Radio Club’s youngest members has been spilling the beans on his recent exciting adventures!

Jamie 2E0SDV on the far left, ever ready with handheld in tow!

On 23^rd July, Jamie 2E0SDV made his way to The Brecon Beacons in South Wales where he took part in the first ever RSGB Youth DXpedition not far from the village of Talgarth.

Organised by the society’s newly-formed Youth Committee, the event was part of a project to encourage youngsters deeper into the Amateur Radio hobby – it was sponsored by a number of different organisations with the main one being our friends from Kenwood Communications, who provided all the transceivers for the event.

Using the callsign MC0RYC and using mostly 80m, 40m and 20m, Jamie & the team made a grand total of 4617 contacts, of which Jamie made the majority! We are very proud at Wythall Radio Club of Jamie’s achievements.

Jamie has blogged about his time in Wales on his own website, so why not click through and have a look at a longer version of his report?

Adjudicator Lee G0MTN presents Alf G1MJO with the Lew Williams Shield for 2015

Well, the results are in… and it’s celebration time for one of Wythall Radio Club’s oldest members.

The winner of the Lew Williams Shield for progress in Morse Code has been announced as Alf G1MJO.

Alf is one of Wythall Radio Club’s oldest members – at nearly 89 he still turns up faithfully every week for Morse class and to support members in all their regular activities. He even comes by taxi in the rare event he cannot get a lift to club nights!

When the Morse classes recommenced a few years ago, Alf was one of the original starters and has kept improving his skills week by week. This year he has been rewarded for his efforts by winning our prestigious club shield, presented in honour of former Club President and Morse tutor, Lewis Williams.

While the judging was very close, most members here will agree that no-one deserves it more than Alf.

Every year, the members of Wythall Radio Club celebrate Morse Code as a mode of communication in a somewhat special way.

Former Club President, Lew Williams, was a grand fellow who taught many members of our club the joys of Morse Code (CW) and when he passed away just a few years ago, it was thought appropriate to honour his memory in a suitable manner – and so the “Lew Williams Shield” was born.

In order to win this trophy, Wythall Radio Club members are asked each year to take part in a “Morse Code Activity Month”. The trophy is awarded to the club member who has shown some kind of commendable contribution to the event. It usually involves some evidence of improvement, however small, in some aspect of his/her Morse Code skills.

Currently the shield is held by John M6KET, who uses Morse exclusively on the air. This coming Tuesday 28th July, we will be finding out who has won this year’s event.

All will be revealed in the Club Shack at 2030, so make a “dash” (not a “dot”!) for Wythall House B47 6LZ to find out the results!

One of Wythall Radio Club’s youngest and most enthusiastic members, Jamie 2E0SDV, is off on an exciting adventure very soon now.

The 15-year-old is part of the Radio Society of Great Britain’s Youth Committee DXpedition starting this coming week.

Have you worked Jamie 2E0SDV yet?

The Kenwood-sponsored event takes place in the Brecon Beacons from 23rd July for a week and Jamie will be active as one of the operators of MC0RYC on all HF & VHF bands including satellite operations.

During the week, Jamie and his colleagues will be activating two summits, Pen-y-fan and Waun-Fach. Provided the weather is good, these activations are planned take place on 25/26 July in the afternoon and again on the 28/29 July at 1200 UTC.

Jamie tells us that he will be doing many other activities too including Direction Finding and antenna-building as well as simply “having fun with RF” as our club strapline says!

We wish him all the best, especially on the weather front, and look forward to working him on the air and maybe even during the “Islands on the Air” contest which takes place on the weekend of 25/26 July, while the youngsters are active.

Yesterday saw the annual Wythall Fun Run. And the members of Wythall Radio Club were out in force – not running, you understand, but, as you might expect, providing communications for the event.

Around 16 members handled two-way radio comms for all the race control point marshals and for race control.

Proof that Morse-mad John M6KET knows how to talk on the radio too!

This is the second year we have done this and, as you might expect, we are getting a little better at it. All involved reported that they had had great fun while helping the early morning event to go off as smoothly as possible.

GB3WL, our UHF repeater station, was pressed into service and performed admirably. Roy G0HDF reported finding himself distracted by ladies stripping for action at one checkpoint(!) while John M6KET, who is known for being 100% exclusively a Morse Code man, was actually heard using voice on the air for the first time ever!

Sadly, the weather was a little variable and it was a pity about the torrential downpour part way through the event. But well done to everyone involved, both participants and organisers, and especially the brave lady (wearing 887) who, although she came last, got the biggest cheer of the day!

Here are a few pictures to give you a flavour of the morning’s events – thanks to Anita 2E0DUO, Stuart M0NYP & Chris G0EYO for those…