wythall radio club

Even as you read this, work is being done to make sure that the Wythall Radio Rally tomorrow goes as well as it possibly can.

Remember the ***NEW*** venue, Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ starting at 10:00 tomorrow, Sunday 8th March.

Roger G4ROJ will be flying something like this, we hope!

All three halls will be brimming to capacity with traders, including our top attraction, Radioworld (UK). Check out the full trader listing here!

We thank all our traders for their support and look forward to welcoming them in the morning, along with our usual 500/600 or so visitors.

A reminder too that Roger G4ROJ will be flying kite antennas on the field behind the halls between 1000-1200 midday when he will go indoors to the club training room to do a talk for you on how to fly kite antennas for yourself!

It’s shaping up to be quite a day – we hope you will all enjoy it!

See you tomorrow!

Hot on the heels of our record Foundation results (below), Wythall Radio Club are pleased to announce that we will be running a 9 week course for the Intermediate Licence this summer. 

It will start on Monday 11^th May and culminates in the exam on Monday 6^th July. 

The course will be held at our Club HQ at Wythall House, Silver St, B47 6LZ.  More information is available on the training page here.

The cost of doing the course is just £50 – this covers all course materials, the exam fee and all other costs.

Any interested Foundation licence holders are asked to contact our Training Co-ordinator Chris G0EYO by e-mailing him at g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk for more information.

Wythall Radio Club is celebrating today after some record breaking news in the latest Amateur Radio Exam results. Last night 8 candidates sat the Foundation level Exam and all 8 passed with flying colours!

The Record Breakers! (L to R) Jonathon, Dave, Zaid, Mat, Zach (rear), William aged 13 (front), Alastair and Kevin

This represents the highest number of candidates passing at the same time since Wythall Radio Club began offering training several years ago.

To become a Radio Amateur it is necessary to take exams to prove your competency to both operate and experiment with equipment that can potentially interfere with life-saving communications systems such as fire, police, ambulance, marine and air traffic. There are 3 levels of exams of which the Foundation is the first level.

We are proud to congratulate all 8 of our new entrants to the hobby – they will sending off to Ofcom for their callsigns very soon now.

So very well done to Mat, Zach and Alastair (who took the club’s on-line Foundation course) and also to Jonathon, Zaid, Dave, William and Kevin (who studied with our talented trainers in the club facilities) – we are proud of you all!

Our Training team tell you to watch out for news of our next course, at Intermediate level  – coming very soon…

The Britannia Room at Wythall House is one of this year’s halls

The members of Wythall Radio Club are pleased to announce that the rally next weekend is now full.

The last few bookings were made earlier today and all three halls are now brimming to capacity with traders. Check out the trader listing here!

We thank all our traders for their support and look forward to welcoming them next week, along with our usual 500/600 or so visitors.

We hope you will all enjoy a great day!

Remember the ***NEW*** venue, Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ starting at 10:00 next Sunday 8th March.

The latest edition of the Wythall Radio Club Newsletter is available today!

Just click on the newsletter graphic on the left hand side of this website or just click here, if you prefer.

Happy reading!

It’s only just over a week away and the 30th Wythall Radio Club Rally will be upon us! Members have been busy over the last few weeks, making final arrangements, dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s to make sure the event goes as well as it possibly can.

Wythall House, home of Wythall Radio Club

Now with 3 halls, coupled with the usual refreshment van and, this year, some alcoholic liquid refreshment(!) when the Club House opens at midday, we are expecting lots of fun.

Outside, on the field just behind the halls, Roger G4ROJ will be doing a kite antenna demonstration all morning from 1000-1145.  At 1200 he will retire to the Club Shack to do a short talk on Kite antennas. Attendance for this will be first come, first served, and the shack will probably squeeze in 30 people max., so you will need to be early for that!

We are looking forward to welcoming friends old and new to the event which starts at 10.00 on Sunday 8th March at Wythall House B47 6LZ. We can’t wait and we hope you can’t either!

Radioworld’s Dave will sell you that TS-990s that you’re dreaming of at this year’s Wythall Rally!

At this time of year, the thoughts of all Wythall members turn to our annual rally. And this year’s event is at a new venue – our home, Wythall House, Silver Street B47 6LZ.

We are now in the midst of a lot of planning to make the event a success. We have 3 halls lined up for visitors this year and we hope to have a small lecture programme too.

Roger G4ROJ will also be doing a live Kite antenna display on the fields and our friends at Radioworld will again be the top attraction amongst our many traders & friends.

Dave Hayward & his wife Annette from Radioworld are among Wythall Members’ favourite traders for our Radio Rally and have been coming along for more years now that some of us care to remember!

It’s a good idea to visit their site here now and start thinking about pre-orders for the big day. Dave always gives excellent deals for attendees of the rally and there’s no postage charges to help keep the prices low.

Meantime, we will see you on Sunday 8th March at Wythall House – remember the new venue! It’s less than 4 weeks away now…

Wythall members are proving to be very keen to learn more about D-STAR digital technology. And this weekend sees a third Practical Workshop taking place at the Club.

Some of the delegates at the November D-STAR Workshop

Starting at 1200 on Saturday, we are going to be looking at using software to program your radios successfully for D-STAR use. A side effect of this is that folk will also learn how to program their radios for normal use too!

With Wythall House also open for snacks and drinks, it’s sure to be a couple of hours well spent with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and try things out. And a little birdie tells me that, if there’s time, we might even have a quick look at how the D-STAR data stream can be used to send emails and text messages…

This Saturday, 7th February from 1200 noon in the Club Shack at Wythall House. B47 6LZ – should be a lot of fun!

This coming week, the members of Wythall Radio Club are looking forward to a very special visitor. The RSGB Regional Manager for our area, Martyn Vincent G3UKV is coming along to see us.

G3UKV in traditional pose!

Wythall Radio Club is very proud to be part of our national Radio Society and it will be good to catch up on what is happening both in our region and nationally.

This will be the first time that Martyn has visited us since his election to the position last year, so we looking forward to giving him a very warm Wythall welcome.

If you want to be there too, then why not pop along to Wythall House, Silver Street, B47 6LZ this Tuesday evening? The meeting starts at 20:00 (please note the earlier than usual start time!) and takes place in the Club Rooms in the basement.

If you are a first time visitor, you will be very welcome too.

Chairman Mike G4VPD receives the G7OJO Memorial Trophy from Contest Adjudicator Lee G0MTN

The cat is out of the bag! The winners of the 2014/15 Wythall Radio Club Christmas Contest have been announced.

And it’s a triumph for Chairman Mike G4VPD and Committee Member (and one the most senior members in years at least!) Jim 2E0BLP.

At the presentation evening last night at the Club HQ, Mike fought off tough opposition from David G7IBO to take top spot in the Open Section, while husband and wife team Pete M5DUO and Anita 2E0DUO vied for 3rd place.

Pete got that by the smallest whisker of margin – and he’s not going to be fed for a few weeks now, so we hear…

In the 2 metre section, it was equally a family affair with Jim 2E0BLP snatching the trophy from his own son, Kevin 2E0NCO, who pushed him all the way. Founder member of the club Colin G6ZDQ came third.

Lee G0MTN presents Jim 2E0BLP with the 2m FM Trophy

Special certificates were awarded to the top Foundation Licensees in each section, duly won by Sylwia M3SSP and Jamie M6GDI. Special “out-of-town” awards were also made to Darren MW5HOC and his family, all of whom came on air from South Wales during the event.

John M6KET picked up an award for top CW operator and Chris G7DDN was awarded a certificate for the largest number of D-STAR contacts during the contest.

However, the real winner was the club itself – “Having fun with RF” is our club motto and, boy, did we all have fun over Christmas?

So much so indeed that many of us are still too tired to come back on the air!