wythall radio club

Just a few of the Wythall Members learning to have fun with D-STAR

Wythall Radio Club members turned out in force today for the Club’s first ever D-STAR Workshop. No less than 17 members attended for the hands-on day, led by Chris G7DDN.

Following a presentation on Digital Radio and D-STAR in particular, the group were led through the basics of operation (and some of the quirks!) of using this Digital means of communication. The workshop went well over time, not finishing till 1530, such was the enthusiasm of members present.

Our special thanks to our friends at Icom (UK) Ltd, who helped with leaflets and materials for the day.

The overwhelming sentiment by the end of the day was one of excitement and enthusiasm for making more of D-STAR, so expect to hear more Wythallians having fun with Digital RF before too long!

The “G0WRC” WYTH team went /P this year to Paul Marland’s farm at 1,000 feet, a couple of miles south of Broadway Tower. Just 95 in the log this year which is a wee bit lower than we’d wished for. The good news is that three club members operated, all at different “contest” skill levels so overall, a very good show and a super experience.

We used a tuned dipole at around 50 feet with a manual coax tuner to increase the bandwidth. I had made a 25 turn RG58 balun on a 4.5 inch former prior to the event which failed – probably a rubbish connector. Dropping the mast (in the gale!) and taking that out of line was the only option.

Rain and cold hampered us but the wind dropped in the end which gave us a break by the end of the contest. Tearing the station down only took one hour and we left by midnight.

As well as myself, M0MCX, I thank M0RKX & M0JMM for running the rig- and double thanks to M0NYP and 2E0NCO for helping out and letting me shout at them in the gales as we guyed out the mast!

Many other club members were heard and worked including our Club Station, GX4WAC, our Top Band experts; G3YXM and Chris G7DDN and also Simon G4TVR, who seemed to be running hard and fast. I also heard Chris G0EYO and Rob 2E0MEX. I know there were others from WYTH and I’ll unpick the log sometime to work out who was on.

73, Callum, M0MCX

Following the success of our recent talk on “Getting Started in D-STAR”, where close on 40 people turned up, Wythall Radio Club is now pleased to announce a “Hands-on” Workshop day.

On Saturday 15th November, Chris G7DDN will be in the club rooms, taking members (and visitors) through the steps of programming for D-STAR and how to get the best from the D-STAR ecosystem.

There will be plenty of opportunities for Questions and Answers and with Wythall House bar open across lunchtime, there should even be some drinks and snacks available.

The day will start at 1100 and go on till about 1400 or 1500, or whenever people have had enough. Our friends at Icom UK have also promised to send some giveaway goodies to make the day go well.

If you are interested in taking part, please register for the day with Chris G7DDN who is at g7ddn@g7ddn.com and remember to bring your radio if you have one – we already have around 15 delegates booked in and there may have to be a limit!

Is it really that time of year already? When the members of Wythall Radio Club start getting into gear for one of their favourite events of the year? Well, yes it is!

Can we get a higher placing than 3rd place this year?

The RSGB’s annual Club Calls Contest is almost upon us again. It takes place next Saturday evening and requires as many members as we can persuade to get out a signal on 160m.

Wythall Radio Club have finished 3rd for the last two years in this event, but not too many points behind the winners. So maybe this year…?

This Tuesday evening’s meeting at the club will be hosted by Dave G3YXM, our resident 160m expert and veteran of this contest. He will be taking us through the rules of the contest and what our strategy will be to try to get higher in the placings this year.

Should be an inspiring evening, so feel free to pop along to Wythall House, Silver Street, B47 6LZ anytime from 1945 on Tuesday – we will start the meeting around 2030 down in the shack.

Perhaps we will see you there?

Marshalling means you don’t get the best view, but at least you get a view!

It doesn’t take much to enthuse the members of Wythall Radio Club when it comes to “having fun with RF”.

Our hosts and landlords at Wythall Community Association put on an annual Bonfire and Fireworks display at Wythall Park and each year the call goes out for volunteers to help with marshalling the thousands of people who come to enjoy an evenings out with their families. Well…  …any excuse to get the handheld radios out and play with RF at the same time as helping out in the community!

It’s not the first time the members of Wythall Radio Club have been doing that this year – regular readers of this website will recall the fun we had in the Summer assisting with communications on the Wythall Fun Run.

The weather may not have been as warm or bright, but much fun was had with RF and AF last night. So it’s a big thanks to the 9 members who turned up to help out. The evening finished with a few drinkies in the shack, so we did get warm in the end…

The results for the 2014 RSGB SSB Field Day contest are now out and it’s a big improvement for Wythall Radio Club.

Lee G0MTN hard at work at this year’s SSB Field Day

In the restricted section, we came in a very creditable 4th place out of 28 stations across the UK.

Our intrepid operating team of Callum M0MCX, Tom M0RMY and Lee G0MTN put in a sterling performance across the weekend in early September. They were ably assisted by many others from the club, including Phil 2E0WTH, Kevin 2E0NCO.

We hope to improve on these results next year as we have plans to keep the station operating through the night, something logistics sadly prevented this year.

Check out the full results at the RSGB Contest website here.

This Tuesday, the thoughts of Wythall Radio Club members are turning Digital! That’s because this week, our guest speaker will be taking the lid off one of the Amateur Digital modes, D-STAR.

D-STAR has been around for over 10 years now and is very popular with many hams, but more especially in Japan and the USA. It doesn’t help that it can seem like a complex world in which to get involved. 

So this Tuesday, in the newly refurbished club shack, club member Chris G7DDN will be attempting to encourage those who haven’t yet had a go with this aspect of Amateur Radio to get their feet wet and try it out!

Visitors are welcome as always. The talk starts at 2030 at Wythall House, Silver Street Wythall. B47 6LZ. See you there!

Some of the members of Wythall Radio Club have literally been watching paint dry today!

A small team, headed up by Kevin 2E0NCO, ably supported by Chairman Mike G4VPD, Phil 2E0WTH, Ian M0IDR (have I missed anyone out lads?) have been hard at work on the mammoth task of painting the club rooms!

Starting with the upper staircase and walls and floor, they have been working their way slowly into the teaching room.  And by the evidence of these photos, they have been doing rather well too! Click the thumbnails for a closer view.

At this rate, we will have a really welcoming environment to meet and train in and it will also match our brand new antenna systems too! Nice work lads!

Wythall Radio Club’s delegates to the RSGB Convention are all safely back home, and full of Ham Radio goodness!

Chairman Mike G4VPD, Lee G0MTN, Tim M0URX and soon-to-be member Mack M0CUS enjoy a cuppa in between sessions

The five club members attended lectures on DXpeditions, Contesting, SDR Techniques and World War 1 Comms as well as a forum with the UK regulators OFCOM and sessions on using the Raspberry Pi in Ham Radio.

With the list of speakers reading like a “Who’s who” of Amateur Radio, it was a great place to be! And a few of those speakers have been already booked into Wythall Radio Club’s programme of talks for 2015 and you will be hearing more about that soon!

We are already looking forward to next year’s event. It would be great to meet you there!

Some of the members of Wythall Radio Club have been having fun today without RF! They have been enjoying the delights of the RSGB Convention in Milton Keynes.

Lee G0MTN about to give his presentation

About 250 enthusiasts from around the UK gather every year for a weekend of talks, demonstrations and presentations about our great hobby.

Dave G3YXM, Chairman Mike G4VPD, Tim M0URX and Chris G7DDN have been joined by Lee, G0MTN for a weekend of fun, learning and… …well, excess food and drink!

In fact, Lee opened up the convention in the Contest University stream first thing this morning, with his talk on Contest Hints.

Great that we at Wythall can provide a speaker for the UK’s most prestigious radio conference!