wythall radio club

Dawn proudly shows off her Foundation exam pass certificate

More great news from the Training camp at Wythall Radio Club!

Dawn, wife of club member John M1JSS, has this evening taken her Foundation Exam and passed first time. So yet another spouse joins the happy throng of lady members of Wythall Radio Club. In fact, several members’ wives have passed the Foundation Exam in recent years and there is now quite a large group of “XYLs” (as radio folk tend to call them) amassing in the Club!

All the members of Wythall Radio Club send their congratulations to Dawn and are also keeping their fingers crossed for Mark 2E0MSE – he took his Advanced Exam tonight at the same time. Sadly the results for that take a little while to come through so we are all waiting on tenterhooks for that one!

Andy, John, Kevin, Andy and George showing off their pass certificates this evening at the club

Nothing to do with Enid Blyton of course but Wythall Radio Club’s own Famous Five. The bunch of lads pictured here are the latest additions to the great hobby of Amateur Radio.

Tonight, Andy Brown, John Daws, Kevin Tonge, Andy Warner and Roumanian-born George Ifrim all passed their Foundation Licence Exams after tuition from Wythall Radio Club’s top team of tutors, led by Senior Training Co-ordinator, Chris G0EYO. Another brilliant set of results and the members of Wythall Radio Club congratulate you and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at club meetings in the future. Well done boys!

Their new callsigns will be posted here in an update later this week, just as soon as we hear what they are.

That’s not the end of the training news either, as next week we have other members taking both Foundation and Advanced exams at the same time – watch this space!

Wythall Radio Club has been going Morse Mad this May!

Lee G0MTN (adjudicator) with John and Certificate

In honour of our late president, Lew Williams, who coached many senior members through the old 12 words per minute Morse test, we nominated each May as a month in which members can make a special effort to improve their code skills. We award a shield to the person who in the adjudicator’s opinion has shown the most progress. It is not a competition, more of a nomination for progress. This Tuesday the results of the 2013 award were announced.

Alf G1MJO and his certificate with Lee G0MTN

Two certificates of merit were awarded before the “Lew Williams Shield” was presented; John (no call-sign yet!) joined our club Morse class during 2013 as a precursor to getting a licence. His progress has been phenomenal and when he passes his license later this month, he will be Wythall Radio Club’s first ever Foundation Licensee to make his debut on air on CW!

Alf G1MJO is in his late 80s and never passed the old Morse test but has shown real stick-ability and persistence, even appearing on air and taking some faster Morse sent by other members with a very high level of accuracy.

John G4OJL, proud winner of the Lew Williams Shield for 2013

The main award however went to John G4OJL who was a founder member of the club in the early 1980’s. He rejoined us last autumn, having never used CW on air, indeed he was not on air for nearly 30 years! Returning to the club, he found a new love for radio and especially learning the code and has spent every day (bar one!) since last autumn doing 30 minutes of practice a day! Now he is exclusively a Morse Man on HF.

Tuesday was a very moving evening for those present. We trust the pictures give you a flavour of what it was like to be there!

Exam time again at Wythall Radio Club and tonight it was the turn of the Intermediate Licence students. And our largest ever single class of Foundation licence holders are now all celebrating Intermediate success!

Paul, Howard, Howard, Andy, Tom, Darren and Rob show off their pass certificates

Seven students (pictured) successfully passed their exam with flying colours this evening and now lead instructor Chris G0EYO is looking to headhunt them to step up and have a go at the Advanced course which starts at Wythall in September.

Meantime the members of Wythall Radio Club send their congratulations to Paul, Andy, Tom, Darren, Rob and the 2 Howards.

UPDATE! We hear that Rob is now 2E0MEX, Darren 2E0LPD, Howard H 2E0TBR, Howard K 2E0KWH, Tom 2E0GSW, Andy 2E0VAZ and Paul 2E0ULC – Congratulations on the new callsigns, lads!

On December 5th our four Advanced Course students (plus an outside candidate) took their examination at Wythall House. We are pleased to announce that four of those students passed the examination and now have the following M0 callsigns. Chris, 2E0ETH is now M0NAK; Tony, 2E0TKS now has the call M0TKS; Carl, 2E0CWC is now M0SER and external candidate Shaun 2E1BWN is now M0IMM. Jim 2E0BLP didn’t quite make it but may have another go in 2013.

The Advanced Course covers a large number of technical topics in some depth and passing the exam is a real achievement, essentially equivalent to an NVQ qualification. It is also the longest course the club runs with 15 two hourly sessions on Monday evenings and a couple of Saturday mornings. We can run these courses because of the commitment and expertise of Lead Instructor & Training Coordinator, Chris G0EYO together with his fellow tutors, Peter G4LWF, Barry M0DGQ and Dave G3YXM assisted by invigilators David G0ICJ and Mike G4VPD. It surely is a true team effort.

As a club, we are lucky to have the facilities of a classroom with multimedia technology at our disposal. Our next Advanced course will commence in September 2013. Meantime Wythall Radio Club will be running an Intermediate course at our well-equipped club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall, B47 6LZ starting with a Saturday morning session on 26th January, and then every Monday 8-10pm until the examination, which will be on Monday 18th March. The cost for this course is just £50. This includes the examination fee, the course book, course notes and project work. There are small concessions for those under 18 or unemployed and on benefits. Contact Chris G0EYO on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk for more details and let Wythall Radio Club help you to the next stage of your license.

Tonight is the night that our four Advanced Course students (plus an outside candidate) take their examination at Wythall House. We wish club members Chris 2E0ETH and Jim 2E0BLP plus non-members Tony 2E0TKS and Carl 2E0CWC together with external candidate Shaun 2E1BWN the very best. We hope to hear their new M0 callsigns on the air as soon as they get them.

The Advanced Course covers a large number of technical topics in some depth and passing the exam is a real achievement, equivalent to an NVQ qualification.  It is also the longest course the club runs with 15 two hourly sessions on Monday evenings and a couple of Saturday mornings.

Chris 2E0ETH, Jim 2E0BLP & Tony 2E0TKS ready to roll

As Lead Instructor & Training Coordinator, Chris G0EYO has attended every session.

Nonetheless Chris paid tribute to his assistants. “Running this course would not be possible without the help and expertise of my fellow tutors, Peter G4LWF, Barry M0DGQ and Dave G3YXM together with invigilators David G0ICJ and Mike G4VPD. It surely is a team effort and I am sure all our candidates appreciate their efforts. As a club, we are lucky to have the facilities of a classroom with multimedia technology at our disposal.”

While we await tonight’s results, you might be interested to know that Wythall Radio Club will be starting an Intermediate course in January, so watch this space for more news!