wythall radio club

Wythall Radio Club are pleased to announce that we are running another on-line course for those seeking to gain their Foundation Amateur Radio licence. 

The course starts on the 20^th July and finishes on the 21^st August. This will be followed by a practical workshop on Sunday 23rd August and finally the exam itself on Sunday 6th September.

There are more details on our training page here or, for further information, you can contact Wythall Radio Club’s Training Co-ordinator, Chris G0EYO direct on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk

RTTY (or Radio Teletype) is one of the oldest data modes in radio, let alone Amateur Radio – and this Tuesday, the members of Wythall Radio Club are going to be getting some expert advice in how to get on the air with it.

Lee G0MTN is one of the world’s top RTTY contesters and better still, he is a member of our club! So we are lucky indeed to have him on hand to give us some expert tuition in taking our first steps into this data mode.

With plenty of practical tips and a live demonstration too, this is sure to be an inspiring evening.

Visitors are welcome of course – just make sure you are at Wythall House in time for the start at 20:30. Silver Street B47 6LZ is the address and you can find us in the club rooms in the basement.

Real ales are on tap too, so what’s not to like? See you there!

For many members of Wythall Radio Club, passing their Amateur Radio exams is something that happened, well…  too long ago! For others however, it is a more recent experience.

However all members benefit from being in touch with what is expected of new entrants to the hobby, so with that in mind…  this Tuesday evening sees a departure from the norm…

Training Co-ordinator Chris G0EYO, aided and abetted by Chris G7DDN, will be presenting a kind of “quiz” evening.

There will be ten typical questions from each of the three Amateur Radio Examinations – each participant will have their own answer sheet – and, in true fun Wythall style, we will see just who can still pass their ham exams!

We expect plenty of laughter as well as a few contentions moments – in the preparation phase for this evening for example, your scribe managed to get three Intermediate level questions wrong, redeemed somewhat by only getting one incorrect answer in the Advanced…

Visitors are welcome of course (just be prepared to be surprised!) – this Tuesday 24th March in the Darts Room at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall B47 6LZ. Note the earlier start time of 20:15 – there’s a lot to cram in!

We hope to see you there.

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…

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!

The latest edition of the Wythall Radio Club Newsletter has just been issued in time for 2015. That’s the hot-off-the-press news from Editor Chris G0EYO.

With articles on the recent Wythall Radio Club Christmas Party, our Christmas Foxhunt, a Portable D-STAR Repeater, Building a Successful Contest Station coupled with the latest from the Club’s Training Department, it is available just by clicking here or by clicking on the Newsletter icon and graphic on the left of this post.

We hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it!

Packed in like sardines at the previous D-STAR Workshop last month!

Following the success of our recent talk on “Getting Started in D-STAR”, and a practical workshop in November, which nearly 20 members attended, Wythall Radio Club is now pleased to announce a second “Hands-on” Workshop day.

This Sunday morning, 28th December, 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 from lunchtime, there should even be some drinks and snacks available.

The day will start at 1030 and go on until folk have had enough. 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.

Terry 2E0XTV, Kevin 2E0KAQ, Howard 2E0KWH, Dawn 2E0MIS, Rob 2E0MEX, Anita 2E0DUO, Kev 2E0NCO & Steven 2E0SDD await their results!

Monday evening this week saw another milestone in Wythall Radio Club’s Training programme, when 8 students sat their Advanced License Examination.

With the class too large to fit in most of the usual meeting rooms at Wythall House, we had to book one of the larger suites in order to accommodate the sheer number of students, invigilators and the physical room required to separate them from each other in order to fulfil the regulations!

There is now a nervous wait for all eight of them. It takes a couple of weeks or so before the results come back, but if all goes well, we should be hearing a few new callsigns on the air around the area before Christmas.

Fingers toes and everything else crossed everyone…

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!