wythall radio club

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!

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!

Wythall Radio Club are pleased to announce that we will be holding not one, but two Foundation License Courses starting in January next year!

One will be a traditional course at the club – this will take place on Monday evenings from 8pm onwards, beginning on 26^th January 2015 – it will last for 6 weeks with the exam on Monday 2nd March.

Simultaneously, for those who cannot make it along to a classroom course and are looking for home study, we will be running one of our innovative online Foundation courses culminating in the same examination, again on Monday 2nd March.

Further information on both courses is available by clicking here.

If you are interested in either course, just drop an email to our Training Coordinator Chris G0EYO – he doesn’t bite!

Contact him at g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk and good luck with your studies!

There have been yet more successes today in a recent Foundation Licence Course held at Wythall Radio Club.

John, Les, Carl, and Dave proudly showing their pass certificates earlier today

Four students, all of whom have been working on our innovative Online Foundation Course, visited us in person yesterday to complete their Practical Assessments.

As part of this they had to learn how to connect up equipment, make basic measurements and then operate real radios, making real contacts. They also had a bit of fun using Morse Code, sending and receiving under guidance.

Under the instruction of WRC’s Training Coordinator Chris G0EYO, ably assisted by Peter G4LWF and Barry M0DGQ, students John Borthwick, Les Emmanuel, Carl Jenkins and Dave Cull all completed the required tasks. As a result, they were all able to sit their Foundation Examination earlier today at Wythall Radio Club.

We are extremely pleased to announce that all four passed the exam and are now awaiting their new M6 callsigns. Well done to you from all the members of Wythall Radio Club!

Wythall Radio Club is today saying a very big thank you to our friends at Kenwood (UK).

That’s because they have helped us out with our future training courses thanks to a generous donation of some USB sticks – and they are not just any USB sticks, they are in the design of a Kenwood Handheld Transceiver!

Chris G0EYO, our Training Co-ordinator, is moving away from using CDs for his course material, preferring to use USB sticks instead. And when David Wilkins G5HY at Kenwood UK heard about our need for 10 of the devices, he was more than pleased to help us out.

In future then, all our trainees will be the proud owners of these rare Kenwood USB sticks, while they are on our courses at least! They will have to hand them back once they have “graduated” – they aren’t keeping them forever!

As reported recently, all six of Wythall Radio Club’s Intermediate candidates passed their recent exams and they have now been getting news of their new callsigns!

Kevin 2E0NCO, Kevin 2E0???, Dawn 2E0MIS, Craig 2E0DEM, Anita 2E0DUO, Darren 2E0UDM

Club Secretary Anita was the first to get hers – she is now 2E0DUO. The others followed on quickly, so we are pleased to report that Kevin M6NCO is now 2E0NCO; Darren, who was M6UDM, is now 2E0UDM and our other lady candidate Dawn M6UDY now holds the callsign 2E0MIS.

Craig has confirmed that he is 2E0DEM but we await news on our other Kevin (formerly M6KOR). Our heartiest congratulations to all the new Intermediate licence holders.

With Wythall Radio Club’s next Advanced class starting early in September, we suspect there may be quite a few people back in Training Co-ordinator Chris G0EYO’s classroom working toward the final exam.

In fact, there is a pretty well-substantiated rumour that all 7 places on the Advanced may have already been taken before the course has even been advertised! Phew!

One very pleased George, M0HQV

Wythall Radio Club is pleased to welcome one of our Intermediate members, George Ifrim, to the ranks of the Advanced licence holders!

George is originally from Romania and it should not be underestimated how difficult it is to study for the Advanced using English as a second language.

He was so keen to progress in the Amateur Radio Licensing Scheme that he took lessons as quickly as he could and we are very pleased that he now has his new callsign, M0HQV.

Work commitments mean that George is not always available to visit the club as often as he would like, though we always enjoy seeing him when he does appear, such as at our last Friday Social meeting. From all the members of WRC, well done George!

Meanwhile, our 6 Intermediate class students have all passed their exams with flying colours and we are just awaiting their new callsigns.

More news on that very soon!