wythall radio club

News of some developments on the repeater front at Wythall Radio Club.

The antenna stack at GB3EH

Firstly, GB3WL will hopefully be undergoing some upgrades later this year. Part of the recent money donated to the club from the Wythall Fun Run is being ploughed back into GB3WL in the form of an upgrade, initially to a dual-mode Analogue/System Fusion Digital box.  

This will of course be subject to clearance from Ofcom.  

Later we intend to look at upgrading it still further to a D-STAR and DMR unit too, so that it can be used in 4 modes in total. Watch this space!

And our friendly companion repeater GB3EH near Banbury, with which some of our club members are very closely involved, is having a frequency change soon.

It is moving from a 1.6MHz split to a 7.6 MHz split and coincidentally it is going to be right next door in frequency to GB3WL on channel RU77 – GB3WL is on RU76.

That should make it very easy to change frequency while driving up and down the M40!

Chair Anita 2E0DUO receives the cheque from the Fun-Run Committee

Wythall Radio Club are celebrating today. That’s because we are a little better off than we were a few days ago! 

On Tuesday at the Club, we were presented with a rather fulsome cheque – this was in recognition of our assistance at the recent Wythall Fun Run.

Several local charities also benefitted and the Fun Run Committee allocate money according to the help given to the community and the number of volunteers who help them out.

On that front, WRC managed well over 20 folk helping with marshalling and radio communications around the 10km course and it seems the Fun Run folk are very grateful for our help, though it has to be said we enjoy doing it too!

Thank you to all members who helped out in any way and thanks too to the Fun Run organisers for putting on what is a great local event.

We are ready looking forward to next year’s!

More excellent news from the Wythall Radio Club training team.  

Yesterday Barry Garrison passed his Intermediate Licence at an exam at the club.

Barry says he is now keen to start on the Advanced course which we are starting at the club soon.

All at WRC congratulate Barry on an excellent result and look forward to hearing more good news from him in December after the Advanced Exam.

Barry is pictured with his pass certificate with Head Trainer and Club President Chris G0EYO.

The 2016 Radio Club Stall – click for a close-up

It’s that time of year in Wythall – Carnival Time! And Wythall Radio Club will be out in force on display this Sunday. 

Wythall Carnival is a fantastic celebration of our village – most local organisations have a stall. And there’s classic cars, children’s entertainments, arts and crafts and a cornucopia of stalls selling all kinds of wares. There’s plenty of food too of course…

Like other societies, Wythall Radio Club will have a stall where you can come along and see what we do, chat with enthusiastic members and maybe see and listen in to some contacts being made live on the air!

It’s a great opportunity to say hello or take your first tentative steps in finding out what the hobby is about in a non-threatening environment, so please come and say hello and ask difficult questions!

Please support Wythall Carnival by coming along and we hope to see you on Sunday at Wythall Park from 1pm.

We are very pleased to announce that Wythall Radio Club will be running our annual Advanced License Course at Wythall House this autumn. 

Classes will begin on Monday 4th September 2017. The 15 week course is delivered in the club shack on Monday evenings from 8.00pm – 10.00pm, though you should note that there is a Saturday morning requirement scheduled for 25th November.

The actual Advanced Examination is scheduled for Saturday 9th December at 1.00pm.

The total cost of the course is £60. This includes the official course book, course materials, exam fees and all admin costs.

If you are an Intermediate Licence holder and you are interested in doing this course, please contact Wythall Radio Club’s Training Co-ordinator, Chris G0EYO at g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk as soon as possible. There is also more information on training available here.

It could be the title of an Enid Blyton book, but it’s actually the latest fantastic news from Wythall Radio Club’s Training Team!

After weeks of studying, all five candidates sat their Intermediate Exam at the Club last night. And it was great to hear that all five passed with flying colours. 

So it’s congratulations from everyone at WRC to (from left to right in the photo) Jonathan M6JHX, Stuart M6HVF, Jonathan M6ITQ, Stuart M6SUD and Mike M6ILX, who will now all be upgrading their callsigns to 2E0 prefixes, just as soon as Ofcom let them!

Our thanks to all our Training Team, Invigilators and Tutors.

We now hope that these five will join our autumn Advanced course and go on to achieve the highest licensing level in the hobby.

Wythall Radio Club member Jamie M0SDV is celebrating today. 

He has been crowned the winner of this year’s Lew Williams Shield award.

Each May, we designate the month as our Morse Activity month and members are invited to show evidence of progress in learning and/or using the Code in the Radio hobby.

This year Jamie, (who is still only 16, even though he is tall!) was nominated the winner by the judging panel. This comes hot on the heels of him recently gaining his Full licence callsign a few months ago.

It’s been an exciting few weeks for the young man, who is pictured here at last weekend’s Field Day and BBQ, receiving his awards from judge Lee G0MTN. 

Well done Jamie, from everyone at WRC!

Just a quick note to let you know that the latest edition of the Wythall Radio Club Newsletter is now available.

Click here or on the Newsletter Graphic to the left to access it.

An LF Receive Loop at G3YXM

It’s all happening at Wythall Radio Club this coming Tuesday! 

Loop antennas are something of a mystery to many of us but they are gaining in popularity.

This is partly down to the modern twin scourge for radio hobbyists of both local noise and small gardens!

While small antennas are always a compromise, magnetic loop antennas are particularly popular due to their quiet receive and quite effective transmit capabilities.  

In addition, they can be used close to the ground so they are even useful outdoors too.

So this week, on Tuesday 30th May, Club Member and antenna guru, Dave G3YXM, is giving a talk on Practical Loop Antennas.

Dave is a veteran of many a loop, so to speak, and this, our final presentation before the summer activity season starts, is bound to be a very popular one.

Get your seat early then – the talk is at 20:30 in the club shack at Wythall House, Silver Street. B47 6LZ.

We can’t wait!

Back in January, Bob G3PJT gave Wythall Radio Club a demonstration on remote operating of his radio station over the internet.

This would cost most of us far too much £££, but…

The purpose of his talk was to demonstrate remote operations mainly to young people with the aim of encouraging younger people into the hobby with technology that they understand.

This was quite an expensive setup though and, being radio amateurs, we would always like to do it less expensively!

So tonight Club Member Lee G0MTN, is giving us a demonstration on a much cheaper set-up that will achieve a very similar end. Lee has trialled his remote station operation from Poland back to Wythall, so we know it works!

Come along tonight and find out more.

It kicks off at 2030 in the Club Shack at Wythall House, Silver Street, B47 6LZ.

See you there!