wythall radio club

Further to yesterday’s post, we can now announce that all trader spaces  for the 2013 Wythall Radio Club Rally have now being booked. We thank our valued traders for their support for our event.

Perhaps this is a reminder that the popularity of Wythall Radio Club Rally, being ever growing, means that early booking for 2014 will almost certainly be essential!

Among our visitors this year are our friends from Radioworld, W H Westlake, JAB Electronics, Sandpiper, Bowood Electronics, FISTS CW Club, Czech Army Morse Keys, Surpelectronics, WonderWand Antennas UK, Peter Hall Embroidery (for those fancy embroidered callsign shirts!) and many more.

Click and take a look at our floor plans for full details.

The 2013 Wythall Radio Club Rally is just a fortnight away!

This is a day long event (this year on Sunday 10th March), where radio related traders from all over the UK descend on Woodrush School, Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, (B47 5JW for those who have SatNavs!) and ply their wares to radio, computer and electronics hobbyists of all kinds. It’s a fun day and you are sure to come away with a bargain or two!

Doors will open at 10.00 am and it is worth getting there early to snap up the bargains which will doubtless be on offer! And the real bonus is the £2.50 entrance fee – Wythall is still one of the least expensive events in the UK and has a reputation for being one of the friendliest.

Wythall Club Members are keying themselves up for a busy weekend on 9th/10th March as to put this event on involves a huge effort from everyone connected with the club.

Plans are being finalised to make sure the day goes as smoothly as possible. More updates will appear on this website so watch this space!

Winter is traditionally a time of year for Radio Amateurs to spend long evenings indoors “playing radio”. For many of us, that means the opportunity to build our own radio equipment. In this, we are following a ham tradition which goes down the years (the early radio pioneers HAD to build their own equipment as there was nothing to purchase!)  and indeed, this is one reason why one needs to pass exams to join our hobby.

So it is then that this winter, Wythall Radio Club’s members are undertaking a simple construction project to get us “back to basics”.

Wythall Club Member Barry M0DGQ is leading us in a two week project  to build a simple TRF  (Tuned Radio Frequency) Receiver. The set Barry has designed covers 2.6 MHz to 3.9 MHz approximately. This includes all of the 80 metre Amateur Band and some of the Shortwave Broadcast band. Using a good antenna and ground, we would hope to receive international shortwave broadcast stations, as well as Amateur SSB and Morse signals.

This Tuesday, 19th February, Barry will lead us in an informal presentation of the basics of the circuit and how it works and the pitfalls we will have to watch out for in constructing it. The following Tuesday, 26th February, we will be making a set each. Should be fun!

Why not come along and see how we all get on? 2030 at Wythall House, Silver Street, Wythall. B47 6LZ

A certain law predicts that as soon as one says things have gone quiet, they start perking up again!  Following the last published post, it came to our attention that Wythall Radio Club member Dave G3YXM had that very morning received a most unexpected surprise, courtesy of Royal Mail!

In the post arrived a letter and a rather fine commemorative plaque from Giulio, I2FGT on behalf of the IQ2MI 500 kHz Propagation Beacon Group.

The accompanying letter reads…  “The IQ2MI 500 kHz Group sends you this plaque as a token of thanks for having made your “grabber” available to the community of Radio Amateurs, giving us the opportunity to verify the propagation day and night of our beacon on a path of 1113 km.”

Amateur Transmissions recently ended on the 500 kHz Band as we now have an allocation at 472 kHz instead. However, most of the tests that led to the official award of these frequencies to the Amateur Community are assisted by hobbyists such as Dave taking such a keen interest in propagation.

So well done to Dave and we are sure he will be looking forward to working a few of you on 472 kHz this year!

It might seem to folk looking in from the outside that not much is happening at Wythall Radio Club just now. Well nothing could be further from the truth!

The fact is that many of us are now so busy monitoring our club frequencies (and using them!) that both this website and our club email reflector have seen an equivalent decline in activity! Long may that continue!

Since the whole point of being a Radio Amateur is to “have fun with RF”. as our club motto suggests, then it seems entirely appropriate that while there may be less chatter via computer,  there is most definitely a lot more going on on the airwaves!

Following the excellent turnout for Wythall Radio Club’s Christmas Contest (see below!), we have decided to try out a new way of getting members on air all year round. Our new Activity Ladder scheme starts in a few hours time at midnight on 1st February.

The idea of this is to give points whenever club members work each other. It is not a contest as such; there is no exchange to record, for example. However, whenever members work each other, rag-chew style, they can enter that contact in their new club logging spreadsheet.

This clever piece of coding allocates points depending on who they are working. The Club Station is worth 10 points, the Chairman 9, Secretary and Treasurer 8 and 7 respectively, and Committee Members 6 points. Ordinary Members are worth 5 points. In addition, members can claim bonus points for working mobile, portable, from each other’s stations and for operating our Club Callsign G4WAC.

Each month, our Ladder Co-ordinator Colin M0GJM, will produce a “League Table” of how members are doing and we hope this will encourage all of us to come on the air more to chat with each other.

Time will tell of course, but early indications are good, in that several members are reputed to be awaiting the “off” with some anticipation!

This evening has seen the announcement of the Wythall Radio Club Christmas Contest results and what an exciting evening it has proved to be!

Chris G0EYO receives the G7OJO Trophy

Participation in this event has gone through the roof again and for the 3rd year running all records have been broken.

The overall winner in the Open Section, and thus the winner of the Reg Brown G7OJO Trophy for 2013 is Chris G0EYO. David G7IBO finished in second place and Chris G7DDN picked up the 3rd place certificate.

Lee G0MTN presents Stu M0NYP with the 2m FM Trophy

In the 2 metre FM section, it was Stu M0NYP who came out on top, just pipping the “Voice of the Midlands” Jim 2E0BLP into second place. Third was a very creditable showing from Ian M0IDR, as he lives a long way from the club near Evesham.

Over 50 club members were on air during the contest making this the most inclusive event ever in the Club’s History.

Our thanks to Lee G0MTN for sterling work on the organisation, adjudication and software fronts – and for putting adjudicating our contest ahead of some small event he also helps adjudicate called “CQ Worldwide”!!!

Every year between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, Wythall Radio Club holds its Christmas Contest.

Club Member Sylwia M3SSP
A rare multiplier in the Christmas Contest!

Designed to encourage activity between our 70+ members, it has become a firm favourite with just about everyone. Indeed some people have been known to join the club just to take part in this event!

It is designed as a relaxed fun “party” exchanging serial numbers and generally having fun on air in keeping with our club motto. It has to be said though, it does bring out the competitive side in more than a few!

There are two trophies up for grabs as well and this Tuesday at 2030, we have our “Results and Presentation” evening. Adjudicator Lee G0MTN has been very busy wading through 40 or so Excel logbooks (designed by club members just for this event) and he will have come up with two winners. They will be presented with the G7OJO Trophy and the 2m FM trophy this week. Other certificates will be given out too.

This is one of the most anticipated evenings in the Wythall RC calendar so space is likely to be limited – an early arrival is advised! Tuesday 29th January at 2030 at Wythall House, Silver Street, B47 6LZ. Visitors, as always, are very welcome!

It is with regret that we advise members that long-time Wythall Radio Club member, Alan G0HBC, passed away on Friday 5th of January 2013 at the age of 90 years. Alan will be greatly missed by his wife Rosemary, his three sons and his family and friends.

Alan was a very active member of the club from the early 1980’s until the late 1990’s when hearing problems forced him to give up the amateur radio hobby. He was known as a kind gentleman, who served his country in the RAF during World War II, including spending some time as a POW. He also served in his local church.

We are proud to have known you Alan. Thank you and RIP.

A fuller appreciation of Alan’s life can be found here.

The results are out for the RSGB Club Calls 1.8 MHz Contest and it’s great news for the members of Wythall Radio Club!

51 Club Teams from across the UK took part and Wythall Radio Club’s ‘A’ team of G7WAC, G3YXM, G7DDN & G4WAC finished in overall 3rd place. A great effort and winners of the certificate pictured!

Our ‘B’ team of Pete M0COP, Don G0NES, Jim 2E0BLP & John G4MTG finished 16th and even our ‘C’ team (we were the only UK club with a ‘C’ team!) of Pete M5DUO, Barry M0DGQ, David G7IBO & Alf G1MJO finished 40th out of the 51 entrants!

In the individual scores, 3 of Wythall Radio Club’s stations finished in the top 10 (from 73 entrants) with G7WAC (operated by Callum M0MCX, Jon M0JMM & Stu M0NYP) ending up in 6th place. Dave G3YXM was 8th and Chris G7DDN came 9th.

In the Club table, G4WAC (operated by Lee G0MTN, Mike G4VPD, Stan G4JGV, Mark M0RKX & Phil 2E0WTH) finished 9th out of 33 Club stations.

The full results are tabulated at the RSGB’s HF Contest Website. Meantime our congratulations go to the 18 members who took part on air, plus the support teams who helped out with food, drink and in so many other ways! Special thanks to Dave G3YXM who co-ordinated all the efforts.

Great fun and we will be back next year!