Our supplier has passed it on to "one of the team", who will bring it over to site some time after 0800 Sunday morning, so the temporary MT can be on air by late Sunday morning at about the same time hopefully that GB3SH has its on air tests, This will start to get interesting as GB3SU will also be on air,....making 3 of the four on air for a while. so dont miss out - Note these are only tests for SH, it will be on its aerial which is shared with MT, with it's power level so this should be what we get!..SH comes on air 558AM 5th November , we will remind you later!

Turn your 4M rigs on too, Sunday AM ! and look for one mother of a strong signal!!

The loan unit has been configured the same as our unit, and the user base should notice no difference. IE the sunday evening net can proceed as if nothings happened hopefully

I Have a chronic leak in my front roof and am attending to this + Ill be in the HF ssb contest next weekend .. I dont want to hear about any repeater problems next weekend - ta!

Andy

South Hampshire Repeater Group Launches 70cm ‘Internet Free’ Linking

The South Hampshire Repeater Group has recently established an on-demand link between the Fusion 70cm repeater GB7MT (Southampton) and the Fusion 70cm repeater GB7PO (Portsmouth) relying solely on RF. Whilst it is often common practice to use the Internet to link repeaters, the keepers of GB7MT and GB7PO decided to adopt an ‘RF only’ policy to linking their repeaters using off-the-peg (well, almost) Ubiquiti 5Ghz equipment.

The 13-mile hop between sites is achieving bandwidth in excess 100Mbps of which the repeaters use approx. 0.05Mbps! The idea was initially inspired by the Local Emergency Planning Officer Tim Pettis 2E0CXQ who, for resilience purposes was keen to establish a communications path between the two cities in the very unlikely event of an existing civil communications infrastructure outage.

“After much debate, the group adopted Fusion over DMR & DSTAR because it’s so simple to set-up. Enter your callsign, frequency + repeater shift and Bob’s your Uncle, no codeplugs to edit, reflectors to set or web interfaces to log go on, Fusion just works out of the box. Users simply enable a button press setting on their radios should they decide to appear on both repeaters at the same time, thus doubling the chance of a contact. At the repeater end it’s a similar story, the Yaesu DR-2XE repeater is also very simple to set-up and maintain.”
— SHRG chairman Andy Sillence G4MYS

The group would like to thank Karl Brazier G7AFT of Yaesu UK who offered technical guidance and that all-important inspiration!

CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE (Link Map Thanks to Karl G7AFT)

Not sure how long MT will be off air for, it may be subject to short "offs" while being on most of the time,.. time will tell... as it is currently powered by a SMC built FP1C sat in the bottom of the rack, where the SH duplexers will sit. We will keep off air periods as short as possible, however the SH beacon will be off most of the day...

We will also fit the SH duplexer cables, and connect the SH cables to the VHF / UHF filter / combiner , so the SH beacon will be feeding the correct aerial, which it will share with MT, until then its feeding the GB7IV VHF aerial. Reports on the differences between the two aerials will be welcome! Esp from the East and up the M3 & A3M.

SU will remain on, as its not affected by this work.

Andy

While the Computer and operating system and logic for interlinking for the D Star repeater is sorted out, and after the duplexer arrangement is proven to work.. We will experimentally, for a short term period ONLY like a month or two, introduce a VHF Fusion Repeater as GB7IV, on the GB7IV frequency!

IMPORTANT : DO NOT purchase a monoband VHF FUSION radio based on this announcement!

The VHF fusion repeater is only on loan! The Fusion repeater is a short term experiment ! The Plan is to reintroduce GB7IV as an ICOM D Star repeater by 2020!

G4MYS The keeper

We have been busy working on the racks readying them for SH & IV, to give time to examine the Tait repeater and correct this logic fault, so bear in mind this is supposed to be a hobby, and the engineers do have other things to do in life, like do Play on HF and hold down jobs....

G4MYS Keeper

The DC & AC isolators have been fitted in the IV/ & SU rack AC PDU in the MT /SH rack.... and MT's SU reject filter, that will add a little front end loss but not enough to effect every day operation.. Phil came over with Chris and fitted the link us to Millbrook, that cable was also dressed in.

Next work day attack will be w/c 30th September, however there are more RF cables to be made, Battery cables to made and fitted & etc !

Meanwhile the Filters have arrived from Denmark to keep the transmitted signal of GB3SU out of the receiver of GB7MT, this should be fitted on Monday 16th, September, there will be some intrusion of MT's service while it is being fitted, along with a "cable entry box" and AC PDU, AC Power and Battery Isolator board..

GB3SH needs a lot of work to get the repeater functional, including the making up of several coaxial cables to precise measurement's testing and then dressing them to the racks, the Earth strapping needs fitting while the rack is sort of half full, and the heavy 190Amp hour batteries also need fitting. This is being hampered by the need to do other things in our private lives!, as not all of the working members are retired!

Other work is being done on site not directly related to transmission of RF by our members..
Thus the return to air for GB3SH is being scheduled for 5:58AM on 5th November. ( It's a Tuesday ) This is an important date in British Radio History, and will be well marked by the return of our flagship repeater.

http://www.watersidears.org.uk/aboutus.html "

Precise day for on air is difficult to estimate as we need AC, DC & RF cables cut, plugs fitted, cables dressed into the rack earth bonding fitted, and the duplexers brought to site which are currently in use with GB7IV in Chandlers Ford.

Details on the logic are on our web site GB3SH.co.uk under GB3SH logic.
Andy

Or if you have wunderground app station ID is ISOUTH502.

It will probably take a few days to get a set of readings to appear on the page.

The wx station gives a full summery of the weather conditions on the tower block roof, tables, and daily ongoing chart, together with a forecast for three or ten days which of course is unique to the Hightown area of Southampton.

Clicking on to the "WunderMap" will give a much larger area of map which you can adjust, to see the other private weather stations in the area with the temperature, wind direction & speed plus overlays for rain fall

Again thanks to Nevada Radio for subsidising the unit.

Nigel

Microwave
Our Microwave dish has been fitted to enable the GB7PO & GB7MT repeaters to link.
The link is in place, and we received full moving colour pictures to test the links abilities, as it was being fitted, however the link is being tested to establish reliability and capability over the course of a week or so.

Thus at time of writing, Late August, the link is not yet available for use. You will need to consult your Fusion radio instructions to understand how to use the linking facility,..
In other words Access to MT will not give automatic access to PO!. In addition you will need a Yaesu "FUSION" / C4FM capable radio to use this facility!

Weather station
Next week Nigel & Andy will be fitting the long awaited weather station, this will have a camera looking at the New Forest horizon in time, ( few weeks ) give Wind speed, wind direction, ( outside ) Temperature, pressure, rainfall amount and fall rate, and a forecast in detail for three days or a ten day forecast for Southampton, You of course can ask for a forecast anywhere there is a "Personal weather station" as they are called. We will advise you soonest of its name and how to link to it. Our weather station will be linked to "Weather underground."

SH
The following week will see the commencement of the fitting of SH, however RG214 repeater duplexer cable, which have now arrived, will then need to be cut, plugs fitted, and dressed in to the racks later.
Thus GB3SH will not come on air till mid September.

Andover Ralley Sunday 8th September.
We will be at the Andover Rally which is billed as radio & Computer rally, which is at
Village Hall, Wildhern Lane, Wildhern, Andover. SP11 0JE. Its north of Andover off the A343.

Picky: Wes & Mark carefully adjust the Link dish to Portsmouth on a fine summers evening, to the left in the distance is the Isle of Wightshills and Fawley Power Station Chimney...Picky credit to Phil G6DLJ.

REPEATER UPDATE

With a little of help from our friend's, non-Amatuer staff at Yaesu UK, in the form of Microwave linking equipment, the test to establish if we can directly link from the PO site in Portsmouth to the MT site in Hightown, Southampton. We are pleased to say the test over also 13 miles was very successful, and as a result we will be investing in the equipment with a view to directly linking out two repeaters as soon as possible. Some work needs to be done at the MT end in the form of installing the cable to the dish and the dish its self, fittingly the dish will be on MT's Mast, just as like PO's dish.

This link will enable those working MT to connect into PO, and users of PO to link to MT, the actual linking is down to how the user sets up his / her "GM" function. We will give you further details when we know the project is ready to go!

The install will be next week if all goes well, this includes supply and fitting which is down to the weather, the forecast for next week is generally " partly cloudy", with the temperatures in the mid 70s ideal for sunbathing on a tower block roof while dishes are fitted.

Todays work, included removing the badly behaving Tait radios which were GB3SU, and refitting the FTR 5410B repeater, which had been
mothballed or the last 10 years,

It has been given a though test over the last few days, and has had some components replaced over the weekend in the logic.

* There is no need to wait for the pip or the callsign,
* it IDs just over every 15 minutes without CTCSS if its idle.
* It runs about 1 watt less power.
* Is 71.9Hz access only, it radiates CTCSS during overs.
* It may be a 30 year old design but it works well!
* Logic is much- modified G3RKL mk 1 repeater logic, see Rad com of Jan 1979 for details.

GB3SH will be removed from storage and put on test awaiting fitting after the Link to Portsmouth is established.

GB7IV is still in service at SMC, it will have to go off air to give back the duplexers to GB3SH, while cables are being sought for its own duplexer.

Flight Refueling Rally
We will be at the Flight refueling rally at Wimbourne, doors open 0900, and close 1500 on Sunday 11th August .
We will be there with the sole purpose of promoting the SHRG and its repeaters, and generating funds. Talk in should be on S22 , the event has Free car parking.
This is one of the biggest and most popular ham radio rallies in Southern England, Admission is £4:00 which includes car parking.
Its at the: Cobhams sports and social club ground, Merley, near WIMBOURNE, Dorset BH21 3DA. No Dogs BTW unless they are Guide dogs!

Funding The linking equipment goes well into a three figure sum for each end, if your wanting to help support the funding of our repeaters your generosity will be gratefully received by the PO group as well as the SHRG ( MT ) see the PO group web site and our page on "Donations" for info on Bank transfers, or Paypal giving. Funding The linking equipment goes well into a three figure sum, if your wanting to help support the funding of our repeaters your generosity will be gratefully received by the PO group as well as the SHRG ( MT ) see the PO group webb site and our page on Donations for info on Bank transfers, or Paypal giving.

The Suck Out Filter Band Reject Filter) has been ordered from Amphenol-Procom. This filter will prevent the GB3SU transmitter from "blocking", / causing desence to MTs receiver. The problem is caused by having two repeaters, which are close in frequency, 433.2Tx & 430.6625Rx and close in aerial height to close together, ( around 5 M) while the problem only really effect's weaker stations on MT.
As we do want our repeaters to work as excellently as possible, and not being unable to obtain the bottle filters, and having been unsuccessful in getting one side of a UHF duplexer to do the job, one of our members has kindly purchased the Procom BRF 70 for us.

We are waiting for an N socket version to be shipped to us, it should arrive in early September.

In the mean time we will have another go at getting in incumbent GB3SU out on Monday, and fitting one of the old FTR5410B UHF repeaters with its 1979 designed G3RKL logic mark 1 logic with CTCSS mod, which will have a different sound to it, and a much shorter CWID, and better behavioral characteristics. The current model can then have its logic re-examined, and improved. We are looking into using an Arduino to make the CWID, as that will be a simple and cheaper way of dealing with the Ident generation.

To open PDF TT-1092 BRF70/3

We tried the loan GB3SU which performed it party trick as if it had been practicing it! It work's no problem when stood on the landing on a box, but put it in a rack, or even " the" rack and it howls like a spoilt brat, put it on a dummy load and its howls.. the problem is RF feedback one way or another, but it can't be used due to its missbehaviour, so the Tait mobiles have been put back on air with full licenced power... on the basis that the blocking only affects weak stations, and hopefully its better to have it on with licenced power until we can resolve the blocking problem.

The SU QSB phenomenon
Several stations have reported a steady full scale signal from MT, but also Deep fading from SU, which is felt to be odd as basically both repeaters run the same sort of power, the aerials are at a similar height, MT being about 2 feet higher and at 320ft ASL that should not make any difference. However one aerial MT, is on the east side of the block and SU, is on the west side of the block about 5M apart ( thus the blocking )

However each off the three those tower blocks is graced by a guyed much higher aerial mast, these guys are in the way as such in certain directions, so is the mast, and the other aerial support poles and their aerials.

We specifically watched for movement on the guy wires, and they do move , so does the MT aerial, so with with no further data Gents Im assuming these guys or MT aerial is the source of the QSB

Photo 429 is taken touching the pole of GB3SU, in the distance can be seen the tower blocks of Portsmouth... to the right of this is where the stations note the QSB, The tall mast is on the right, and it guys that quiver can be clearly seen... on the left near the top is one of the ground planes for the MT aerial.

432 Southampton General hospital in on a shimmering hot day the hills behind is Pepperbox
433 Southampton university at Highfield shimmer on the same day

432 433 439

GB3 SU It is also hoped next week to get GB3SU on air again, it is possible that a misunderstanding on how the repeater needs to correctly set up is the cause of the problem that resulted in us switching it off until next week. It is likely that its a case of "Read The Flaming Manual".

Just to make it interesting we are likely to have a third operational GB 3SU up there for comparison just in case, however were not keen on putting on air a moth balled unit, even after replacing dodgy pots in the CWID. Hopefully we can use the brand new loan unit from "a local supplier" while the Tait unit's logic is sorted out properly.

GB3 SH
We have built most of its new rack, we need to disassemble SH from its rack which is in safe stowage, before it can be fitted....

GB7IV its rack is built and disassembly of parts from the" on air" IV rack has started so they can be refitted ready for IV to go over to Thornhill. .

GB7MT GB3SU SERVICE UPDATE

GB7MT is back on air after its change of frequency to 439.6625MHz. This frequency should be clear across the whole of Southern England, the next nearest repeater on our channel is on the Cotswold airport site near Cirencester. We have also started to construct the rack for MT & SH.

After testing for interference to MT from SU, which was all clear, SU started to play up, in a way we have not heard before, and as we were running out of time, SU has been switched off for the time being, we will return to site next week to address SU, with the intent to get it on air with full power, ..behaving itself.

So with apologies, time was not on our side, we did not have time to experiment any further, and had no choice other then to turn off GB3SU

Due to the interference that's been reported by our users in the catchment area of GB7MT from the Brighton Repeater in Southampton & Waterside

Its time to retune your radios to 439.6625MHz Output 430.6625Mhz Input

We should have MT back on 9th July if all goes well in the afternoon. It is hoped that with the new filters we can continue to run GB3SU also on high power.

Sorry for any inconvenience

While MT is off air, we will take the opportunity of letting GB3SU lose with full power, on the colinear.

We have noted some idiosyncrasy's with both GB7MT & GB3SU and both need addressing.

Be aware that GB3SU will wait to send its callsign to the end of an "over", It was designed so it would not transmit the callsign during an over, .. This means that the logic waits, and unfortunately if you are too quick off the mark in transmitting, the CWID will double with you, the problem being that your audio is not retransmitted during the duration of the CWID!
A short term work around is not to be so quick off the mark with your PTT when operating through GB3SU! .
We hope this is just a teething problem with GB3SU new logic.
In order to do sort out the problem, We are testing the old GB3SU, ready for front line service while the mod is made.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION GB7MT

Due to the interference that's been reported by our users in the catchment area of GB7MT from the Brighton Repeater in Southampton & Waterside

We have put in a request for a change of frequency.

After checking availability and interference we have been offered 439.6625MHz Output 430.6625Mhz Input

This is currently going through the vetting stages it may take a week or months. This is to prepare our users for the change in advance

Sorry for any inconvenience

GB7MT ON AIR

Pleased to say GB7MT is on air with a perfect SWR ( drawing 4 Amps ) to the colinear we've been heard in Bracklesham Bay, Chichester Bembrige where were 9+ ( qrm from brighton is S5 ) and I can get in on my Hand held in Shirley.

MT is not internet linked yet, as weve not yet purchased the kit! Neither did we have the time to fit the aerial for SU and IV, thats for next time.

Thus SU is next, not sure when were going up again but it will be some time next week week starting 3rd June. It was too murky to take pickys today, for you to see the views from up their, and we were far to busy anyway. So enjoy its on.

GB7MT our UHF Fusion repeater will be on air soon.

During the first few days GB7MT may not be linked. We are aiming to be on air by early June.

When we have ironed out the behavioral characteristics of linking Fusion repeaters together, and other assumed complications of the repeater ""system", We will introduce GB3SU, the UHF FM repeater, for the rest of us.

GB7MT will be on 439.575MHz with a 9MHz, - shift so we transmitt on 430.575MHz. Note GB7MT is Fusion only, it wont respond to FM! Fusion users are referred to their radio manuals for operating settings like DN & VW ! If in doubt ask - we monitor S20, and 433.225MHz.

Time is now to tune your radios in, .. get MT in a memory channel - and monitor! Our other repeaters will follow soon.

We offer our thanks to everyone, and there are many, who has made this project possible, a lot more hard work is about to begin, locally, and further afield, and now is the time lads to get ready to enjoy, and support the repeater group! We've almost done our bit, its almost over to you!

......Stand by for further good news as GB7MT 's local Fusion twined repeater, also comes on air,- within days of us! ( it could just be they come on air first! ) See their facebook page for details!

The committee

The South Hampshire Repeater Group Raffle

The SHRG is giving you an opportunity to win a brand new FT70 FM Fusion hand held radio with 3 year warranty. Also there are some runner up prizes. Such as an Alpha Tronix Power Supply & a selection of Insulators.

The date of the draw will be anounced soon when we hope to have a full Fusion Demonstration Details of venue will be published here and on Facebook.

Raffle tickets will be on sale from various outlets and SHRG Committee members. Contact us via the website for your interest £5 a strip and £10 two strips includes a years membership to the group.

Details will be here on our website & our Facebook page.

You can also come along to the next meeting of the Southampton Amateur Radio Club where members of SHRG will be on hand with raffle tickets.

The next meeting is at The Peartree Inn Wednesday 15th May 7:30pm SO19 5GZ

We found that the repeater keeps its power level maintained, despite the voltage drop on the battery, down to 11.9Volts after 2 1/2 hours, We also found that the Solar panel can charge up the standby battery, and that that battery can run the Repeater in TX mode for an extended time, despite it only being a 40Amphour cell.

In all nine stations were worked, we are aware through Facebook that other did try and we give out thanks to you for trying, Many of the stations involved had their first taste of Fusion working, and through a Fusion repeater, We noted too that there are several "open" Wifi systems usefully in range of the site which may well help us prove "fusion linking!"
Our thanks to: in order of working: 2E0ZBE G7AFT M6RGQ M3LWS M6RGQ/M G2BFC G7POC/P and the babysitter G4MYS who had the repeater in a tranny van in the car park, if you heard it and could not get in please send in your report !

Our working conditions was 20 Watts from the duplexer to a mag mount just 8ft up, at least for a few hours we were Britians newest repeater, and the lowest off the ground!

Repeaters MT & SU On Test

We will be testing GB7MT from site but at lower elevation on Wednesday 24th 19:00 local time if anyone fusion (C4FM) would like to make contct it will be much appriciated.


CLICK TO ENLARGE

The South Hampshire Repeater Group Raffle

The SHRG is giving you an opportunity to win a brand new FT70 FM Fusion hand held radio with 3 year warranty. Also there are some runner up prizes.

Very soon raffle tickets will be on sale from various outlets and SHRG Committee members.

Details will be here on our website & our Facebook page.

You can also come along to the next meeting of the Southampton Amateur Radio Club where members of SHRG will be on hand with raffle tickets.

The next meeting is at The Peartree Inn Wednesday 17th April 7:30pm SO19 5GZ

A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Firstly nice to see those who turned up to the Southampton Amateur Radio Club AGM last night. Those in attendance will know that we have had a lease agreement
with our landlord from the solicitors now that we can agree on. We hope to meet with them in the next few days to finalise the last bits and we should
be able to move on to the sight very soon. We dont have an on air date as yet but it is hoped that we may have one or two of the four repeaters on air in May.

Andy G4MYS

The Southampton Amateur Radio Club meet at The Peartree Inn Southampton on the 3rd Wednesday of every month.

We The South Hampshire Repeater Group are also there for any questions and to report progress.

You can also get information on the Radio Amateur courses for those starting and those who wish to progress.

New and old members always welcome. Good to see some of the old members coming back and returning to the airways.

WEDNESDAY Evening: 20th March at the Peartree Inn, Woolston, SO19 7GZ

19:00 for 19:30 : large car park, no worries parking!

Drink policy: we purchase our own they sell soft drinks / Coffee, water and booze! however they don't do meals.

HARWELL RALLY SUNDAY 10th FEBRUARY

We will be at the Harwell ARS Rally Didcot with our sales stand to help raise repeater funds. We have many items so please do come along to support or to say hello and talk about our repeater progress.

Details of the rally are here Click for FLYER & MAP

Andy G4MYS

PROGRESS UPDATE

Firstly a Happy New Year to our followers and soon to be users.

To update you all as its been very quiet over the past months and we are sorry on no recent updates this is because there is no progress to update on. Unfortunatly we can not give you an On air date yet. As soon as we have it it will be posted on our web site and Facebook pages.

All four repeaters were licenced from the Thornhill site between August and Dec 2017,

Planning permission was granted by SCC by End of 2017,

Only then could we start negotiating with the Landlord.

Early 2018 we get our "Heads of Lease document".

This is checked by Solicitors for both us and the Landlord, at landlords request.

We are at this stage: Several of the Landlords departments need to make "comments" and us agree, and give the "OK"

Once both parties have agreed and signed , then we get the keys

We have all the equipment to fit with the exception of the cables for the duplexer of GB7IV which has been lost by G4HCL's Girlfriend.

It is our intention to run our four repeaters from this site, digitally linked for MT & IV.

Let us make it clear: We are not running a digital repeater in Portsmouth, and don't have any interest in DMR repeaters, despite their locations or callsigns.

SHRG Committee

The Southampton Amateur Radio Club meet at The Peartree Inn Southampton.

The South Hampshire Repeater Group are also there for any questions and to report progress.

You can also get information on the Radio Amateur courses for those starting and those who wish to progress.

New and old members always welcome. Good to see some of the old members coming back and returning to the airways.

WEDNESDAY Evening: 16th January at the Peartree Inn, Woolston, SO19 7GZ

19:00 for 19:30 : large car park, no worries parking!

Drink policy: we purchase our own they sell soft drinks / Coffee, water and booze! however they don't do meals.