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RV63 - Out 145.7875 MHz - In 145.1875 MHz - 103.5 Hz ctcss (G).


GB3JB is funded solely by donations from its' users and supporters. There is no club or group to join and no annual membership fee. We rely totally on your good will.

The system is located in South Wiltshire, in IO81vc, and provides coverage across South Wiltshire, South Somerset and North Dorset, with specific areas such as the City of Salisbury, Salisbury Plain, the Blackmore Vale and Cranborne Chase being well within its range. Coverage also extends, for fixed stations, across most of central and parts of North Wiltshire, Southern Dorset and West Hampshire, plus parts of North and West Somerset. See coverage map.

GB3JB is an analogue voice repeater, with no internet linking, simple intuitive logic and no bells or whistles. The beacon sends callsign and locator. The invitation to transmit is a single dit.

To access the repeater, users must continually transmit a 103.5 Hz ctcss tone. There is NO 1750 hz tone burst capability.

The system timeout has been reduced to 3 minutes, so please set your rigs' TOT accordingly.

The simple rules for using GB3JB ....

(1) GB3JB is available for ALL Licensed Radio Amateurs to use, be they 'newly licensed' or an 'old timer'.

(2) All users of GB3JB are expected to operate their station within the terms of their specific licence conditions and restrictions.

(3) When in QSO, please wait for the invitation to transmit (a single dit), and always leave a pause between overs' - always give others a chance to call-in.

(4) Please use good operating practices and procedures. Mobiles have priority. Remember, if a station calls in, during the gap between overs', always acknowledge them and please DON'T leave them sitting on the side, while everyone else has an over.

(5) Only use the minimum power necessary - remember there are other repeaters on the same channel. The repeater only transmits with 25 watts ERP, so if its' 5/9 with you, you don't need to use 50 watts to a high gain vertical, when 5 or 10 watts will do. If you use 25 watts ERP, then the signals strengths should be reasonably reciprocal.

(6) If, under lift conditions, you wish to use another repeater on RV63, please turn off the 103.5 Hz ctcss tone, otherwise you will still access GB3JB.

(7) Remember that you are Radio Amateurs, using an Amateur Radio facility, so please use the appropriate operating practices and procedures.

Since you have taken the trouble to get an Amateur Licence, surely it's not to much to expect of you, that you use Amateur Radio abbreviation and accepted terminology, such as the Q-codes. We do not have a '20', we have a 'location' or 'QTH'. We do not have a 'personal', we have a 'name', etc., etc., If you still use CB, that's fine, no problem, BUT please leave the CB lingo for CB, and not when you use GB3JB or any other Amateur Radio facility or the Amateur bands.

and finally .....

(8) Ignore any idots - If you don't hear a callsign, do NOT respond - EVER !

Sunday 12 January 2014

Test Activity & Antenna Install Videos'

Hi All,

Test Activity.

A little bit late getting the system switched on.  I was there, just gone 11:30, bit it took a while to get a few additional bit cabled into the system.

Anyway, it came on at approx., 12 noon, and was switched off again at approx., 3 pm.

Good contacts were being made, but there was something not right.  Signals were going up and down like a Yo-Yo, with lots of crackling !!!!

But no one was reporting any real changes in the TX signal, and there was no change in either the TX output power or the VSWR.

Eventually, I decided to work my way through the system, checking cables and connectors, just in case.

Finally, I found the problem, after about an hour of flexing, twiddling, and poking at the cables, couplers, general interconnection wiring and plugs/sockets.

An inline back-to-back male "N" type coupler, for joining two "N" type sockets together.

It was part of the new assembly that I installed this morning, and was being used to join the output of the 2m/70cm duplexer to the input of the lightning arrestor, which then connected to the antenna feeder.

I replaced the coupler and all the problems went away.  Somebodys' LAW !!!!!!

So, to those of you who may well have tried to use GB3JB, before about 2:00 pm, my apologies, if it all seemed a bit inconsistent and broken up ... it was at times.

However, the following contacts were made.  The data relates to their signal strength into the repeater and their power.

F/Q = Fully Quieting.
S/N = Smooth Noise
R/N = Rough Noise, but still Q5.

G0GRI  -  Bradford On Avon  -  F/Q  -  5 watts
G4SXR  -  Amesbury  -  F/Q  -  2 watts
G6DZM  -  East Knighton  -  F/Q  -  25 watts -  S/N - 12 watts  -  R/N  -  5 watts
G0IUE  -  Nr. Corsham  -  F/Q  - 5 watts
G0FAJ  -  Ferndown  -  S/N  -  4 watts
GW3WSU  -  Barry  -  S/N  -  20 watts
M3OPW  -  Nr. Dorchester  -  F/Q  -  ?? watts
G1CLH/M  -  Old Sarham  -  S/N & Flutter  -  ?? watts
G6POW  -  Trowbridge  -  F/Q  -  5 watts
G0OID  -  Nr. Chippenham  -  F/Q  -  5 watts
G0AYD  -  Wylye  -  F/Q  -  5 watts
G0EVW  -  Weymouth  -  S/N  -  5 watts
G3PRQ  -  Four Marks  -  S/N  -  ?? watts
M6CTP  -  Nr. Trowbridge  -  F/Q  -  5 watts
G4VPJ  -  Verwood  -  F/Q  -  ?? watts
M6KTJ  -  Sturminster Newton  -  F/Q  -  5 watts
M6ZDA  -  Poole  -  S/N  -  5 watts
G7OPI  -  Lyneham  -  F/Q  -  ?? watts
G0VZY  -  Swanage  -  S/N  -  ?? watts
G3XUX  -  Nr. Fareham  -  S/N  -  ?? watts
G4DMC  -  Melksham  -  F/Q  -  2.5 watts


FYI.  The repeater was running with approx., 14 watts ERP.  Unfortunately, the next power setting up, on the FT2600, produced about 35 watts ERP, so we stayed on the lower setting.

Before the system becomes fully operational, I'll get into the engineering menu and make adjustments, to enable the 25 watts ERP.


Antenna Video's.

In case you have NOT looked at the videos' yet, or if you tried and the link to Stuarts video was NOT working, I suggest that you take a look now.

The links are at the top of the "Pics & Vids" page.



Cheers & 73's
Dave, G3ZXX.
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