GB3WS - News Update - 22 March 2010

Off air Sunday 21 March due to power outage at site. Back on air Monday 22nd.

GB3NX - News Update - 15 April 2009

Currently off air for refurbishment.

News Update - 6 February 2009

Some tests have been carried out from a site in Horsham town centre, the first of a few sites. This has shown that it is not a practical site, does not give good coverage, and therefore will not be used for two meters. I still have other sites to investigate, but this will take time.

In the mean time no application has been made to the ETCC to move GB3WS, and GB3NX (see below) will stay under the control of the group pending discussions with the CEPO and EPO at Horsham. The group will not approach the ETCC ref a 70cms Horsham proposal until all avenues have been explored and we are happy that it will be viable.

Mike Senior G4EFO - 06.02.09

 

News Update - 10 November 2008

On Wednesday 5th November, I had a meeting with the County Emergency Planning Officer for West Sussex. The meeting was very useful and was received with enthusiasm. The CEPO will present my ideas at a future meeting with the County Committee and hopefully if accepted further discussions will take place.

The planned strategy, if accepted will be to undertake tests from the site in question, to ensure coverage is what is envisaged. If coverage does meet the requirements and a sensible agreement can be reached with county, I will hold a meeting in Horsham to outline some plans. If all goes well we can then apply to the ETCC for a move of GB3WS. During the same period an application to re-establish a UHF repeater and possibly a 23 cms repeater will also be made, but it is envisaged to carry the work out in three phases,

  • move GB3WS
  • apply for a 70 cms licence - wide spaced for possible future gateway use
  • apply for a 23 cms repeater licence, possibly TV.

It goes without saying that this is likely to be a long process and will not happen in a matter of weeks, but months. Involved in my discussions with county is the future of the 70 cms repeater at Worth, GB3NX. Therefore until all discussions are exhausted the status quo will prevail. It could well be that GB3NX will form part of the communications strategy within the county.

Please remember there are four hurdles to cross,

  • obtaining agreement from county
  • ensuring the required coverage
  • getting approval from the ETCC
  • obtaining permission from Ofcom

We could fall at any one of these, therefore please be patient.

I will post more news on this site as and when it happens.

Mike Senior G4EFO - 10.11.2008


New Site planned for GB3WS

After discussions with members of the Crawley Amateur Radio Club - (now formed the Ashdown Forest Repeater Group - AFRG), who are concerned about coverage on two meters to the East of the WS site, I have decided to investigate the possibility of moving WS westwards to cover more of West Sussex, as was originally intended . This will allow the AFRG members to pursue a site at Turners Hill church and install a repeater in that location. The coverage of this repeater will be very weak into the Horsham area - (remember the coverage of the old BP/WS when it was at Worth Abbey ?)

So to assist in the Crawley proposal I am looking at sites around the Horsham area. I am not going to switch WS off or apply for a site change until I am satisfied that the users of the two meter repeater in West Sussex will receive adequate coverage from any proposed new site.

At present WS covers 60-70% of its intended area well, so any 'quick fix' move would be quite wrong, and I will not be forced into this situation.

The time scale of these changes is difficult to assess and will take some effort, in order to identify possible sites, obtain permission from the site owners, carry out coverage tests, and then obtain permission from Ofcom to move the repeater.

One thing I have always worked at is to obtain the use of sites free of charge. This will always be my goal, and with delicate negotiations, is possible.

I therefore ask all amateurs who use the two meter repeater to have patience with this venture in order to satisfy the needs of all users and obtain better coverage for everyone.

The bottom line is, all of these changes will need to be approved by the repeater management group and Ofcom so we will still need to make our case for their approval.

Mike Senior G4EFO