Stoke-on-Trent Repeaters
GB3ST News
A large number of the regular users on GB3ST are not members of the repeater group. This repeater like all others is open and free for all licence amateurs to use.
But it is not free to keep on air, please join the UKFM Group Western before this free service runs out of money and is gone for good.
15/07/2019
Replaced faulty cooling fan on the power supply unit, still have an outstanding alarm on the base station to resolve so RF output operating on half power.
14/05/2019
Antenna system has deteriorated requiring a new antenna.
This is the time if you are not a member of the UKFM Group Western to join. I have the help to install the antenna the group needs money to purchased one.
A professional antenna costs in the region of £300.
17/0/2019
Repeater was back on-air today, approx midday.
A very brief break in the electricity supply at site took place just after 17:35 on the 13/01/19. This caused the internet to go down and GB3ST hardware locked up requiring the site owner (Peter) to give the repeater a longer power off & on, all was well.
Few! Just over a year since the last break down.
Thank you to the site owner Peter.
14/01/2018
Antenna repairs completed and two cooling fans replaced in the repeater.
09/1/2018
Off air due to a cooling fan failure in the repeater. Antenna issue has been fixed.
11/11/2017
Mark II logic failed under soak tests so a back up logic system at the last minute has been installed, so we have a different sound.
Repeater now back on site and operational at full power.
20/10/17
The Logic system has now been repair and under test on the bench. Thank you to Ian G8MVV for supplying CMOS ICs which was a great help to resolving the fault. It would appear a nearby power surge was able to cause internal damage to the logic CMOS IC's and a few more internal components.
Not all done the TX has also suffered damage on the audio input line yet to be fixed.
03/09/2017
I have GB3ST at home now on the bench, it has a call-sign generator fault. Unfortunately I have had a couple of stays in hospital since and so had little time up to now to take a closer look.
22/08/2017
Made a brief visit Monday evening all seemed in order (forgot to take a radio with me! yes I known...) reset everything just in case. Got home no improvement.
A second visit to site planned Thursday morning (24th).
21/08/2017
Repeater remotely close-down Sunday morning due to the Logic controller not working correctly, no Morse call-signs etc.
Saturday morning locally on site a couple of power surges took place causing the site owners solar panel arrays to trip out.
Hope to visit the site one evening this week.
02/07/2017
Transmitter Antenna was a few degrees off from the normal vertical position, this was corrected today.
Thanks to Phil G4SCY and the site owner Peter for doing the work.
30/06/2017
The repeater was off air again today, unsure as before why, a site visit arranged for Sunday take a look.
17/06/2017
The repeater was off air all day, unsure what the fault was the other repeaters on site were working fine. A scheduled reboot at 4am Sunday morning on the 18th resolved the issue.
10/06/2017
Came back on air after a 10 week break at 13:00 hours.
TX antenna return loss has changed to -16dB's on 433.2250MHz and the resonance part of the antenna has moved lower in frequency out of the 70cms band.
A replacement antenna (subject to funding available from the UKFM group) is required later in the year, this will improve reception on the fringe coverage areas.
