Grampian Repeater Group

It has been a somewhat turbulent year for the Grampian Repeater Group but despite losing some repeaters the Group is now in a very good position to meet the many challenges of the future, and challenges there will be!

Historical Context

At the start of 2009 the Group had secured good commercial sites at very reasonable rents.  The group had moved GB3GN and GB3BA off the Hill of Fair to Cairn Mon Earn.  The move from Hill of Fair immediately reduced the Groups site rents by over 90%.  The rigging work done on CME provided a fantastic antenna system which should last for years – rigging time and materials were donated by CMAC and would have cost the group about six thousand pounds otherwise.  GB3NG antennas had been moved to the best possible location at Mormond Hill and the repeater moved to a new building.  Again, all the work time and materials were donated representing another large four figure bill for the Group!   GB3AB had been re-rigged and new antennas installed, it is such a shame this repeater was never used.  While sites had been secured and a lot of rigging work had been done the repeaters are still operating on very old radios and frail logics. Chas, GM8LMA, should be congratulated for keeping these old machines serviceable and his company CMAC Systems thanked for not only keeping the group alive but giving us options for the future!

By August of 2009 it became very clear that the old radios and logics would not last long enough to roll out new radios in a controlled fashion.  Our limited site time was being eaten up by having to do emergency repairs on all units (too frequently!).  The committee had also started to react to the new environment that we operate in.  This involves an ongoing and quite massive documentation project to put in place Health & Safety policies, Risk Assessments and other such delights that are now demanded from any site sharer. 

Needless to say, we lament the good old days when site owners made concessions to Amateurs’ by allowing them to operate informally!

GB3GX, GB3AB & GB3BA

Back in August of 2009 the Group had a workload that we could never hope to achieve, to protect the group and to allow progress to happen we had to rethink, review our priorities and make some changes.  The alternative was to keep reacting to failures and to tilt at windmills.  Both UHF repeaters required rebuilding and offered very little advantage to the community (traffic levels confirmed this).  We would ideally have liked to keep GB3AB on air but considering the tower is to be demolished it seemed sensible to decommission the unit rather than allow other priorities to suffer for no long term gain.   Usage of both UHF repeaters was woefully low. There are a few misconceptions about GX and how close it came to being commissioned.  Notwithstanding the repair (and admin) workload mentioned above GX could not have been commissioned by the on-air date (1st September 2009) as dictated by Ofcom (this date had already been extended and the Group had been asked to find another site by Ofcom).   Site access restrictions alone would have made this impossible to honour this deadline. 

Further, the antenna manufacture for GX had been contracted out to a third party who was unable to provide a finished product.  At the time of writing (April 2010), the GX antenna is partially built thanks to 2M0DDS bending the heavy duty stainless steel but it has not been welded or tuned.  Further, the feeders that had been installed on the tower for GX would have required 2 further man days (climbing and rigging) as they require replacement.

GB3GX was such a large project (for our Group) that it would have excluded any other work on the network.  Considering the instability of the network, licensing issues and lack of resources it would have been very irresponsible to continue with a project that would replicate GB3GNs footprint, albeit on 51MHz.  Our constitution demands any project serves the Grampian region so we could not consider possible DX use.

We hope you will understand the reasons why GX did not come to fruition and that you will see the benefits of recovering time as the two meter network improves.

Will we revisit GB3GX in the future?  This is a complicated question; the easy answer is not in the foreseeable future.  We have a lot of work to do to protect our two meter system and this has always been the Group’s priority.  However, during a planned climb we will install the antenna as we have tower rights and need to secure them before they are revoked!  We will advance the project informally but not at the expense of rebuilding or linking but it is unlikely that we can justify an isolated repeater so more thought will be needed about how any 51MHz unit will fit in with the overall plan and how to justify it in the new regulatory climate.

Regulatory Changes

Historically, regulation of Amateur Repeaters has been conducted by the Emerging Technologies Coordination Committee of the RSGB (ETCC) with Ofcom (Office of Communications) providing oversight.  Regulation had been ‘soft’ to date.

During the course of the Year the ETCC has signalled its intent to apply strict regulation to all failed or underused repeaters – the aim is to shut them down and recover spectrum.  Further to this, the ETCC now require repeater Groups to justify each repeaters existence.  So repeaters that are rarely used (or those with duplicate footprints) may be shut down to allow better use of that spectrum by better organised Groups or for a different purpose.

It is fair to say that the regulatory changes are being introduced slowly; we strongly expect to hear of more restrictions as time passes, especially on two meters.

Ofcom have also made a statement that they intend to take back all Amateur Radio licensing that had been devolved to the RSGB.  At the time of writing we are uncertain what this actually means and what role the will ETCC have in the future.  Of course, we are keeping a close eye on this.

Usage

Given the Groups resources and the emergence of stricter regulation it seem sensible that we consider likely usage of any project as part of the first stage feasibility study.

Now some more context!  Analysis of all call signs in the entire region (all 3,500 square miles) suggest that, at peak times, no more than eight users will contest a single channel.  Observations suggest that actual traffic levels are much lower.  This powerful argument begs the questions; How many repeaters do we actually need and for what purpose?

Traffic levels are very low at the moment...  While writing this I have been listening to both GN and NG, it is a typical Wednesday evening (1845 Hrs) and no one has called through either repeater in the last two hours – and this is peak time.   It seems one of the biggest challenges for the Group will be increasing usage so we can justify the repeaters.

The Good News

Results of the Review we conducted in August 2009 suggest that there is very little need for isolated repeaters in the region.  The committee feel that the best way to utilise our repeaters is to form a linked system to gain coverage.  The compromise is traffic capacity (see Usage rant above!!).

This will honour the groups’ original remit and historical plans to link GN and NG.  To this end we submitted a proposal to ETCC and have been negotiating permissions to link GN and NG using in-band linking.  We also asked the ETCC to give their opinions on expanding the link to the west.  A western site to expand coverage towards Moray and into Deeside has been another long term ambition of the Group. 

We now have permissions to link GB3NG and GB3GN.  Once both of these stations are rebuilt then linking trials will begin.  Much of the rebuild work will also prepare the ground for linking so our limited on site time can be much more productive as we are working against a staged and known plan rather than chasing our tails on numerous and disparate projects.

At the time of writing the rebuilds are progressing well.  Much of the work has been off-site (over 200 man hours) and has involved building customised 19 inch cabinets and preparing the various modules that these will house.  When finished these complex cabinets will provide a perfect foundation for later expansion and ease maintenance load.

On site work (104 man hours over 6 visits) has focused on preparing the sites.  Overhead feeder gantries have been installed at Cairn Mon Earn.  We estimate that another five or six site visits will be needed to complete the rebuilds.  We are not just replacing Radios but providing an extensible modularised system that should serve the Group well and allow for a more dynamic network.As mentioned above, we have been forward planning with other groups.  The Moray Firth ARS (Speyside Repeater Group) who run GB3SS are very keen to be part of any future expansion to the link.  To achieve any link between SS and NG would require a third site in the middle.  This fits in perfectly with the group ambition to expand coverage to the west.

It seems sensible that we share resources and skills with other groups who are trying to achieve the same goals.

The group have approached the site owners of Foudland Glens (near Huntly) to investigate a site share – the site operators returned with a concessionary rate but we could never hope to afford it.   The option remains open to develop our own green field site at Foudland and the group are preparing for this eventuality.

A green field site offers many advantages and many disadvantages.  We will detail these when the time is right but the one thing that is absolutely certain is that we would need all radio groups and the Amateur community in general to help.   The committee feel that such a project would allow everyone (of all technical levels) to be involved on all aspects of the project – something we cannot hope to do on the commercial sites.   This would be a true community project if it ever comes to fruition.

We have broached the subject of adding UHF Gateways with Ofcom and received a positive (though not definitive) response.  The old GB3AB repeater fits in with the general plan very well and would add hand portable access to the Network from Aberdeen City.  To this end, we will continue to monitor the GFRS (Grampian Fire & Rescue Service) site developments in the hope we can breathe new life and purpose into AB.

I hope you will see that we have been planning to use existing resources to the best possible effect and to provide the Group with a sustainable and useful direction.

Financial & Membership

The Group is financially stable but the committee will recommend ring fencing most of our financial reserve to offset possible site rental increases, potential decommissioning fees if we lose a site and a small amount of contingency for unforeseen circumstances.  So our ‘operational’ funds have to be very well managed and, as far as possible, projected.

Admin

There is a lot more to managing the Group than providing Radio Services, there is an increasing amount of paper work to do.  We are trying to apply the same philosophy of laying down foundations to all aspects of the Group so while we are building reliable equipment we are trying to ‘firm up’ the operating procedures of the Group.

  To this end we have started a documentation project so we have all the Health and Safety, Risk Assessments, Site Management, Insurance, Feasibility studies, etc on hand in one administrative manual.  Once written, this manual will provide all the templates and information that, if available today, would have saved many hours of duplicate work or research.

Website / Electronic Communications

For several years the Group have tried to move away from sending paper updates and AGM Notices to save postage and printing costs.  This year we still had to send out paper AGM Notices as many members have not provided us with an Email address or the address we have is bouncing (incorrect).   Some members are not Internet users so we will gladly post printed copies but we can save some money if those able use the electronic means available.

We have built a good website but are still learning how to use it to best effect.  If you have not visited the site then you will be missing out on Group News and Updates. 

The website has a few nifty tools to make searching for the details of any UK repeater a breeze.  You can also submit signal reports, request abuse online, download Member only Documents, load your GPS with repeater locations and manage your contact details.

In years to come we hope to use the server to track Membership subscriptions and possibly have online payments.  The site will become more important as time passes.  We strongly encourage you to visit the website every few weeks or so to catch up on Group activities.

If the site is not meeting your needs then please let us know why!

If you do not have Internet Access then please contact us so we can post out news updates!

Conclusions

On the surface it looks like the Group is in trouble and going backwards.  Indeed, if we mark our success by the number of repeaters we operate then this could be seen as true.  But that is a rather simple argument that takes no account of the past, present or future not to mention the work done to stabilise the Group this year!

A great deal of work has been done this year (and in recent years) to provide a solid base on which to build – we now have cheap rents, excellent sites, stable finances and a sustainable direction.  We have a long term technical plan that is innovative and tailored to our own region.  In years to come, frequent outages caused by old frail equipment will be but a distant memory and time that would have been spent on maintenance can be directed to expansion and new projects.

The future, with your help and Membership, is looking very bright.  We are now considered (by the regulators) as one of the most responsible RG’s in the country, a position that should ease future negotiations and one that we should be proud of.On behalf of the committee, I thank you for your continued support and hope we can work together to provide a truly useful resource for the community of Radio Amateurs in Grampian.

Mike GM1WKR on behalf of the GRG CommitteeChas, GM8LMA.  John GM0OYT, Heather MM1DGO, Dave 2M0DDS, Jason 2M0BOO, George GM0VGI and Jim GM0MYQ