(Updated 17/05/12)

GB3SD/GB3DR NEWS The current committee of the SDRG is determined that users and supporters of the repeaters should be kept fully informed at all times as to what is happening. If you want to know something about the Group and you can't find it on this site then e-mail SDRG. This page shows the most up-to-date status of the Repeaters but a full archive is available from the 'News/Log Archive'

29/10/09 - AGM REPORT There was a good attendance at the Annual General Meeting of the South Dorset Repeater Group held at the Masonic Hall, Alington Street, Dorchester on Tuesday the 20th of October 2009. The Annual Subscription was fixed at  £15.00 and £25.00 for family membership. Life membership is £150.00. The Committee Membership and Structure remain unchanged.

After the formal business, Rob, G0ECX gave a presentation with photographs regarding an alternative site that the Group has been offered. The results of computer generated coverage predictions for both the current and proposed new site was also given. This stimulated a lively and informed debate about the problems being experienced at the current site and the pros and cons of a move. Eventually, it was decided that the possibility of moving to a different location should be costed and the full implications be considered and presented to the members in due course. Any formal decision to move would only take place after it was approved at an EGM of the Group.

The usual bumper raffle with coffee and biscuits rounded off the evening.

08/11/09 - INTERNET LINK QRT - Rob, G0ECX who supplies the Internet Link to GB3SD is moving house so this facility is currently unavailable.

01/02/10 - GB3DR has an intermittent fault. Within a few seconds of transmit the power output can drop to a tiny fraction of normal for a few seconds. This might happen once or twice during the first 20 to 30 seconds of use but after that it settles down. Unless you are receiving a very strong signal it might seem that it actually stops transmitting: however in every other respect the repeater continues to function normally. We have had this problem before with this unit and one of the spares will be installed as soon as possible.

14/02/10 - Rob, G0ECX and Ian, G3ZDQ replaced the faulty GB3DR repeater with one of the spare 'G6WHI' units yesterday (Saturday) morning.

24/03/10 - The Echolink Internet Link to GB3SD is back on. Many thanks to Rob, G0ECX who provides the facility and Les, G0FAJ who provided a replacement Laptop.

28/04/10 - The GB3DR repeater was replaced this evening by Rob, G0ECX after the transmitter developed a fault and went to very low power.

Weather permitting we hope to do some work on site this coming weekend. The plan is to fit new aerials to GB3SD and install an extra aerial for GB3DR so that we can use separate aerials for TX and RX. This is to see if the extra isolation this will give us reduces the interference we have been suffering from.

02/04/10 - The planned work at the site went ahead yesterday when Rob, Les, Ian and Chris fitted new aerials for GB3SD and an extra aerial for GB3DR. Reports are of course welcome although it is still very much 'work in progress' as far as GB3DR is concerned.

11/05/10 -  Pictures of the work done have now been posted in the 'SDRG Gallery'.

11/07/10 - Rob and Les have been busy at the site recently and after a series of tests and periods of reduced power GB3DR is now back up to full power. The performance of both repeaters since the aerial changes in April is very much improved. It is also hoped that planned engineering work by another user on site will reduce the Interference that GB3DR suffers from at times.

13/08/10 - Rob, G0ECX and Chris, G6WHI were busy at the site yesterday and replaced the GB3DR transmit antenna with a high quality folded dipole. The SWR is now much better and the ERP should be up to near our licensed limit. First reports have been favorable.

25/09/10 - A lot of work was done at the site today to try and eliminate the intermittent crackling that has plagued GB3DR for so long. Also the receive aerial of GB3DR was replaced with a folded dipole similar to the one that was recently fitted for transmit.

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Group will be held at the Masonic Hall, Alington Street, Dorchester, on Tuesday the 19th of October 2010 at 7.30 for 8pm. This is the same venue as last year. We hope that all users of GB3SD and GB3DR will try to attend and support us. It is a sad fact that there are still regular local users who have never supported us! See the Newsletter (below) for more information.

20/10/10 - The AGM was well attended with some new faces and the welcome return of a few old ones! As well as the usual business there was a very interesting discussion about the crackling that GB3DR sometime suffers from. The Committee Membership and Structure remain unchanged.

12/03/11 - A fault in the 12V PSU resulted in GB3DR being off air for a few hours today. Normal service was restored by Rob, G0ECX at 1430 GMT.

04/09/11 - Full CTCSS is now enabled on GB3DR and a 71.9Hz sub-audible tone must now be used to access and use the repeater - without it you will not be able to access GB3DR or be heard through it.

19/09/11 - As part of our ongoing tests GB3DR is using a different repeater for a few days. There is no 'K' tone and users should allow the repeater to close down between overs in order to avoid time-out! We expect to change back to our normal station by the end of the week.

22/09/11 - The Annual General Meeting of the Group will be held on Tuesday the 18th of October at the Masonic Hall, Alington Street, Dorchester.

23/09/11 - Late this afternoon (Friday) the GB3DR repeater was changed back to the usual G6WHI built unit.

30/09/11 - The 2011 Newsletter is now available to read on this website - see below or SDRG Newsletters.

19/10/11 - At the 2011 AGM of the South Dorset Repeater Group last night it was clear that our decision at last years AGM to use e-mail to distribute the SDRG newsletter this year has been something of a disaster! It seems that despite our best intentions many members and supporters of the SDRG did not receive it. Next year we will revert to posting a printed copy of the newsletter and a post 'AGM newsletter' will be produced and sent out as soon as possible.

02/11/11 - GB3DR was of the air for a few hours today. It is assumed that there was a mains power outage at the site as GB3SD continued to operate on reduced power using the battery back-up supply. By late afternoon everything was back to normal without our intervention.

05/11/11 - The minutes of the AGM are now available to read - see below or SDRG Documents.

26/11/11 - A PayPal bank account has now been set up for SDRG2000 and should be available for use soon. Subscriptions for 2011/12 are now due. The cost of providing the repeater facilities this year was almost £700.00 and if you have not already done so please consider supporting the Group and help to keep GB3SD and GB3DR on the air. It is a sad fact that there are still regular users of the repeaters that have never contributed to their upkeep.

13/02/12 - Reports suggest that the Internet Link to GB3SD has not been enabled for some time: hopefully this service will eventually be restored.

07/04/12 - Work at the site is scheduled for tomorrow morning (Sunday) and there may be some interruption of service.

09/04/12 - The PayPal account is now up and running and payments and/or donations to the South Dorset Repeater Group 2000 can now be made by clicking on the button below.

Thanks to Chris, G6WHI the Group now has has two new web addresses www.gb3dr.co.uk and www.gb3sd.co.uk that are shortcuts to the SDRG Information page. As these use the repeater callsigns they are easy to remember and pass out over the air so please spread the word!

14/04/12 - It is hoped that a replacement GB3DR repeater will be installed today so there might be a temporary interruption in service.

Update 1800 UTC: The above work has been postponed until tomorrow (Sunday).

Echolink: The Internet Link to GB3SD is currently under test. It was active for a while yesterday and seemed to be working well. However there are still some outstanding technical issues to be overcome. If all goes well it should be on again later today and reports will be welcome.

15/04/12 - The GB3DR repeater was changed today by Chris, G6WHI and hopefully this will cure the intermittent TX power drop that has been occurring. The control logic has been enhanced and now has voice ID 'GB3DR .co.uk'. This will only be heard when the repeater is not in use and is sent without a 71.9Hz tone so you won't hear it if you have tone squelch enabled on your receiver. The intermittent crackling caused by tower movement is still present and work to try and cure the problem is still ongoing.

Echolink: Although there are still outstanding technical issues the Internet link is currently enabled. This will be (as before) in 'attended mode' only.

17/04/12 - 1015 UTC: GB3SD is faulty. Although still working it is very weak.

Update: Chris, G6WHI visited the site and found that the GB3SD Power Amplifier had failed. This has been taken out of circuit and as a result GB3SD is currently operating at reduced (-10dB) power.

18/04/12 - GB3SD is working OK but still on reduced power. Echolink is enabled. GB3DR is working normally after a period yeterday when it seemed down on sensitivity.

19/04/12 - GB3DR is on slightly reduced power as it is running on a temporary PSU whilst the usual one is being checked. Also there still seems to be some lack of RX sensitivity at times.

1400 UTC: Echolink is not enabled as outstanding technical issues need to be resolved.

23/04/12 - A replacement heavy duty PSU has been fitted and GB3DR is now back to full power. We are still trying to trace the intermittent interference which seems to be local to the site but is proving very illusive!

GB3SD is still on reduced power although it is hoped that a replacement PA will be fitted in the next few days.

30/04/12 - GB3SD is back on full power. Chris, G6WHI fitted the replacement PA to GB3SD today. Many thanks to Edward, G3VPF who provided it.

12/05/12 - Weather permitting, work is planned at the site this weekend so expect some interruption of service.

16/05/12 - GB3SD has a fault and is radiating very low power.

17/05/12 - The GB3SD PA has failed again and has been removed for service. As a result GB3SD is once again on reduced (-10dB) power.