|
|
| Ever since I was first licensed over 25 years ago I have always
felt that Northampton was an ideal location for a 2Mtr repeater. With GB3CF to
the North and GB3VA to the South West it was obvious to me that there was a
huge gap for mobile users in and around the Northampton area. Northampton was
primarily dominated by 70cms due to GB3NH being the only repeater available for
use during the majority of my amateur career, I felt that 2Mtr was lacking not
only in use but also in enthusiasm by local amateurs. To this end we now have GB3TO, located at junction 15 on the M1 which provides an ideal link between North and South for mobile users travelling along the backbone of England. There is also excellent coverage linking stations from Oxford and Cambridge not to mention several contacts from Birmingham. The equipment is quite simple: The transmit radio is an Icom IC-110s which has spent the last three years as a local taxi base station 2w (Max 25w). The PA is a Philips 4002 ex Met Police 15w (max 50w). The receive is an Icom IC-1010 which has spent the last five years as a mobile radio in a refuse vehicle in Corby The "software" interface is a Zetron Model 30 with the telephone interface circuit shot to blazes; however the radio circuit is fine. (This is a common fault with the Zetron panels) This particular Zetron is from an offshore telephone link station off Oban on the West coast of Scotland. The antenna is straight out of Waters & Stanton The key to the EXCELLENT performance of GB3TO is the set of four cavities that were acquired by me from the Maricopa Sheriffs department Maricopa County Arizona USA Whilst I have acquired the equipment from around the world over the last two years, much of the leg work in the UK has been done by Bob G1UQF and the radios and cavities have been tuned by Sam M1FJB |
|