Worcester gets a new 70cm wide spaced repeater

Mike G8TIC, the repeater keeper of Worcester's new wide spaced 70cm repeater, has contacted the Worcester Radio Amateurs Association with the following news:

GB3WU (Worcester UHF) repeater commences operation at 0800Z on Thursday 10th Jan 2008 from a location in Fernhill Heath, Worcester.

Operating on 430.82500MHz Tx (438.42500MHz Rx) with a 7.6MHz wide split and using 118.8Hz (tone "J") CTCSS sub-tone, the repeater will provide coverage from south Bromsgrove through Droitwich, Worcester and surrounding areas.

The repeater is a 25KHz (5KHz peak deviation) repeater with wide Tx/Rx split which simplifies antenna duplexing
(combining) while offering improved receiver performance. Access is by way of 118.8Hz CTCSS (sub-tone) only - 1750Hz tone-burst is not supported.

Initially GB3WU will operate as a stand-alone repeater serving the local area, but developments are under way to provide linking to GB3TU (The Crong, Bucks) and GB3AI (Amersham, Bucks) via the Echolink system using the internet.

This is an interim measure, as all three repeaters are expected to switch to using the AllStar linking system [part of the Asterisk(tm) VoIP PABX] which will see improved features, VoIP interconnect, and ultimately integration with D-Star digital operation and connection to further repeaters such as GB3PI and others..

Techincally, GB3WU is based on a new Tait TB7100 UHF base-station operating at 25W RF output, with a 6-stage Tx/Rx duplexer (filter), 35m LDF450 feeder and an X50N 3dB UHF colinear - calculated ERP is 14.1dBW (25W) after taking combiner losses, feeder losses and antenna gain in to account. The initial repeater controller logic is based on the NHRC 4 repeater controller.

Mike Tubby G8TIC
Repeater Keeper