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Cambridgeshire Repeater Group AGM

The CRG AGM was on Wednesday 4th of November, 19:30 for a 20:00 start.  It was held in Bottisham Village collage, the same location as previous years AGM and the CRG rally.

Minutes will follow…

About the CRG

The Cambridgeshire Repeater Group (CRG) owns and operates amateur radio analogue voice repeaters on 6m (GB3PX), 2m (GB3PI) and 23cm (GB3PS), a D-Star repeater on 70cm (GB7PI) and a high speed packet node on 70cm (GB7PT) from a site at Barkway near Royston plus an analogue voice repeater on 70cm (GB3PY), a 2m APRS digipeater (MB7UM) and an amateur television repeater on 23cm (GB3PV) from a site at Madingley west of Cambridge. Both Barkway and Madingley are former Pye/Philips towers however both are now owned and maintained by Arqiva. These repeaters serve users in the Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, North East Hertfordshire, North West Essex, West Suffolk and South West Norfolk areas.

More information, including the history of the CRG can be found on the About the CRG page.

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The Madingley Site

CRG Rally

2009’s CRG Rally was held on 5th April 2009. The weather was exceptionally kind and it enticed a vast number of people to make the trip to Bottisham; thanks to all those – traders and visitors alike – who made the day such a success!

Talk – in was kindly provided by Cambridge Raynet, and Group Controller David Smith, G8IDL, gave a presentation on Raynet as part of the lecture stream. Other lectures were from Gavin Nesbitt, M1BXF on the CRG’s current technical plans; and from Neil Whiteside, G4HUN about the activities of the Camb-Hams.

Before the lectures started, CRG Chairman Rob Compton, M0ZPU presented former CRG Treasurer Jane Dyke with flowers and chocolates as a thank you for all her hard work over the years; and presented a DAB receiver to the retiring caretaker of Bottisham Village College.

This year’s members’ prize draw included a first prize of a Yaesu FT60e handheld, and two runner up prizes of APRS tracker kits with GPS receivers. The first prize was won by Olly, M0OLY; the two runners up were Graham, M0GRP and Ben, G6YQJ.

Repeater Status

Please email technical if you have any reports regarding any repeater below.

Call sign Mode Location Output Status
GB3PI 2m Voice Barkway 145.750 MHz Operational
GB3PY 70cm Voice Madingley 433.200 MHz Operational
GB3PX 6m Voice Barkway 50.780 MHz Offsite for upgrade
GB3PV 23cm ATV Madingley 1316.000 MHz Operational
GB3PS 23cm Voice Barkway 1297.075 MHz Offsite for upgrade
GB7PI 70cm D-STAR Barkway 439.9125 MHz Operational
GB7PT 70cm Packet Barkway 439.7125 MHz Operational
MB7UM 2m APRS Digi Madingley 144.800 MHz Operational
MB7PI 2m APRS Digi + iGate Barkway 144.800 MHz Planned
  • GB3PI – running on a temporary Motorola system while the FX5000 RX is repaired.
  • GB3PX – logic is being updated to YFF Mk8.
  • GB3PS – Investigating the possibility to update the beacon modes.
  • MB7PI – Hardware being built.

CRG Subscriptions

CRG Membership subscriptions run annually from the AGM, see the CRG calendar for this years date. Membership rates for 2009 are: ordinary membership £10 per annum; family membership £15 per annum.  Please help the group by paying your subscription promptly. As always, your subscription will get you into the CRG Rally for free. For those who haven’t yet paid (and those who’d like to join), you will find the CRG membership form on the CRG Membership Page. or pay online by going to the Products Page.

CRG Coming Events

Future

* CUWS lectures are all start at 7pm in Caius College, Cambridge.

Past

Please see the CRG calendar for more dates.

CRG News

GB3YL Repeater Updated (10th Jan, 2010)

GB3YL (RB14 ) is now CTCSS Only Access using 94.8Hz. The repeater has been upgraded to a Motorola Compact Base Station with a G1YFF logic system. Reports Via  http://www.gb3yl.co.uk/

GB7NB D-STAR Repeater Operational (14th Sept, 2009)

The Norfolk Broads D-STAR repeater GB7NB went live on Friday 11th September at 15:00 and the first QSO was with M0KXK Ray.

GB7NB has an output frequency of 439.6875 MHz with the input 9 MHz lower at 430.6875 MHz.

The group’s website says that intial reports were good however but there is an issue with drop outs which may be due to mixing products from other transmitters on the site.

Phase 2 of the project will be getting GB7NB connected to the gateway, this is well underway with the PC Server already built and tested and the Icom G2 s/w loaded thanks to Darren G7LWT.

More details on GB7NB here, and the Norfolk Repeater Group here.

Presentation of CRG Rally Prize to Olly M0OLY (16th June, 2009)

At the May pie and pint we presented Olly M0OLY with a Yaesu FT-60r which was the first prize at this years CRG rally.  Olly thanked the CRG for all the efforts and commitment to amateur radio in Cambridgeshire and hoped to win the first prize next year!  It was fun to note Olly is a die hard Icom fan so presenting him with a Yeasu brought some smiles to those at the pie and pint.

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Olly M0OLY receiving the CRG rally first prize of an FT-60r from CRG chairman Rob M0ZPU.

Presentation of APRS Trackers to David G8IDL of Cambridgeshire Raynet (16th June, 2009)

The second and third prizes at the CRG rally were APRS tracker kits complete with GPS receivers to compliment the groups new APRS digi MB7UM.  These were won by Graham, M0GRP and Ben, G6YQJ who both thought they would not utilise them and generously though others would have better use for them.  To that end the CRG decided that Cambridgeshire Raynet would be a good beneficiary from them and as luck would have it David G8IDL the Cambridgeshire Raynet group controller was among the crowd the pie and pint so we stood him up to accept the presentation of both APRS trackers.  David and all other Raynet members in attendance would like to thank Graham, M0GRP and Ben, G6YQJ (Ben was also there on the night) for their generosity.

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David G8IDL receiving two APRS trackers with GPS from CRG chairman Rob M0ZPU.

New website for South Anglia Repeater Group (27th May, 2009)

The South Anglia Repeater Group has just launched a new website, www.sargroup.co.uk. This site highlights the work carried out by the repeater group and its supporters. It includes details on the group’s five repeaters which cover Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Norfolk. The site also includes contact details for all group members, details on how to donate to the group, pictures of the repeater gear and much more.”

CRG Poloshirts Now Available (27th May, 2009)

New CRG Polo shirts beautifully embroidered with the CRG logo in sizes small to xxxl, go to the products page to order yours now!

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Camb-Hams DX’Pedition Ready To Go (15th April, 2009)

With the trailer packed and Friday 17th April fast approaching the long awaited Camb-Hams DX’Pedition to the Island of Harris is about to start.  With activity planned on all bands from 80m to 70cm using GS3PYE/P, the Scottish variant of the CRG clubcall, you should manage to make a QSO!  Follow the groups progress on the Harris diary page here.

SARG AGM – April 21st 2009 (20th March, 2009)

Another year has passed and it is once again time for the AGM of the South Anglia Repeater Group on Tuesday 21st April 2009 at 19:15 for 19:30 start. Location is St John Ambulance (Suffolk) Headquarters, Priory House, Duckamere, Bramford, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP8 4AJ.  Directions and a map can be found here.  More info on the SARG webpage here.

Agenda
1- Welcome and Introductions (inc domestic arrangements  *Keith Hotchkiss )
2- Apologies for absence
3- Minutes from the last AGM
4- Matters arising from those minutes
5- Chairman’s Report
6- Treasurers Report (including any Repeater Group Subs)
7- Auditors Statement
8- Nominations and Election of Officers:
- Chairman
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Auditor
9-  Repeater News
10- TV Repeater (Jason Flynn and Chris Irish)
11- Web Site Update (Keith Hotchkiss)
12- Any other business
13- Date of Next Meeting

More details and stories older than 6 months can be found in the CRG News section