GB3ZB is a 'repeater'. It is part of the GB3FH repeater group. Repeaters are relay stations enabling reliable contact between radio amateurs over long distances using small portable radios and antennas. The repeaters in the GB3FH group use VHF and UHF frequencies that communicate over 'line of sight' paths from masts on hill tops. Their radio contact is limited by hilly terrain and the curvature of Earth. Besides each having its own local coverage area they are linked, by the internet, to other repeaters in SW England and can be accessed by repeaters in other countries. They are managed via their internet connection through the SWAN hub which is maintained by G4RKY.
Repeater use is limited by the same regulations that apply to all licenced amateur radio ('ham') activity. They are maintained and funded by voluntary contributions by their users and in the UK they are 'open'.
'Open' means free for all to use. Radio Amateur repeaters in the UK are not permitted to use selective identification or access codes. GB3ZB is a voice repeater. (Other repeaters handle video and data.) Repeaters are communication devices. Their function is not to provide entertainment and the relaying of music is prohibited. Amateur Radio Broadcasting other than by the special Notice of Variation for GB2RS operators is not permitted.
Repeater users become a community of individuals and groups who share the same air space. They acknowledge each other but tend to form separate groups. It is very like a public lounge bar with tables. There is no real privacy but one respects other people's space. Everyone knows that everything they say can be heard by everyone else, that is the point of a repeater! Conversation topics are somewhat limited and some are off limits. It is unusual for legal calls to be unanswered. The repeater is automatic, but the operators are not. We are people. We have limitations, minds of our own and free will. Good behaviour is required and generally rules.
I say 'legal call' because it is required. I have mentioned the 'licence'. All governments, world wide, issue licences for amateur radio communication. It is managed, world wide, for the benefit of all and is (in theory) a truly international activity. If you have a licence you have a legal callsign. It is a licence requirement that you identify yourself. The amateur radio licence only permits communication between licence holders. If you do not use your legal callsign you will not get replies.
(For background info please click here.)
We are relieved and grateful that the individual whose actions prompted me to write this page in December 2024 is no longer making an nuisance of himself. However, others have taken his place. Such is life...
Someone with much more expertise is misusing several radios and proper antennas. His speciality is 'echo round'. Re-transmitting the output of one repeater to another. The feedback is not a whistle, as happens with PA systems, it is more like a Cheddar Cave. The latency in the audio caused by the processing needed to run the network is more than a second.
My message is the same. 'Please stop messing with our repeaters.'
The transmissions are quite long and the areas where they could come from are limited. We suspect that they may come from a licenced individual. We don't know who it is... yet.
We have no way of locking out unwanted and illegal transmissions but our system has now been configured to prevent disruption of the GB2RS news broadcasts. We can 'shut the door' to everyone, at will, remotely. Only a very few of us have the necessary permission to manage the way the repeater works. We are using it. We don't like having to do it. Not many regular users will notice it, but the unwanted callers have probably worked out why there are times when the repeaters do not respond as they expect.
If you know who is responsible for radio jamming, please do something about it. Have a quiet word. Explain the problem and how it affects the users of GB3ZB and the other repeaters linked by the SWAN hub. We need a break. This sort of attention seeking behaviour seems to me to be similar to self harming. This person needs a break and help. Some good could come out of this.
A lot of time and a significant amount of money is needed to keep a repeater on air. We are self funding and provide free emergency services with communication for events where there is poor mobile coverage. Some of our regular users are house bound. Reliable radio communication is their lifeline and window onto the world. Jamming particularly upsets legitimate users who can't cope with gratuitous aggro very well. We have enough problems without anyone rocking the boat by jamming. Have a heart. Please leave us alone... or make yourself known, get a licence and join us.
I don't like to use the 'P' word. You know what it is! When I was at school, seventy years ago, I made a radio transmitter to go with my receivers and talked, late at night, to school friends who had done the same. Many current licence holders did the same sort of thing, and AM CB was almost a rite of passage. We don't hold grudges against illegal operation but we resent deliberate interference. I kept the interest in electronics but dropped amateur radio. It took me twenty five years to get a licence.
Reader... Do contact me if you have anything to say, or think I should know.
73 de G4TRN op John.
email:- g4trn(at)saundrecs.co.uk
This text is dated 12th. August 2024.
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The interference we are experiencing is hard to ignore. The perpetrator would be difficult but not impossible to identify. Official action would be difficult to engage and slow to implement. We are all hoping that the problem will fade away if we continue to ignore it, on air. The only sure way for a jammer to avoid detection is to stop. This would be best for all parties and is the thinking behind my producing this page. I have appealed to the better nature of operators who deliberately cause interference before, with good results.
A case of deliberate interference was reported on GB2RS for 26th. November 2023. You can hear me reading it as part of the regular 9.30am Sunday broadcast by clicking here...
GB2RS report of prosecution for deliberately causing radio interference.
Here is the full link to the report on the OFCOM web site...
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/ofcom-investigation-helps-to-convict-man-for-amateur-radio-interference
This is not a trivial matter. When engaged, the law takes it seriously enough to invoke a custodial sentence. Nobody wants things to escalate to this level.