wythall radio club

GB3WL Information

GB3WL is a wide-split 70cms repeater.

THERE IS NO ‘BLEEP’ ON THE REPEATER – so if you test access by just firing up the rig, you will only get a short burst of carrier.  And you will not get a ‘bleep’ at the end of your over.  

Besides analogue FM, Dstar access is now fully working via reflector DCS005H as of August 2024.

To use Dstar, you need to register.  You can register here

https://regist.dstargateway.org/Dstar.do

We hope to enable C4FM/Fusion in the near future in parallel with Dstar and FM.

• Operated & underwritten by the members of Wythall Radio Club, GB3WL is housed at the Club’s Headquarters in the cellar shack at Wythall House in Silver Street, Wythall.
• Housed in a 19” rackmount, GB3WL uses a Yaesu DR-1X together with an NWDigital D-STAR UPMC add-on via a Raspberry Pi.  A Tait T800 Base Station & a logic system designed by Jake G1YFF is kept as a backup.
• The repeater feeds a commercial 4 stacked folded dipole array installed on the chimney at Wythall House.
• Although initially a club project, GB3WL is offered to the whole amateur community to serve South Birmingham, Redditch, Solihull and the southern section of the M42, currently not so well served by other repeaters.
• We realise that many of you may wish to help out with our costs. Any donations will go exclusively to pay our bills & keep the repeater fully functional. If you wish to contribute, please make your donation by Bank Transfer to Wythall Radio Club (Sort Code 60-19-14, account number 01517120) with a note saying “For GB3WL from ‘your callsign’ (G9XXX)”. Even just £1 will help!
  

  G1YFF Logic Board for GB3WL

A SHORT HISTORY OF GB3WL

• Early January 2014 – First proposed as a possible solution to problems WRC members especially were having with topography in trying to work each other locally. Wythall RC Committee unanimously approves the project as it soon becomes obvious that other local hams and mobile stations will also benefit.
• Late January 2014 – Club member Noel G8NDT donates equipment to get the project underway and another member Dave G3YXM offers to become Repeater Keeper and take on the technical challenge of getting the repeater built and maintained. The proposal is submitted.
• February 2014 – The proposal is accepted & the application for the NoV is submitted to Ofcom
• March 2014 – The construction of GB3WL begins.
• May 2014 – A donation is applied for to pay for a commercial quality 4-stacked folded dipole antenna system for GB3WL
• June 2014 – GB3WL passes final testing and is delivered to Wythall Radio Club
• June 2014 – The generous donation for GB3WL’s antennas arrives from Western Power Distribution. The professional, made for GB3WL, stacked array of 4 folded dipoles is ordered and arrives with the repeater keeper within a week!
• July 2014 – The antennas and feeder are installed
  

  GB3WL’s antenna is installed & ready to go!

• 8th December 2014 – The NoV arrives and GB3WL is on the air

The original GB3WL Analogue only Tait unit

• 22nd December 2017 – A Yaesu DR-1X replaces the Tait unit and GB3WL becomes Dual-mode Analogue/Fusion
• 2nd January 2018 – D-STAR is added to the repeater, making it tri-mode, and goes on the air for the first time