Latest News

December 2024

AGM Monday 2nd December 2024

The 2024 AGM took place on Monday 2 December at the Hop Blossom. Mike G3VYI has taken on the post of secretary, the remaining committee members remaining unchanged. A lot of discussion took place around the increased cost of electricity, and an effort will be made to make it easier to receive donations for running costs.

Power Saving

The fixed price electricity tariffs for both sites, taken out in cheaper times, expired in 2024. Electricity is likely to cost us around £1000 in 2025. To try and reduce power consumption, new switched mode power supplies have been put in place for GB3FM and GB3SN, following the power supply replacement for GB3FN in 2023. It's a shame we can't do anything about the standing charge - that will cost £372 on its own for the two sites.

July 2024

GB3FRS and GB3SN antenna work

The defunct yagi which was the original antenna on GB3FRS was replaced with an Alford Slot, which has already generated improved signal reports. At the same time, the antenna feeders for GB3SN were repaired as some damage had occurred to the outer jacket of the Heliax cables.

November 2023

AGM Monday 20 November 2023

The 2023 AGM took place on Monday 20 November 2023 at 8pm at The Hop Blossom, 50 Long Garden Walk, Farnham GU9 7HX. Our long-term secretary, John (G0NOK), did not stand for re-election. We thank him for his many years of service to the club. Other members of the committee also resigned but were re-elected to the same posts as no other members volunteered.

September 2023

GB3FM aerial update

GB3FM has been put back into its normal aerial near the top of the tower. This is probably temporary. The aerial is currently behaving itself and performance is good, however as the aerial has not been replaced yet it is quite possible that performance will suddenly fall off, possibly if we get a spell of wet weather. We still intend to replace the aerial when resources permit.

New Power Supply

A new switched mode power supply has been engineered by Andy G4VDF as a replacement for the old linear power supply for GB3FN and the frequency standards. A considerable power saving has resulted!

November 2022

GB3SN

With Mike G8ATK sadly becoming a silent key earlier in 2022 leaving just G3VYI and G4EPX looking after GB3SN, we decided to merge what was the UK FM Southern Repeater Holding Group into the Farnham VHF Group so that GB3SN could be managed by a larger group, and the load could be spread a little further.  These web pages have been updated as a result.

June 2022

GB3FM aerial problem

The usual transmit aerial for GB3FM has developed a fault. Attempts to find a solution at ground level have proven ineffective and we need to find a rigger to repair - or more lilkely replace - the faulty aerial. In the meantime, GB3FM has been restored to operation by using a temporary aerial which is considerably lower - approx. 5m above ground - than the usual antennas. Therefore, it will be a lot weaker than it used to be. We are grateful to Phil G3TCU for the loan of his Alford Slot.

We have been trying to find someone to climb the mast and work on other aerials for some time, without success. Please contact us if you are - or know of - someone suitably qualified and equipped to work on the mast. The group is prepared to cover expenses and a reasonable fee for a suitable person.

January 2021

This revised web site. Though much of the content is unchanged, the operation and look of the site has been substantially altered. New facilities include the ability to use PayPal for membership and contributions and email from the Contact Us page.

Some more of the technical stuff...

• 'Frames' are no longer used. The most obvious benefit of this is the ability to reliably bookmark any page within the site, not just the home page.
• Font sizes have generally been increased to compensate for screen resolution increasing over the years, much more than screen sizes - resulting in smaller displayed text.
• A single CSS file controls the majority of formatting for all the pages, simplifing future changes.

Feedback on all aspects of the new site is welcome, simply use the Contact Us facility.

Summer 2020

Between lockdowns, we had the tower repainted, as required by our landlord.  This cost several thousand pounds, the vast majority of the club reserves built up over the last 40 years. We desparately need money!  If you would like to make a donation, join or renew your membership, or donate any surplus equipment that we can sell to raise funds for the group, please get in touch!

January 2020

The MkII GB3FN repeater has now been put into service, after a programme of work lasting over two years.  It has more power output and better sensitivity than the backup unit which ran from 2017.  Please follow the GB3FN link for information on the new repeater.