Why should I join the Repeater Group ?

Although the repeater network is a "Free to use" service the repeaters themselves receive no funding from organisations such as the RSGB or Ofcom, our costs are entirely met by those who choose to support the group.

In 2008 we invested over £1000 (some of that funding has been at our own personal expense) in new equipment together with a frequency change to ensure the future of GB3BS at the Cossham Hospital site. Although through no fault of the repeater itself, this was to cure the ongoing issues the old RB10 repeater was causing car owners on site who were using remote key fobs which operated on 433.920 MHz.

In 2009 The Repeater Group had to move site due to a multi million pound refurbishment. We are sad in one way that we have had to leave the Cossham Hospital site after over 30 years, but pleased to see this refurbishment commence thus keeping this famous and historic Hospital open for many years to come.

With the site at Lansdown we now have new challenges and a new future. We have been very fortunate in having a helping hand from what can be best described as "Supporters" who have either donated materials for free or at a reduced cost to us. This has all been used to bring our new site up to one that is now weatherproof, dry and electrically safe and secure to operate GB3BS from. Some of this work is still ongoing so please have a look at our before & after pictures!

In 2014 we further invested over £1700 in a new DMR Repeater GB7BS. This now forms part of the South West Cluster network and is an ongoing project.

As you can appreciate, a lot of money has been spent on both repeaters over the years and along with other bills and expenses it can mount up year after year.

For the group just to break even we require a minimum of 55 Paid members per year, this excludes kind donations made by some members and non members alike. So, membership and donation are important to our survival.

If you are a regular user of GB3BS, GB7BS or both, please think about becoming a member so that we can continue providing a repeater service for everyone to make use of.