2026

Quite a bit has changed at GB3OA over the past week, so here is where things stand.

A correction first: the Wires-X room number

Our linking page has been showing the wrong Wires-X room number. It said 05324, which was the old room. The correct room is GB-SW-LANCS, number 05239, and has been since June 2025. If you have 05324 saved in your radio or your node, that is why you could not get in. The pages have now been corrected.

The number changed because the room itself moved, from a node at the keeper’s QTH onto the node at the repeater. In Wires-X a room takes its number from the node hosting it, so when the room moved, the number moved with it. That is also why dialling the old number gets you nowhere rather than a helpful error: you are asking for a room that no longer exists on that node.

DMR is available again, via XLX840

Some of you will remember that back in April 2024 we withdrew both the SW-LANCS YSF reflector and the XLX704 reflector. They had given us technical trouble and, frankly, they were little used, so at the time removing them was the simpler option.

Both are now back, and we believe the new arrangement works well.

• C4FM and Fusion YSF reflector GB-SW-LANCS, number 11704
• DMR XLX840, module A, talkgroup 6 on timeslot 2, via DMRGateway

Please note it is TG 6, not TG 4001. The 4000 range is used for switching module, not for talking, so if you transmit on 4001 your hotspot will happily take your audio and then quietly discard it. This one catches people out.

Whichever way you come in, you end up in the same conversation. A call on DMR reaches a handheld on the 2m repeater, and back again.

D-Star: XLX840 has no hardware transcoder, so the D-Star addresses will connect but carry no audio. Please do not spend an evening debugging your radio.

A live status page

There is now a status page covering the whole linked system:

https://gb-sw-lancs.gb3oa.org.uk

It shows whether the repeater, the Wires-X room, the YSF reflector and the DMR link are connected and talking to each other, and it lists who is connected at the moment. It updates itself every minute, and there is a Status link in the menu at the top of every page.

It shows that the systems are linked and talking, which is not quite the same as proving audio is crossing between them. But if something is obviously down, the page will say so.

Full details of how to connect are on the linking page.

73, the GB3OA team.