Internet Linking

As mentioned in the previous news item the nodes had to be taken off-air last Wednesday, two days ago. After lowering the mast and aerial for the nodes in the gusty wind, a brief inspection revealed that they had suffered to some extent with the salt air. Some refurbishment therefore needs to take place but this needs to be done in dry conditions. The weather forecast for today (Friday) is for virtually continual rain and gusty conditions so unfortunately the refurbishment will have to be delayed until tomorrow (Saturday), when the weather is forecast to improve substantially over the weekend.

The repeater keepers apologise for this downtime, as there are a number of regulars as well as visitors to the town and world-wide connections who use the nodes. These include G3SEA/KH6 (Hawaii), VK5ACX (Adelaide),  G0RLT/VE6 (Canada), and closer to home GW1SXT (Pontypool) and G3PNQ (Parbold).

The IRLP and Echolink nodes at GB3OA were off-air from approximately 14.05 to 14.25hrs this afternnon for the nodes software to have its monthly back-up.

There are around ten individual daily users of Echolink and several IRLP users that are regulars, one in Blackpool virtually daily connecting to a node in West Sweden. Popular times seem to be after breakfast, either side of lunch time, late afternoon, and from 20.00hrs into the small hours, with US stations appearing around 01.00hrs each night. Local mobiles seem to be active around 08.45 and 17.00hrs.

Several times each week the IRLP node is connected to the Alaska Morning Net at around 18.15hrs, 09.15hrs their time. It’s not just for Alaskan stations – amateurs around the world do check in. Friday is a popular evening when Roy KI7PKL is Net Controller as he keeps things moving and is very enthusiastic (and was only licenced last October). Also, the same with Craig K5CAP on Monday nights. If you wish to connect GB3OA yourself use DTMF tones 9109.

The coverage of GB3OA continues to be good, encompassing the North Wales coast, northwards up the coast to the South Lakes, and inland to East Lancashire, with a regular from Nelson. A full coverage map is available at https://gb3oa.org.uk/coverage/

The New Years Eve welcome to 2018 will take place as usual on node 9200, the Crossroads reflector in the US where countries log in as they go through the New Year. GB3OA will be connected to this reflector when the countries who usually participate connect. These are:

• New Zealand – 11.00UTC
• Australia – 13.00UTC
• Malaysia – 16.00UTC
• South Africa – 22.00UTC
• UK – 00.00UTC

OA will be connected at five minutes to the hour for twenty minutes.

Users of GB3OA are welcome to connect OA to node 9200 at other times themselves, and especially for the US at 5, 6, 7 and 08.00UTC the following morning. As the connection will be via IRLP there is no need to put a # or * before the node number.

Other news.

A full backup of the nodes server software takes place during the afternoon of the first Thursday of every month. The nodes are taken down at this point, but this lasts only for about twenty minutes.

Most evenings of the week OA is connected to the Alaska Morning Net just after 6pm (9am their time). This net is not just for Alaskans! Anyone worldwide is welcome to check in when the Net Controller requests more check ins, and that includes locals direct into GB3OA. There is a different Net Controller each day and they run the Net as they prefer i.e. some ask how your day has been, some have a topic (e.g. what do you think of Chinese HTs), some have a trivia question related to radio, etc. Some of the check ins specialise and are very knowledgeable about a particular subject. The Net doesn’t run on a Sunday, but on other days, if OA is not connected to the AMN then please feel free to connect using DTMF tones 9109 between 6pm and 8pm. Please send DTMF 73 when finished.

Note that the Echolink Android app is now not available on Google Play Store until February when a new version will be released. However, the old version is available free from Amazon or the Echolink web site.

Finally, the Repeater Keepers wish all who use GB3OA Southport a Healthy and Prosperous 2018!