Some people are under the incorrect impression that Ofcom closed down the midlands GB3DX VHF repeater operating on 145.7125 Mhz. Other comments regarding how the repeater was run both by G4KQU (EI4JR) and G4LCH have also been made.

None of these statements are true. The decision to close down GB3DX was a tough one but was based simply on two primary factors:

1. The midlands repeater network very congested with several internet linked repeaters and gateways all offering a similar service, several stations expressed an interest in running a VHF repeater in the midlands from various locations. 

It was due to this pressue that the decision to reliquish the frequency to enable these groups to experiance just what it is like to run a repeater was taken.

2. The traffic levels on not only Echolink but other VOIP systems has reduced to an all time low, GB3DX despite the support of a dedicated group of guys was not in our opinion performing its primary role of being a gateway for the West Midlands.

G4KQU (EI4JR) Peter, G8PWE Ian and Dave G4DPZ plus many others should be applauded for their efforts in supporting the repeater, spending many hours finding and eliminating sources of noise and the exellent project work that was undertaken and finished that no doubt added to the UK's repeater network as a whole.

We unfortunatly had no assistance of any description from a club in the area despite the repeater groups support of them, they in fact saw the repeater as being a marketing tool for their own acivaties. With one group complaining about coverage from either of its two locations and not contributing anything to the system.

The exception to this was the support of Chris G6KMQ who provided bandwidth for the England Conference server and several kind stations who made donations to the running of the system but wish to remain anonymous. The England Conference server did its job and we scailed it down to let other groups have a slice of the action.

"Like what happened to the England Conference server" was sent by text from UK station, it was a planned phase out and one the group itself planned.  There is no way on earth you can support 6000 connections the software is just not built to handle this level of traffic. Look at the source code and it will tell you all, The bridge does not use multi-casting so the conference has to make (n) transmissions. Why link to a conference 24X7 clearly these nodes have no regard for their RF users.

The group could see no difference between an MSN chat room and the England conference server !!!!! that had to change.

The England conference server is set to return but we wish to be different and not use the run of the mill software with its insecure addons. Echolink is a great system and now its time to push it harder. having a gazzilion connections is not effective use of bandwidth or spectrum, it locking out RF users is not acceptable,Why use radio at all !!!!1 just fire up echolink 24X7 you have the same effect ahh but not from your car of course.. The other argument is SWL's. 

Fireup MSN and look at one of the rooms just sit and watch / listen for a while, I think you may come to the same conclusion.   We need a change of operating style or we run the risk of generating a complex group of rebroadcasters ( if we are not in fact already there).....

This fuels the argument that Echolink is not radio perhaps...

We have been writing software to provide solutions to CTCSS, Tone-Burst and DTMF detection this is in the very advanced stages after many hours of painfull work... Watch this space there are many tools that are going to come from this work and the biggest development is another world first.....  

Remember a voice repeater / gateway has at its heart RF users and with a reduced number of RF users which is still the case in the midlands, you only have to listen to the actualy traffic on these systems to realise that they are not used to their fullest.  We could loose more repeaters.

GB3DX in the midlands had actually more listeners than it had operators and was an expensive rebroadcaster for the Echolink sytem. There is the small group who seem to think that can make up the terms of our licence or interpret them to suite their own style that no doubt eminated from years of operation on other frequencies.

In short GB3DX was born and brought into service by Peter G4KQU after many years of abuse of the repeater network in the Midlands, for many years the West Midlands was without a VHF repeater after loosing GB3AM, GB3BM, only GB3EC remained and this was not used that much despite being the only viable repeater for some parts of the south midlands.

Peter G4KQU convinced both the regulator and the RMC that a Midlands VHF repeater was viable and he should be commended for his work in this area, it was clear even under Peters watch that some stations were hell bent on causing problems this was addressed with a network of control operators who with the help of TX-ID and later XMIT-ID were prevented from causing issues.

We still have the database of these stations and they are used to this day to prevent the very type of issue that Peter tried "and succeded" in preventing.

We have seen several statements about enforcement being ineffective. These statements are made by the few who do not know the real process and seem to think "you can get away with murder". This type of statement is like playing speed cams, one day there will be a film in it and you will get caught. And to put that one to rest some in the midlands did.  We struggle to this day to understand why one station who trained M3's seemed to flaunt the licence conditions whenever possible trying to use clever statements to backup their argument. It was simple play the game by the rules or you will not use the system. 

It is written into the variation of the repeaters licence that the keeper has the right to monitor traffic and prevent unacceptable traffic. There is no debate about this,  the licence is clear ....

GB3DX was NOT shut down by Ofcom, and the operating principles were put in place by the operating group to prevent the mindless minority from preventing its success. "Job done", well done to all the guy's and the as was them the RMC Bill G3TZM and Carlos for their support in the project.

GB3DX was closed down by the group due to lack of RF users period.... and replaced by a VHF gateway with little or no real impact.

There is much truth in the words "an empty can rattles the most". Maybe they are still planning their system who knows for a large coverage repeater that has been proven time and time again does not work.

GB3DX is in the proces of being re-born in Ireland and we sincerly hope that the same high standards are adopted which we are sure that will be, The Midlands version of GB3DX was a great sucess "one of a kind" and the new UHF version will we are sure will be a success. We wish Peter EI4JR and his group every success with their project.

We are in the process of adding the legacy information about GB3DX for interested users. 

The xmit -id system is to this day still running on MB7BG and has thwarted many attempts to DTMF storm it..

When will the station that is performing this act realise that we know who you are.. Maybe when Ofcom knocks their door and takes their kenwood and their licence from them.

So the fact remains 145.7125 MHz is clear and has been for some time, when will the guys who wanted to bring on line a VHF repeater step up to the plate. 

Regards