One of the many reasons that Amateur Radio exists is to further the technical knowledge and expertise of those participating in the hobby.
In this modern era of cheap mobile phones and the Internet, some people have asked me "why do you bother? You can just pick up the telephone!". These people have no idea what makes a telephone work, even less a mobile phone!
To those people I ask why does anyone run a marathon, or climb a mountain? It's because you never know if you can do it, or how hard it is to do, until you try to do it yourself. It's the challenge of doing it and the satisfaction of achievement that drives these athletes and also drives some of us in this amazing world of Communications. (Without Radio Amateur's pioneering experiments, many of today's modern communications devices just would not exist!)
A repeater station is a device which is normally sited on a hilltop or high building to give it good radio coverage. It's role is to enable voice communication between stations that would not normally be in range of each other. GB3FH is the callsign of this repeater.
GB3FH will exist to provide clear and reliable voice communication over a wide area and to be available freely to every licensed Radio Amateur who wants to use it. The service will also be available for emergency communications by RAYNET and once operational, will hopefully form part of the local Civil Contingency Plan.
It's not a commercial service and no charge is made for its use, however there are costs associated with creating, installing and running a repeater and some may choose to support us by making a small donation but this is in no way a requirement for use of the repeater.
The repeater's aerial is sited on a shared commercial site, which is located on the Western end of the Mendip Hills, above the town of Axbridge in Somerset, South-West England.
This repeater owes its existence to the Spirit of Amateur Radio - without the donations of equipment, money, effort and services from individuals, groups and Companies there would be no repeater!
See the SPONSORS page and the SUPPORTERS page for details of GB3FH's main benefactors.