GB3LF 70cms voice is located 1 mile east of Kendal at 660ft ASL, map reference SD543920 and QRA IO84PH.
The antenna is located on the SW section of the mast at 35ft AGL to give optimum coverage towards the Furness peninsular and the Lancaster/ Morecambe area.
Coverage is much as the map on the ETCC website which is: South to the North Fylde area. East to Sedbergh on the A683/A684 and the North Yorkshire county boundary on the A65. North to Shap Fell, Kirkstone Pass, Grasmere and Dunmail Raise. West to Coniston and along the A5087 from Conishead Priory at Ulverston to Roose on the edge of Barrow. Coverage along the A590 to Barrow becomes sparse after Low Newton at the top of Lindale Hill.
The repeater is based on Tait PMRÂ modules for 12.5kHz channel spacing with +/-2.5kHz deviation for TX and RX. The repeater uses a duplexer built using surplus cavities retuned to 70cm by Jan Makkinje, M1DBL. This feeds a J Beam 7047 4 stack colinear via W103 and LDF5-50 Heliax. The antenna is configured for directional operation with a south west pattern to put the main lobe down the Furness Peninsular with the half power points at Kirkby Lonsdale to the south east and Ambleside to the north west. The repeater antenna has a directional ERP of +11.8dBW/15W
Repeater control is via a Hozlogic control system identical to GB3LD with a custom programmed PIC.
Operation
For access the repeater requires a carrier with 110.9Hz CTCSS sub audible tone (tone H) on the input frequency of 434.950MHz with the repeater output frequency of 433.350MHz (RB14) to prevent interference from GB3MR users on the same frequency. After which it will relay the incoming FM signal audio until the carrier + CTCSS drops. A sequence of two pip tones follow and the repeater can be re-enabled to relay audio with carrier + CTCSS at any time during this period. If no signal is received after the second pip tone the repeater closes down 5 seconds later.
The repeater gives a callsign beacon transmission every seven and a half (7 1/2) minutes at high deviation if the repeater is not in use and low deviation if it is. There is no time out on the repeater logic. The repeater provides 110.9Hz CTCSS on TX with valid incoming received signals until approx 500msec after the signal drops. This provides a quieter environment for the user by removing reception of the beacon transmissions and some noise, plus helps in preventing unwanted reception of other repeaters on the same channel.