During 2011 Berkshire Lowland Search & Rescue, part of ALSAR (Association of Lowland Search & Rescue, looked for opportunities to enhance their communications capability within the Berkshire and surrounding areas.

The team known locally by their original name “SEBEV” sought to find a site for a fixed VHF high band repeater to provide handportable radio coverage over a large part of Berkshire.

SEBEV quickly identified a suitable site for the repeater and terms were agreed with the site owner Thames Valley Police, SEBEV were very fortunate to have access to such an excellent site and facilities. At the same time the necessary paperwork was submitted to the UK Search & Rescue Communications Working Group (CWG) who manage the Search & Rescue spectrum.

Once approval for the repeater was obtained from the CWG SEBEV approached many suppliers seeking donations for the hardware required to bring the approved VHF repeater into service.

The response was “fantastic”, Tait Radio supplied a VHF repeater, Procomm supplied the duplexor and Skymast supplied the commercial grade antenna and the required hardware and brackets required to attach it to the tower.

In this picture (above right) you can see the donated Skymast 6dB collinear with the parallel mounting arm and brackets.

The Tait TB7100 installed at the top of an existing 19” cabinet which also houses the amateur radio UHF repeater GB3BN. The Procom duplexor is located within the Tait unit.

Coverage from the repeater is excellent and exceeds expectations, the Skymast antenna is located 155m above sea level on the Western side of the tower and provides useable coverage over most of Berkshire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technical details

Repeater Location	Coppid Beech Bracknell
Tower Ground height	Approx 100m above Sea Level
Antenna Type	Skymast S.C3B-155
Antenna Height on Tower	56m above ground level
Antenna gain	3 dBd
Transmit Power	25 Watts ERP
Feeder	Andrews LDF450
Repeater	Tait TB7100
Duplexor	Procom

Reference

SEBEV www.sebev.co.uk

ALSAR www.alsar.org.uk

Skymast www.skymasts.com

Procom www.procomuk.co.uk

Tait Radio www.taitradio.com