Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET
Voluntary Emergency Radio Communications
RAYNET (Radio Amateur Emergency Network) is a generic name for groups of licensed Radio Amateurs who give their time and expertise on a voluntary basis to provide radio communications in the event of emergencies and disasters as well as supporting community events.
There are approximately 5000 members in 250 independent groups across the UK. Licensing regulations allow us to assist various organisations (user Services) with communications for emergency or safety reasons. The list of user Services includes the Red Cross, St Andrews, Scottish Ambulance, HM Coastguard, Salvation Army, The Emergency Planning Officer, the Police, the Armed Forces, Community Resilience Groups and various public utilities.
We use local community events to help us train and keep our operational expertise up to scratch. We also work with other groups within Scotland and throughout the UK. The regular training using these community events enables us to respond rapidly in the event of an emergency. In most situations we can provide fully working radio network within 60 minutes of being called upon.
Apart from rare emergency situations we usually find ourselves operating on safety grounds at events such as car rallies, mountain biking events, marathons, triathlons and sponsored walks.
We are always on the lookout for new members to join our group so if you would like to know more about us and what we do, please contact us via the Contact Us link.
The Committee and Members of the Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET Group would like to thank all the contributors who have kindly donated to the GB3DG upkeep fund.
On the 29th July Dumfries & Galloway RAYNET provided safety cover communications for 10@Kirroughtree cycle event. Our Group has received thanks and a donation from the organisers for our help with this event.
10@kirroughtree is held in Kirroughtree Forest near Newton Stewart. Essential radio communications for the Event Control were provided from various locations around the course.
The Beltie Triathlon took place on the 10th September this year with DG RAYNET providing operators around the course, some relocating during the event to cover the running section.
The Beltie Triathlon is located in and around Loch Ken near Castle Douglas. The event starts and ends at Crossmichael on the A713.
The Beltie includes swimming, cycling and running. DG RAYNET provides safety and monitoring for both the cycling and running events.
The cycle route covers about 40km via the A713, A762 and B795 around the Loch and we will provide 6 operators at strategic locations along the course. We also provide 4 monitoring points for the 10 km running course in the Crossmichael area. All our operators communicate via our RAYNET CONTROL vehicle, located at the Start and Finish location at Crossmichael, from here we have direct communication with the Event Organisers and First Aid Responders. All our remote operators communicate via a talk-through station located at a high point in the Laurieston area, which has a direct link to our Control at Crossmichael.
The Dalbeattie Hardrock Challenge is a 26 mile Duathlon which takes place entirely within Dalbeattie Forest in Dumfries and Galloway.
DG RAYNET provided competitor reporting and safety cover for the organisers from 14 locations throughout the forest. RAYNET Control was located at the start-finish location having direct contact with the event organisers and First Aid responders.
The event was very successful with no major incidents and DG RAYNET received thanks and a generous donation from the organisers.
We are a small group of Radio Amateurs who feel that James Clerk Maxwell does not get the credit he deserves for his contribution to our hobby. Maxwell is buried at Parton Kirk, near Castle Douglas in Galloway close to where he grew up and it is from this Kirk that we put on special event stations, using the callsign GB2JCM, to remember the anniversaries of his birth and death.
James Clerk Maxwell is most famous for his theory of electromagnetism. He showed that electromagnetic radiation travels as waves through space at the speed of light. His theories eventually led to the invention of radio in all the many forms we that know today. This includes - worldwide radio and space communications, mobile phones, television, wifi and much more. His theory is also considered to have paved the way for both quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of special relativity.
The Wigtownshire Amateur Radio Club is the only amateur radio club in South-West Scotland. We serve the huge area of Dumfries and Galloway and northwards into Ayrshire.
Meetings
WARC meets every Thursday:
7:15 pm on the air on the GB3DG repeater (145.775 - minus 600 offset - 103.5 PL)
8:00 pm using Zoom over the Internet - worldwide video chat and presentations
In-person meetings:
First Saturdays each month at the Springholm Memorial Hall
at the A75 and Victoria Street DG7 3LP
Third Saturdays each month at the Aird Education Centre
15 Cairnport Road (off Ladies Walk) in Stranraer DG9 8BQ
All events are open to the public. Newcomers are always welcomed!
Training and Technical Advice
Please see the page Becoming a Radio Amateur for information about current club efforts.
The club has a regular programme of talks and presentations. Please see our Events page for the schedule.
For technical advice, just come along to meetings and ask – or contact us with any questions!
Links with D&G RAYNET
Many club members are also members of Dumfries & Galloway RAYNET, the network of Radio Amateurs who volunteer their time and expertise to provide radio communications for community events as well as emergencies and disasters.
Repeaters
Dumfries & Galloway has some difficult terrain for keeping in touch by radio. To help overcome this, WARC and D&G RAYNET have installed two VHF-FM repeater stations on high spots near Creetown and Stranraer. Repeaters can retransmit signals from smaller stations in less favourable locations, and so provide much better coverage across the centre and west of the region.
Here are the details of both repeaters:
GB3DG Newton Stewart 145.775 MHz (Details)
GB7DK Stranraer 145.6875 MHz (Details)
© 2024 Wigtownshire Amateur Radio Club
If you can assist with any of the events on the Calendar or would just like to get involved with RAYNET, please contact our Controller or Secretary via the 'Contact Us' page. Please note that you do not have to be a licensed radio amateur to join our group.
Next Group Meeting - Tuesday 14th January 2025 15.30 - 17.30. Location: Springholm Village Hall DG7 3LP. All welcome.
Following a major disaster, public mobile, telephone and internet services will quickly become inundated or unusable. Telephone and mobile infrastructure may well be destroyed and in some cases power and water supplies may fail. Due to the Emergency Services now using the Mobile Network for their own communications and as they have priority over public users, this may render normal personal calls difficult or impossible.
Communications between communities, voluntary aid workers and relief services are vital for providing targeted relief of supplies including food, bedding, clothing, medical supplies or temporary accommodation. Help may also be required in organising any evacuation deemed necessary.
Radio Amateurs are ideally placed for such emergency communications. RAYNET’s aim is to set up and provide emergency links as quickly and efficiently as possible. We are able to provide communications from remote locations throughout Dumfries and Galloway including areas where no mobile signals are available. Our capabilities include communications on the HF, VHF and UHF radio bands, both analogue and digital. We can also provide temporary repeater systems to provide coverage of radio dead spots and we will erect temporary antenna systems when and where necessary. We have mobile power supplies and camping style accommodation that enables us to provide fully operational systems in remote locations for as long as required.
The history that led to the formation of UK RAYNET goes back over 70 years, but RAYNET as it now stands, has its roots going back to 1953 and the devastating floods along the East coast of Britain.
Dumfries and Galloway Raynet was founded in 1986 by the late Alex Anderson GM4VIR after a major forest fire about 8 miles north of the town of Gatehouse of Fleet in 1982/3. The local WRVS were providing food and drinks from the village to the fire fighters but were having problems in updating the food requirements for the large number of people involved. Afterwards Mrs Lillian Dent the WRVS organiser asked Alex if the local amateurs could have provided some kind of radio link between the two and Alex decided then that Dumfries and Galloway Raynet should be established. The minutes of the first AGM dated 8th September 1986 show members present as John GM6LYJ, Alan GM4XTI, Keith GM4JKB, Sam GM4HTI, Jack GM3OXK, Alex GM4VIR, Drew GM6AWA, Jim GM4RJF, John GM8RSC, Hazel GM4VIS and Lorna GM6WJI. The minutes go on to relate election of office bearers, Alex was elected controller and so Dumfries and Galloway Raynet began. Over the years the group has been very active in all parts of the region and were among the first Raynet groups on the scene at the Lockerbie air disaster along with operators from Strathclyde, Ayrshire and many other areas. Alex was awarded the MBE for his work during the disaster, which he accepted on behalf of all the Raynet operators involved.
Since then the group has been providing radio safety communications for all manner of events, including Sled Dog racing, Car Rallies, Marathon hill walks, Sealed Knot events, Endurance Horse Events, Mountain Bike Events, to name but a few. The biggest event been the Galloway Hills Rally held in early December. This event often required up to 35 operators located at varios points throughout the Galloway Forest. Multiple talk through units were provided to cover the entire area of rally.
Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET were mobilised by D&G Council on the 30th of December to provide emergency radio communications from Newton Stewart to Dumfries for their community resilience teams. BT had closed down their local exchange due to flooding of unprecedented levels. This led to a complete loss of fixed and mobile telephones and internet services around Newton Stewart isolating all in the Town but the Police, Fire, Ambulance and MRT from any form of voice and data communication with the rest of Dumfries and Galloway.
We received the call at approximately 16:00 Hrs and within 90 minutes we had a team of three at the rest centre in Newton Stewart and three members at the Dumfries Emergency Planning Bunker radio room, providing a solid radio link between the two locations via our local repeater GB3DG.
We were stood down at approximately 20:00 Hrs when the waters began receding and the BT exchange was more or less up and running again, with fixed and mobile phones back in service although internet was not restored for some time.
We are always looking for new images of RAYNET events or activities to include in this section. If you can help, please contact Rob Kirsch, details on 'Contact Us' link.
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic the decision was made to start a daily open net for RAYNET members and any other licensed amateurs who would like to join in. This net proved very popular and kept us all in touch during the lockdowns. The net was so successful that it has continued ever since, with amateurs regularly joining in from all over Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria.
We use our repeater GB3DG and a member of the group (or other volunteer) controls the net and calls CQ at 12:00 each day. The net will usually last for 30 to 50 minutes depending how many join us.
This net has proved invaluable in keeping us informed of all sorts of technical and non technical matters and we hope to continue it indefinitely.
If you are within range of GB3DG at 12 noon, please feel free to give us a call, you will be made welcome.
GB3DG - R7 (RV62) 145.775/145.175MHz Tone access: 103.5Hz (G) subcarrier
GB3DG is a Yaesu DR-1 System Fusion Repeater. This is a dual mode repeater which can operate in Analogue FM or Yaesu C4FM. It is set to operate in Auto Mode, this enables it to receive and transmit either mode automatically. Analogue access is by CTCSS only (103.5) Time out is (3 minutes)
Repeater Keeper: Rob Kirsch GM8CJG
Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET group rely entirely on membership fees and donations to provide and maintain the GB3DG repeater and the building in which they are housed. The annual cost of operating the repeaters at present is approximately £450 and is likely to increase to about £700 with rising energy costs etc. We ask all regular users of this repeater to consider making a donation towards the upkeep of the site please donate as much as you can afford. Details of how to make a donation are shown on the CONTACT US link.
If you would like to learn more about RAYNET or would like to join us, please get in touch either by email, telephone or click the button below.
Information Request FormGroup Controller - William Little 07850 127827
Deputy Controller - Bob Boan 07879 605694
Secretary - Rob Kirsch 07717 641074
Members Subscriptions and Repeater Donations
Details of account to which donations may be made
Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET Group
Bank of Scotland
Sort Code : 80 22 60
Account Number : 19410962
Please use reference ' GB3DG ' when making donations.
The list of current donations is shown in the News section
