Technical Specifications

The Yorkshire Coast amateur service repeater has the highest aerial on the Octon Mast site. The 4 element beam antenna is on a 3 metre vertical mount which offers the 360 degree radiation from above the tower - without the reflective problems of the tower.

It has a heading of 325 deg (NNW), to maximise cover of its designated area of the Yorkshire Coast and Ryedale, while offering selected cover to a lesser extent to the surrounding area.

The 4-element beam presents a 7dB forward gain on its prime heading and a -15dB rejection on the 'back of the beam'. For those who prefer the 'visual image', have a look at the photo gallery (photos by Miles GØODS).

The repeater may now be accessed 'only' by CTCSS of 88.5 Hz. Also, unlike previously when a 'non-CTCSS' station could 'piggy-back' onto a transmission already in progress...each station using 'YC' must now genreate an 88.5 CTCSS. The repeater no longer recognises the old 'tone-burst' of 1750 Hz.

A 'timeout', previously 270 seconds, is no longer incorporated in the repeater's logic. Users may talk beyond a 270 second period. When handing over to another user, releasing the PTT will not generate a 'pip' from 'YC'. Users should now revert to the original 'polite' method of handing over by alerting the other staion verbally that he/she 'has transmission', i.e 'Over to you', 'back to you'. The 'verbal handover' does away with any confusion that a pip or pips might cause. The repeaters 'C.W.I.D' will be transmitted every 9 minutes after the end of the previous usage. These logic facilities are the minimum that N.o.V regulations permit and the 'YC team' felt that users would enjoy the 'KISS' principles.

The repeater operates on 'R.0' (Repeater TX / Mobile RX :145.600mhz and Mobile TX / Repeater RX 145.000mhz).