The Bristol FM TV Group as it was then called held it's very first public meeting on Friday 28^th February 1986 at the North Bristol Amateur Radio Club premises in Braemar Crescent Filton/North Bristol. The meeting was chaired by Roger Worth G4ZQF with Shaun O'Sullivan G8VPG acting as both honorary secretary & the groups chief engineer.

Some of the people present for this occasion were: Ian G8XZO, Peter G8WGD, Mike G1EDP, Ray G1EYF, Ted G3JMY, Len G8UUE, Chris G8GLQ, Ken G4BVK, Len G4RZY, Phil G6SPA, Matthew G0ECM, Alan G4YQQ, Mike G6UKP, Steve G8JMJ, Ivor G1IXF, Viv G1IXE, Jean G0AWX, Terry G4YTH, Oscar G8BIY,Brian G4YQR, Peter G0DRX, John G4YQH, Dave G6ZKC - "A bit like a who's who of amateur television in the Bristol area at that time"

The groups name was changed on 22^nd March 1988 to reflect the fact that we now had many stations using "GB3ZZ" that were outside of the originally planned coverage area, from now on the group was to become known as the Severnside Television Group (STG).

GB3ZZ BEING SWITCHED ON

GB3ZZ was switched on in early May 1987 much to the delight of all who had been involved in this mammoth project, as with any thing of a technical nature you don't just fit it and forget about it. The next logical step was to upgrade the original logic control system to offer such facilities as Aerial selection, DTMF controled text pages for group information, weather sat system and selectable Aerials. Use was made of the BBC micro-computer to provide the power to deliver all these functions, Brian GW6BWX and Steve G8KUW provided the technical know how between them and steadily the repeater has grown.

One of our major fund raising products have been our aerials for 1.3Ghz and more recently the 20 element extension kit that has been marketed to allow the original 18 element to be increased to a 38 element which provides an additional 4dB gain. With over 1000 sold they have proved to be very popular.

GB3XG This was to become the groups next major milestone in a twelve year history that saw the introduction of the first ATV repeater for the Bristol area, now we had our designs set on a system for the 10GHz band. The site is a location on the south side of Bristol at a place called Dundry and provides a good take off in most directions.