Hissing Syd was returned to service at 22.30 on Monday the 15th July. It was taken out of service when a site inspection in April determined that the existing filters were not fit for purpose. They were built to a homebrew design that was published in QST in the 70s.

The repeater is now working on a set of 4 Aerial Facilities cavity filters that were kindly donated by Sam Hunt of Maxxwave Ltd. These filters provide in excess of -70dB notches in both legs which with the separation between the Tx & Rx antennas gives another -40dB on each side. There is now no dense at all and the repeater is more or less reciprocal with a 25 watt mobile in that if you can hear HS with smooth noise or better you'll be able to access it.



A test I've used at home to judge how well HS is performing demonstrates the point; with the old filters I had to put +11dBm into my collinear to get in and now I only need +1.2dBm. That's all most a 10dB improvement which equates to turning your 5w handheld into a 50w handheld radio when working HS.

Please make use of the repeater now that it is working better than ever!

73 Clive G3GJA / G8EQZ