My First Year with Raynet (2002)

Shortly after our move from Lewisham to Hastings, Chris GITI3O "invited" me to join Raynet, the radio amateurs emergency network. One Wednesday evening, I went along to one of the Group's meetings at the Bexhill Red Cross Centre and met some of the members, who were discussing past and future activities.

At about 10.30 am the following morning, Tony MIBWV called on the GB3ES repeater to say that the Police had requested Raynet assistance in the Etchingham area, where the heavy rain had led to flooding. The area was known to be difficult for radio communication. While hunting for spare batteries for the 2m handie, I listened to some of the mobiles moving up the All, and it became clear that Etchingham was on the "other side of the pond" from Robertsbridge. So, I made my way via Battle and Burwash, and met up with Garry, G7GHP, at Etchingham Post Office. Just further down the road, the water was covering the railway lines at the level crossing

Seven members maintained communication between Battle Police Station, Robertsbridge, Etchingham and Hurst Green. Most of the operation was on GB3ES, but Garry and I were unable to reach the repeater so worked simplex to GITHO in Robertsbridge. The high spot of the day for me was the unexpected appearance of a Land Rover towing a large sailing boat on a trailer. This was quite unconnected with the flood!

After spending the day by the roadside, we had just erected Garry's mast and aerial and were preparing to make camp in the Village Hall, when the call came to stand down. Quite a welcome to Raynet, and I still think that if Chris can conjure up heavy rain like that at short notice, there's a job waiting for him in Saudi Arabia!

The next event was the Battle Bonfire. Police, St John's Ambulance and Raynet set up their base stations at Battle Abbey. Three members walked with the procession to report on its progress. This was one of the noisiest events I have ever attended. We saw a wonderful firework display, but the mud in the bonfire field had to be walked in to be believed!

Early in January 2001, twelve Raynet members provided back-up communication for the 10km road race. The base station, G7ERC, was at William Parker School and there were some doubts about coverage of a short section of the route to the North of the Ridge. in the event, surprisingly good signals were received from G8OGO/M at the bottom of Chowns Hill.

For the half Marathon in March, the Raynet caravan was parked on a convenient high spot with 2EICGT in control. G4NTB/P was at Hastings Police Station, and nine members covered the checkpoints around the course.

A better control location was needed for the April Charity Bicycle Ride, which went as far west as Pevensey and Hurstmonceux. It had been noted that the Raynet aerial at Fairlight had changed from vertical to horizontal polarisation so Chris and I took on the job of correcting this situation. I suspect that for about half an hour I was the highest person in East Sussex if the wind was anything to go by! The aerial was braced with an extra cross-boom. For the event a week later, 2EICOT and G4NTB were at Control. Because of the altitude, some difficulty was experienced with frequency sharing, notably with the Medway Raynet Group. After a short while we changed to a different channel. Nine members and one welcome visitor from Eastbourne Raynet were at the checkpoints to report progress.

The caravan was out again at the Bexhill Carnival in July, with Control in 144MHz contact with mobiles in the procession and 432MHz contact on the Polegrove ground. About eight members attended. I was only a listener for this event as I was in the procession playing the trombone. (The "ill wind that nobody blows good" as G4ITM once called it!)

For the Hastings Carnival Procession, GITBO and G4NTB were in Control at the Old Town Police Office, while five members reported progress around the course.

In the last year or so, we have enrolled two new members and lost five. New members are always welcome!

Jakey G3JKY