Dumfries and Galloway

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Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET
Radio Amateur EmergencY NETwork
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What is RAYNET?
RAYNET is an acronym for the 'Radio Amateurs'
Emergency Network', formed by the Radio Society
of Great Britain in 1953 following the disastrous
UK East Coast Floods, during these floods Radio
Amateurs provided emergency communications
because of the severe disruption caused to normal
means of  communication, thus contributing to
saving lives and property.
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The 1953 floods were caused by a major storm
surge which coincided with a naturally high
spring tide. Storm surges are caused when air
pressure and strong winds push a volume of water
across large distances. The result is an elevated
body or 'hump' of seawater which can move towards
the coast and overtop sea defences. Small changes
in atmospheric pressure can result in large
volumes of water being displaced. The storm surge
that caused the 1953 floods resulted in sea
levels rising almost 3 meters above normal high
water marks. Most sea defences along the east
coast of England were not designed for such
events and most could not prevent the oncoming
wave of water.
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User Services
Radio Amateurs have to pass exams to show they
are competent to operate and understand the
extensive modes of transmission and wavebands
allocated to them and in the UK are licensed by
OFCOM. Normally they can only speak to other
Radio Amateurs, but a special section of their
licence permits them to pass messages on behalf
of various bodies called 'User Services'. These
are any United Kingdom Police force, Fire or
Ambulance service, Health Authority or Government
Department, Chief Emergency Planning Officers and
HM Coastguard, the British Red Cross Society, the
St John Ambulance Brigade, the St Andrew's
Ambulance Association, the Women's Royal
Voluntary Service, the Salvation Army and the
Utility Services. There are nearly 200 organised
groups of Radio Amateurs in the UK who provide
the Core of Amateur Radio Voluntary Emergency
Public Service Communications, usually under the
name 'RAYNET
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Dumfries and Galloway RAYNET 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.
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Our current membership stands at approximately 20
with around 12 very active members involved in
the regular group exercises. All our exercises
are related to safety radio cover and events such
as Marathons, Hill Runs, Horse Endurance Rides,
Point to Point Racing, Sled Dog Races, Sealed
Knot Events, Car Rallying, Exercises with the
local Emergency Planning Office the list goes
on. The high spot of our year is the Galloway
Hills Rally which is run through the forestry
areas between Dalbeattie and Newton Stewart, for
this event we need at least 25 operators and we
use 4 talk through units linked back to Rally
Control in Castle Douglas. Over the last couple
of years the group has enjoyed something of a
revival with new members and users, we have also
been allocated equipment and resources from the
Dumfries and Galloway Council which has helped
greatly with maintaining our profile within the
community.
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It was decided by the group to adopt a higher
profile this was to be done in several ways,
firstly a logo for the group was needed to
reflect the new approach to Raynet by the RSGB.
Secondly an identity in the form of sweatshirts,
T shirts, polo shirts, Hi-vis tabards and jackets
as well as caps with operator name call sign and
of course our new logo, it was felt this would
give a more organised appearance to the
public. Finally a group website with information
on what we do, how to contact us and how to join
the group. The URL for the web site is
www.dgraynet.co.uk
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What do we do? Sealed Knot events
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Sealed Knot We have assisted at a couple of
Sealed Knot events over the years, both were at
Kirkcudbright and represented the Battle of
Kirkcudbright. I think by far the best one was
the first one we attended, it was staged on the
actual battle field. The weather was
fantastic. The Sealed Knot groups live the life
while they are re-enacting the battles, the set
up camp and live just as they would have done all
those years ago. The battles in olden times had
a protocol which had to be observedthe armies
would march on to the battle field with great
ceremony, there would be much flag waving and
hurling of insults plus the odd pot shot to try
and kill off a general or two, then the fighting
would start in Ernest. Canon and musket to start
with, then the odd cavalry charge and eventually
hand to hand fighting. The next series of
pictures give some idea of the work and effort
that goes into an event.
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A living village
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Marching to battle
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Whos going to win?
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The insults fly
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The battle begins
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Even the girls join in
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Sled Dog Racing
Drumlanrig Castle 2005
Sled dog racing is a new event for us but is is
becoming very popular in this area, local
government grants have been made available for
this sport and the money has been used to upgrade
forest tracks in areas such as Ae forest and of
course Drumlanrig Castle. The event themselves
are not overly taxing from an operator point of
view, we just count the number of competitors
past each check point.
Sorting out locations
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Some of the sleds can reach pretty fast speeds
so there is always the danger of injury to
competitors, this guy was going uphill at quite a
rate!!
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S.E.R.C. Scottish Endurance Riding Club
We have been attending the S.E.R.C events for a
couple of years now, this is not classed as a
dangerous sport because there is no fast riding
involved its more a matter of covering a fixed
distance at a certain speed without over taxing
the horse. Having said its not a dangerous
sport there have been injuries from riders being
thrown.fortunately non serious.
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A horse being checked by the vet before leaving
the start.a vet check is also made on the horse
as soon as it comes back in
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Riders leave the Venue
Raynet Control looking pretty stressed
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The Galloway Hills Rally
This is probably the biggest event on our
calendar and causes quite a headache for John
MM0GOF and Davy MM0KBT our controller and
assistant controller. We need at least 25
operators to man all the start and finish points
as well as mid-stage and mobile cover. Cross band
repeater units have to be sited and manned and of
course the the whole thing has to be controlled
from a central point.
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Rally Control
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Raynet Control
Clerk of the course
Rally Results
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We get a tremendous amount of help from our
fellow Raynet operators in the Strathclyde group
as well as individual members from other groups
as far away as Yorkshire. Last year 2005 we had
help from West Cumbria Raynet .a new group just
recently formed
We were invited down to Carlisle in January of
this year to meet up with group members and the
CEPO at Carlisle Castle. The object was to help
and advise the group on equipment and to
demonstrate some basic technical operations such
as Talk Through Units. The meeting was very
helpful and informative from both sides point of
view.
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How do we do it?
All our members are volunteers and provide their
time, vehicles and equipment free of charge, we
do however pay petrol expenses on most exercises
these days due to the ever increasing cost of
fuel. As a Raynet group we are very fortunate to
a healthy bank balance and a pretty good
selection of kit. One of our more recent
acquisitions is our 60ft mobile tower, this
belonged to Alex GM4VIR our late founder and was
rotting away at the farm where he lived, we
recovered it and Davy MM0KBT and Willie 2M0WUL
made a super job of re-building it.
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During the renovation of the mast it was decided
that we should put some kind of tool box on the
chassis to take guy lines, anchor pegs, coaxial
cable and general bits and bobs..one suggestion
by way of a joke was to have a word with the
local undertaker to see what he could come up
with, it just so happened that the very next day
he came into the shop where I was working. I
mentioned the conversation to him and he said
that he could in fact provide us with a metal
galvanised coffin.this was collected and is now
fixed to the mobile tower and doing a fine job.
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We have several portable masts complete with dual
band co-linear aerials, these are allocated to
operators in strategic parts of the county along
with cross band repeat radios this way we can set
up talk through units fairly quickly in any
area. We recently linked Stranraer to Annan using
talk through unitsI think we used seven radios
located in key positions, the object of the
exercise was to be able to transmit messages back
to Dumfries EPO from any major town in the area
using hand-held radios only..this worked
surprisingly well to say the minimum planning had
been put into it.
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A typical Talk through unit set up using a
Kenwood TM-V7
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Some members spare no expense when it comes to
kit in vehicles this is Davy MM0KBTs set up
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SS4
SS2
SS3
145.200
SS1
Bennan
144.625
Ben Gray
144.7875
433.775
SS5
Clarebrand
433.775
433.775
Castle Douglas
144.775
Control The Douglas Arms Castle Douglas
A Typical Talk-through set-up for the Galloway
Hills Rally
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Mobile Control Unit During the early part of 2006
we were awarded a grant by Dumfries and Galloway
Council which enabled us to purchase a large Box
Trailer and convert it for use as a mobile
control unit. It is fitted with two VHF/UHF
radios capable of being used as cross band
repeaters, there are two extendable aluminium
masts at the rear which allow us to have two
radio stations working at once (one on VHF and
one on UHF) this allows us greater
flexibility. Power is from two 100aHR batteries
with a solar panel charging unit on top..all
backed up by a 1.5 Kva generator giving us 240
volts as well as a 12 volt charging
system. Theres no shortage of volunteers to work
control now!
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More Info?
If you would like more information about Dumfries
and Galloway RAYNET Please contact us using the
Contacts page on this website.