It was 3-years ago that the Gold Coast Council contacted GCARS and asked if we could help with Citizen Band communications.
CB has dedicated channels reserved for emergency traffic only. The downside of CB is the low power output and line of site transmission limits, especially in an emergency situation. Emergency channels 5 and 35 are set by ACMA, the governing body for all communications in Australia.
GCARS took on the request and set up a CB repeater at the Springbrook mountain site, along side the club’s VHF repeater. This allows CB signals being received by the repeater to be re-transmitted from an antenna fixed to a tower with an elevation of 950 meters above sea level. This solved some of the shortcomings of CB transmissions and gives the community the added benefit of better communicating not to mention a more successful outcome with emergency situations.
Another event that GCARS is happy to report is the installation of yet another repeater at Springbrook mountain. This one was requested by the Gold Coast Game fish Club located at Hollywell, Queensland. Their marine band base station radio located at their club house at the marina was not reaching far enough out  to sea for their needs and explored with GCARS how we can help. The answer of course was to install a marine band repeater at the Springbrook location.  GCARS designed, built and installed their repeater and I’m happy to report that the fishing club is extremely happy with the results. Testing over the weekend with boats out to sea have exceeded their expectations. This repeater gives their club better communications, especially in emergency situations.
GCARS is dedicated to helping the community and these are just two examples of how we are contributing. GCARS also assists at the annual Pacific Airshow by providing much needed communications between airports and the Tower at Surfer’s paradise, we provide the venue and educational programmes for the Girl Guides through a programme called Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), we provided communications support for the KOKODA challenge due to mobile phone black spots along portions of the track. Our club has been asked to participate in other community-based events in the coming months. A big thank you to all members who participated in these events. GCARS looks forward to the next challenge.
