The climax of this year's competition took place on Monday April 11th at Celtic Manor, where Sarah and Jess (Steph was at home in Hong Kong) presented their radio repeater project, which they have successfully installed in Penallt to aid Severn Area Rescue Association. No school is allowed to win more than one prize but the panel of judges nominated the HMSG team for no fewer than four separate awards. The girls were delighted when it was announced that they had won the most prestigious award, 'Best overall team performance', worth £500 and sponsored by General Dynamics.
The other awards they were nominated for were: 'Best appreciation of safety issues’, 'Most effective application of IT' and 'Most effective presentation of the chosen solution'.
The Engineering Education Scheme Wales enables teams of students from Year 12 to complete a six month real life project with an engineering company. HMSG has taken part in the scheme ten times and for the fourth year in a row has been mentored by engineers from Alcatel-Lucent and this year sponsorship of the project was provided by Graham Smith UK.
Severn Area Rescue Association, a charity-run local organisation, makes use of VHF radio communications for both marine and land search and rescue operations. Radio communication using VHF relies on ‘line of sight’, i.e. the radio waves travel in straight lines and only reach their intended destination if the antennae have no obstacles in between them. Hence in areas such as the Wye river valley there are many places which are out of radio contact with the rescue headquarters at Beachley, Chepstow, directly below the Severn Bridge. Mobile phone signals also suffer in the Wye Valley, due to the steep cliffs and bends in the river and so do not provide an alternative means of communication.
This year’s EESW challenge was to project manage the planning, design and deployment of an antenna and radio repeater at Pelham Hall, Penallt, to improve coverage of the Wye Valley. The radio repeater will allow rescuers both to speak and listen to the control room and to other mobile colleagues, as the radio signals to and from the receiver are transmitted at separate frequencies of 147 and 154MHz.
Penallt was chosen as a suitable location for the radio repeater because it is 237 metres above sea level and has a clear view of the distant antenna at Beachley, 12 metres above ground. The graph below shows the relative cross-section of the land and the blue line across the map illustrates the direct route from Penallt to Beachley.
Diagram to show terrain between Beachley and Penallt
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Steph, Sarah and Jess received guidance and tuition from Mr Trott and Mr Dean, engineers from Alcatel-Lucent, and assistance from SARA volunteers, and were successful in completing the task set. The radio repeater is now up and running and has been tested to show that many of the radio black spots have been eradicated, which will be of great benefit to the search and rescue teams in their critical work.
The team of girls has gained valuable experience in sourcing materials and dealing with a range of commercial and professional bodies as well as local committee members. SARA has offered to take them out in a lifeboat on the River Severn during a practice session on the evening of May 5th as a reward for their work.