ARES/RACES
BeachNet
Emergency Plan,
Operations under unusual conditions
Serving our Communities
in times of need
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Amateur Radio is the Hobby, Emergency Communication is the Commitment
Emergency Configuration
The
BeachNet
System was built primarily to support
Emergency Communications
in the southern coastal region
of Washington State.
During times of
Emergency or Disaster,
some changes in the configuration of the links between individual repeater
stations within the
BeachNet
system may be implemented. A single, multi-county, wide-coverage network is
very useful in "normal" times, but during a communications
emergency, each jurisdiction may require its own resources to conduct
their operations.
The radio links connecting our repeaters
together into a single cohesive network can be switched off,
allowing any of the repeaters to become a single stand-alone
machine. This allows fragmenting the network to meet local
requirements.
Additionally, many of these links can be reconfigured using
alternative, secondary paths, providing a great deal of
flexibility in the possible groupings of portions of
the system.
Grays Harbor County
The three Grays
Harbor County repeaters,
444.700 Neilton, 145.390 Cosmopolis, and 444.050 Minot
are likely to be separated from the rest of the network.
One or more of these may operate as stand-alone resources,
and some or all may be linked together.
This linking provides continuity within
the County, and allows
both UHF repeaters and the VHF machine
to be monitored with a single (dual-band)
radio at the EOC.
These three repeaters combine to
cover nearly all of Grays Harbor County.
The 444.950 Olympia repeater, although physically
located in Thurston County, is a
Grays Harbor County asset, and in a communications
emergency, may be disconnected from
BeachNet,
to operate as a stand-alone resource. This station provides
direct access to the Washington State
Emergency Coordination Center (State ECC) at
Camp Murray from most of
ARES
District Three. Grays
Harbor County
is "first in line" to use this repeater,
with Pacific County second
in line. Other Emergency Management jurisdictions
may use this repeater on a not-to-interfere basis.
The Olympia repeater also serves as
a back-up for the ARES
District Three Net, which operates during any
regional emergency. Normally this net is held on
the
145.470
Capitol Peak Repeater, but in case of
a failure, the Net moves to the 444.950 Olympia
machine. These two repeaters are
located within 100-yards of each other
at the same site, but are in different buildings, on
individual towers and with separate generators.
This makes them as independent as possible, while
sharing a similar coverage area.
Wahkiakum County
The 444.500 Nicolai and
147.020 Grays River repeaters serving
Wahkiakum County may be disconnected from
BeachNet,
to operate linked together or as stand-alone repeaters,
covering that county and the
surrounding area. The 444.500 Nicolai repeater provides
critical coverage into Longview and
Vancouver, WA. The network links may be reestablished at will to
provide a connection to Pacific County, and through it to Camp
Murray.
Pacific County
The 224.040 KO Peak repeater normally operates as a
stand-alone machine. Its contribution to Emergency Communications
is to form a direct line between the Emergency Operating Centers
(EOC) of the Counties of Southwestern Washington
(including Pacific County), and the State
Emergency Coordination Center (State ECC) at Camp Murray, as
well as each other.
The 224.820 South Bend repeater, although normally linked into
BeachNet
will probably be disconnected from the network to fulfill two
important functions. First, this repeater is used as an
intra-county intercom between the
two county EOCs, at South Bend and Long Beach. Second, this
repeater incorporates a 6-meter remote base used to monitor
or join emergency nets in the Puget Sound area.
The remainder of
BeachNet
covers Pacific County,
and is at the disposal of
Pacific
County ARES,
to provide
Emergency Communications
in support of the
Pacific
County
Emergency
Management
Agency. The
441.675 KO Peak repeater provides direct access to Camp Murray.
The high terrain surrounding Pacific County tends to cut this rural
county off,
and the integral remote base station can connect to numerous repeaters in
Western Washington and Oregon, helping to mitigate this
isolation. This is true of the remote base
function on the 440.675 Naselle repeater as well.
The 444.800 Long Beach repeater
also includes a remote base, featuring
transceivers for the 2-meter, 1.25-meter
and 70-centimeter
bands. The South Pacific County AEOC
is less than a mile away,
making this repeater an integral
part of the Amateur radio
compliment available for communications
from this emergency station.
The nature of the various
links between the repeaters allows for
flexibility in the configuration
of the network. The
442.675 and 147.340
South Bend
repeaters normally operate
coupled together and linked to
the rest of the system.
This critical
piece of the network overlooks
the Pacific County EOC, and can
be split apart into two
independent repeaters, with the
link to the rest of the
system following on either
(or neither) of them. Thus,
one repeater could remain
part of
BeachNet
while the other may be used simultaneously as a stand-alone,
independent repeater for local operations.
The 147.180 Megler repeater and its four associated
remote receivers operate as a unit. The
BeachNet
system link can alternatively connect this repeater
to the Naselle station,
allowing the Megler 2-meter machine to follow whatever the
Naselle remote base is linked to. The Megler link
can also connect to several other alternate stations.
Of course, the Megler system
link can also be switched off to make the repeater stand-alone.
The 444.400 and 145.310 North Cove repeaters
operate independently from each other.
The 2-meter repeater is normally
linked to the network through the KO Peak hub, however
that link can be redirected through any of several other
network stations, or disconnected altogether. The
UHF repeater normally operates as a stand-alone machine, but has
a network link that can be switched on. The North Cover UHF repeater
is reserved for local use by the Shoalwater/Tokeland/Grayland area
emergency responders. It is important to
note
the Remote Receiver for the 145.310 North Cove VHF
repeater makes its link not to the repeater itself, but through
the KO Peak system linking hub. If the network link from the
VHF repeater is switched off, the remote receiver will not
follow.
The 145.170 Ocean Park repeater can potentially link to any of
several other sites. One is the 444.925 Megler IRLP repeater.
Although this normally provides a 2-meter port to the UHF IRLP circuit,
the repeater
has a different emergency communication function.
IRLP operation is dependent upon the Internet. If local
Internet service
is down, there will be no IRLP function, however the repeater
itself should still operate as a normal machine in
stand-alone service. The
Pacific County Amateur Radio Club 146.860 Ilwaco repeater
can also link to the 444.925 Megler
IRLP repeater. This
forms a mini-network
(145.170 Ocean Park
- 444.925
Megler IRLP -
146.860 Ilwaco) that
can be
used
for
Fire/Medical Support. The
three repeaters
combined cover the entire
length of the Long Beach
Peninsula, and the Ocean
Beach, Columbia Memorial and
Seaside Providence hospitals.
Resource Ownership
BeachNet
comprises private property with a number of owners. The owner,
or owner-designated trustee
of a repeater, or other Amateur radio station, has the final word
on who may use that station. The FCC has reaffirmed this principle
on numerous occasions.
The 444.950 Olympia repeater and associated packet
radio station is owned by Doyle Wenzel,
N7UJK, of Aberdeen, WA.
Portions of the 444.700 Neilton, 145.390 Cosmopolis,
and 444.050 Minot repeaters are owned by N7XAC and/or NM7R,
and are on indefinite loan to N7UJK, as trustee, representing
Grays Harbor County ARES/RACES/ACS. The remainder of these repeaters
is owned by N7UJK.
The 444.500 Nicolai repeater and associated packet station
is owned by Geoffrey Morse, K7GA, of Cathlamet, WA., except
for some pieces of equipment that are on loan from NM7R.
The 224.040 KO Peak repeater is owned
by Loren Flindt, KB7APU, of Vancouver, WA, and is on
indefinite loan to NM7R and N7XAC, as joint trustees.
The remainder of the
BeachNet
System is owned jointly by Shane Madsen, N7XAC, and Frank Wolfe, NM7R,
as equal partners.
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