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The BeachNet Story
BeachNet was born out of a desire to
provide reliable Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) communications in
support of Pacific County Emergency Management Agency. Due to the
mountainous topography, VHF coverage of the county with the existing
repeaters and simplex was spotty at best. Even reliable communications
between our two Emergency Operating Centers (South Bend and Long Beach) was
illusive at times. The
project goals became: 1.
Reliably link the two Pacific County EOCs. 2.
Provide communications between the Pacific County EOCs and the Washington
State ECC at Camp Murray. 3.
Provide a means for an Amateur with typical mobile equipment anywhere in
Pacific County to contact at least one of the EOCs. At first, we received a luke-warm
reception from the county government to our request for space at their radio sites. The Director of Emergency Services, herself
a Ham, was enthusiastic at the idea of enhancing Amateur Radio coverage. With her help, we were able to get a foot in the door
in early 2000, at the highest and most remote site, KO Peak. We established a repeater with a remote
base station on KO Peak. The realities of coordination dictated that this would be a UHF station. Both Pacific County EOCs are
able to access the KO Peak machine, although not always as well as we would like. This accomplished goal number 1.
The
remote base allows us to join a net on the 145.370 Grass Mountain repeater, or a 6-meter net,
used by Camp Murray for emergency communications. As it turned out, the Camp
Murray station is easily able to access the KO Peak repeater directly. Goal
number 2 accomplished. Shortly thereafter, in 2001, the Nisqually Earthquake hit
the Puget Sound area. Although it was small as earthquakes go, it did disrupt communications, and put some prominent cracks in the
Capitol Building. The Washington State Government evacuated to the Emergency Command Center at Camp Murray. With telephones knocked
out, the Pacific County Government, in the Emergency Operating Center in South Bend, looked for a way of contacting Camp Murray. In
Ham Radio, they found the answer. For a half an hour, the only means of communication between our County and the State was Amateur
Radio via the repeater on KO Peak. The Pacific County functionaries noticed. During the After Action Debrief meeting, an
agreement was reached whereby BeachNet
was given access to Pacific County's radio sites. All of them. Most
of the county is not well served by the KO Peak station. The site is in
eastern Pacific County away from much of the populated area. No one site can
do the job of covering the entire county, due to geographical constraints. This led us to plan additional
repeaters to form a linked network with overlapping coverage. Although
originally conceived as an all-UHF system, strategically located VHF
repeaters and remote receivers enhance the coverage and provide accessibility for Amateurs with only two-meter equipment.
While the UHF and VHF portions are not
identical in coverage, either is sufficient to realize nearly complete
utility. Several years down the road, the network
has matured. With the installation of our eighth Pacific County repeater at
Naselle, we have accomplished our third goal, realizing complete county-wide
coverage. Along the way, Grays Harbor County ARES has elected to participate.
Their three repeaters provide near-complete coverage in their county as part of the network.
The addition of the Olympia repeater on Capitol Peak, sponsored by Doyle Wenzel,
the EC/RO for Grays Harbor, provides overlaping access in his county as well as
extensive coverage of the South Puget Sound area. This includes most of Mason, Thurston and Lewis Counties. It covers Interstate 5 from Tacoma, south almost
to Longview. Importantly, this repeater is easily accessible from the Camp Murray State ECC. The
KO Peak remote base incorporates transceivers on the 440, 220, 140, 50, and 29 MHz FM bands.
Virtually any frequency can be dialed up, either in receive-only or
transceive modes. The Long Beach and Naselle repeaters incorporate 440, 220 and 140
Mhz remote base radios. This allows us the flexibility to link to other repeater
systems in the region. Many of the links between our repeater sites can be
switched to alternate paths, and each repeater can be separated from the network,
allowing us to tailor the coverage and fragment the system to respond to emerging situations. In December of 2007, the remnants of three tropical
storms combined to hammer our area for three days with winds topping 65 miles per hour (clocked at 133 mph at the coastal headlands).
Trees and power lines fell, and the phone
system fragmented. For days those with any phone service at all were only able to call within their local exchange.
BeachNet
stepped into the breach and handled traffic between the various telephone exchanges in the county. We also handled traffic with the
State ECC at Camp Murray. One memorable contact was when the State RACES Radio Officer came up on our system to call Wahkiakum
County. It seems they hadn't heard from our neighbors to the east. We hooked them up.
For more than five days, the power was out,
the phones were in disarray (cell phones completely dead), the roads were all but impassible, gasoline was generally unavailable, but
BeachNet
worked. Even with the damage that winds topping 100 miles per hour caused to antennas and such, the network
performed well throughout. Summers are for rebuilding and preparing for winters around here.
You
are invited to use and enjoy the network while in our area. The more familiar
we all are with its operation and limitations, the more valuable it will be
if an emergency situation arises.
We also sponsor an
IRLP node repeater in the Astoria/Long Beach area. This uses Voice-Over-Internet technology to connect to repeaters all over the world on demand. Normally linked to the
WIN System, you are welcome to connect it to any node you wish.
The repeater coverage extends north to Ocean Park, south to Seaside, east to Knappa and west out to sea 30 miles. There are no pre-codes and you do not have to contact the owner. This Node is available for general use:
444.925 +5MHz 82.5Hz Chinook, WA (Megler Mtn.)
What About Maintenance
You do!
The
BeachNet
repeater system receives no financial support from any club or other organization.
It pretty much all comes out of our pockets. There is no obligation to support the network. No membership or affiliation is required to use our repeaters. This is an open system. However, we greatly appreciate any contributions. They help us keep the network on the air.
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2002-2007,
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