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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 rent-free
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 at this 3000-foot high site.
The realities of coordination dictated
that this would be a UHF station, and we were soon coordinated
on 441.675, +5 MHz, PL/118.8,. 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 allowed 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.
Our third
goal, of having ready access throughout the County was a
bit more challenging.
We were allowed to install a VHF repeater at the
newly-developed North
Cove site. Originally on the Western Washington SNP Test Pair,
145.290, this repeater was soon coordinated on
its permanent 145.310,
-600 kHz, PL/118.8
frequency, a link was added to the KO Peak repeater and the
concept of a "linked network" was born.
The limited coverage of our first two repeaters hinted at
just how much work would be required to really satisfy
our third goal.
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, we found
constraints on BeachNet
access to Pacific County's radio sites relaxed
considerably.
We
were asked for a plan of what we wanted to do. Our
plan was "Blue Sky" in
that it included every
site, and proposed equipment to cover every contingency
we could think of. The rationale was that when we submitted
our plan, the "Powers That Be" would undoubtedly
cross lots of items off the list, and we wanted to be left
with a workable system. The Plan was approved, with nothing
crossed off.
Be careful what you wish for. Now we
had to build it!
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. Our plan included additional
repeaters, forming a linked network with
overlapping coverage. Although
originally conceived as an all-UHF system,
as the build-out went on, strategically located VHF
repeaters and remote receivers were added to
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 the
440.675, +5 MHz, PL/118.8, our
eighth Pacific County repeater, at
Naselle,
in July 2005, we have accomplished our third goal,
realizing complete county-wide
coverage. Along the way, Grays Harbor County ARES has
elected to participate. At the request of their EC/RO
assistance was provided in the form of engineering
advice, installation and maintenance labor, and
some equipment on indefinite loan.
Their three repeaters
(Cosmopolis 145.390, -600 kHz,
PL/118.8; Minot 444.050,
+5 MHz, PL/118.8;
and Neilton 444.700, +5 MHz, PL/118.8) provide
near-complete coverage in their
county as part of the network.
In an emergency situation, these can be
disconnected from the network to provide
intra-county communications
in support of Grays Harbor County Emergency Services.
The addition of the 444.950, +5 MHz, PL/118.8 Olympia repeater,
in April 2007, 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 western Lewis Counties. It covers Interstate 5 from Tacoma, south almost
to Longview. Importantly, this repeater is easily usable 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. The main repeater antennas were
destroyed
at South Bend (Holy Cross Mtn.)
and Olympia (Capitol Peak). Link antennas were destroyed at
Megler and Holy Cross. The main
repeater antennas were pushed over in their mountings at KO
Peak and Naselle, and although undamaged,
they did require work parties to straighten them back up. At
Naselle, a microwave dish departed
the tower and destroyed our remote base antenna and feedline
in the process.
The remote base antennas at KO Peak were damaged enough
to require replacement. In all, the storm caused damage to our system
amounting to a bit over $1000. In spite of the extensive damage
and lost antennas, our repeaters continued to function
well enough to provide the required emergency communications.
Summers are for rebuilding
and preparing for winters around here.
In July of 2008,
we added the new 147.020, +600 kHz, PL/118.8 repeater in
Wahkiakum County to cover Washington Highway 4,
Oregon Highway 30 and solidify
BeachNet
service in the Lower Columbia area.
This repeater fills in shadowed spots
and provides a local emergency
communications focus for
Wahkiakum County, which it covers well. A permanent part of
the system, as with all our stations the
"Grays River" repeater can be disconnected
from the network to provide local, stand alone service when necessary.
There was a dilemma with this repeater where output power is
concerned. Relatively high transmitter power was justified by
the excellent receiver coverage
and the fact that the transmit antenna is below the tree tops
with higher-than-normal absorption losses. But the battery
back-up dictated
keeping the power level low to ensure
repeater availability when needed most.
It was decided to set the output power at a
low level. This proved to be undesirable
because, although usable, the signal received
from the repeater was noticeably weak.
In April of 2009, this was
further addressed by modifying the repeater power amplifier
and controller in such a way that when the station shifted to
battery power, the output power (and therefore consumption)
could be dropped. The repeater is now set at a higher
output level for normal operations, dropping by 6 dB
when the AC
Mains Power
goes down.
The controller
performs and
announces th
e
switch, and can
be commanded to
high or low power
as desired.
In
September of 2008,
after finishing up the last
of the repairs from the winter storms,
attention turned to the remote receiver
system that supports the Megler 147.180 Repeater.
The receivers have worked well, but manual selection using
PL tones was unpopular with users.
A receiver Voting
system that automatically evaluates the signal
from each receiver and retransmits the one with the best signal
started to go into place. The idea began to go
from a "someday dream"
to reality with two generous gifts of surplus equipment.
Grays Harbor County made available an LDG RVS-8 eight-input
Voting Panel, and Pacific County donated a stack of GE Rangr
commercial two-way radios suitable for
conversion to VHF receivers
and UHF link transmitters and receivers required to support
such a system.
This system is elaborate, and took some
time to install and perfect. Now that all
of the receivers are voting, the system coverage
has been dramatically improved. With automatic
voting, the receiver
with the best signal is consistently routed
to the repeater transmitter, even in
places where it would not have been
used with manual switching. The user typically
has a full-quieting
signal anywhere they
can hear the
repeater. Click here for
more information on the Remote Receivers.
In November, 2008,
in partnership with KB7APU, a 1.25-meter repeater was added.
Located at the KO Peak site, this repeater
covers a large portion of SW Washington. Reports
from Vancouver on the south to Tacoma on the north are
favorable. While a new 2-meter repeater at such a high site
with coverage in both the Portland and Seattle areas is
not a practical idea these days, because of the scarcity of available
channel pairs, a 220 repeater
offers similar VHF propagation, with enough elbow-room on the band
to allow for interference-free operation.
Normally not linked to the rest of the
network, this repeater offers a place to "get away
from the crowd". If you have gear for the 220 Band,
dial up 224.040 -1.6MHz 118.8PL and give it a try.
During emergency situations, this repeater has become the
main conduit for the EOC stations of Southwestern Washington
to communicate with Camp Murray. It provides a much-needed
dedicated voice link.
In early March 2009, the
145.170, -600 kHz, PL/118.8 repeater began operation from the
Ocean Park Fire Hall. A 20-foot piece
of 2-inch heavy-wall aluminum tubing supports a Hustler G6-270 dual band vertical.
The repeater itself is in the attic above the main truck bay, with emergency power
available. Normally linked to the BeachNet
system this
repeater provides hand-held coverage in this major
population center, over a 3-to-4-mile radius.
In June 2009, an existing UHF repeater, along with its coordination,
located on Nicolai Mountain in
Clatsop County, Oregon, was purchased by K7GA,
the EC/RO for Wahkiakum County. His primary goal was
to cover Wahkiakum County and provide for communications into
Longview for intra-District collaboration. The new
444.500, +5 MHz, PL/118.8 repeater began operation the day
following the sale and subsequent
removal of the old machine. The operation is now from a different building at the site
and will use a slightly different antenna location.
Normally linked to the BeachNet
system,
this repeater will
probably be disconnected for emergency
communications when needed by Wahkiakum County and
ARES/RACES District Four.
Look
for frequent updates to this web site, and be sure to hit the
"Refresh" or "Reload" button each time
you return, to make sure you are viewing the latest version.
BeachNet
is a work in progress, and it is our intention for the
web site to continue to accurately document the
present "State of the System".
As the maintenance and repair gets
caught up, we turn our attentions to system improvements,
striving to make our network as reliable and
useful as possible.
I would add that the system is designed for use by
Amateurs using "Mobile"
equipment, typically 50-watts VHF or 30-watts UHF,
and a 3 dB-gain antenna. Although, if you
learn how to use the system to its full potential,
your HT will
probably work acceptably from
many areas,
I never
promised hand-held coverage!
You
are cordially 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.
Click on the frequency listing above, to jump to more specific information on each repeater.
We also sponsor an
IRLP node repeater at the Megler site, in the Astoria/Long Beach area.
This uses Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) technology to connect to
repeaters all over the world on demand. Normally linked to the
WIN System, you are completely 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
before using or controlling
this machine. 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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eachNet
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2002-2009.
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