Cosmopolis
Grays Harbor County, WA
46.935144, -123.739014
550 Feet
Call: W7EOC
145.390 -600kHz 118.8Hz
Cosmopolis VHF Repeater
As of May 6, 2014, the Cosi
repeater has been upgraded
and returned to the air,
once again ready to serve
the Amateur community.
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Location: Overlooking Cosmopolis, WA, from near the crest of Cosmopolis
Hill, on Highway 101, about 2 miles north of the Hwy 107, "Montesano
Cutoff", Juction.
Coverage: The "Cosi" Repeater covers the
Aberdeen/Hoquiam area of Grays Harbor County from Ocean Shores on
the west, to Elma on the east. In addition, the coverage follows Highway 101 several miles north of Hoquiam, and
south to the Pacific County line.
Hardware: The repeater is based on
a 100-watt continuous-duty, GE Mastr-II,
duplex-converted station chassis, running 40-watts output. The controller is a
CAT-200B in a Radio Shack metal box mounted on a standard rack shelf above it.
The link
to
BeachNet
is provided by a GE Rangr UHF mobile, running 10-watts.
Several fans circulate air across
the repeater heatsink to keep things cool. A Hustler
G6-270 antenna, shared between the repeater and link radio,
is mounted above a microwave dish well up the tower, and
fed with 130-feet of LDF5-50 7/8-inch hardline through a
diplexer. The repeater signal passes through a VHF DCI filter
to attenuate the high level of broadcast RF at this site.
Linking: Normally linked into the
BeachNet
repeater system, this repeater can be taken off-line to operate stand-alone, or it can be linked to one of several other repeaters in the Grays Harbor area, for resiliency in a disaster.
History: When we first occupied this site,
in the summer of 2004, the landlord required
that the entire station be mounted to the back wall
of the not-very-spacious building, and not stick
out more than a foot. Doyle, N7UJK, installed and painted a sheet of chip-board
as a foundation, and all
components were secured to this. The
Wacom 5-inch 4-cavity BpBr duplexer
stuck out 11-inches, and the rest of the gear was well within our
one-foot allowance. Since we installed the repeater, the tiny shack
filled up with other equipment. We considered ourselves lucky to have this site, and
living within the one-foot space requirement was a modest concession.
In April and May of 2014, the landlord (Grays Harbor PUD)
required us to move out of the tiny shack into a new
building at the other end of the compound.
The tiny building was taken over by a broadcast station, and we were offered
rack space in the brand new facility. This was a definite step up, and allowed
replacing the original duplex-converted mobile with a more robust and capable
station chassis, much better suited to repeater service. We were also
able to shorten our feedline by a good 30-feet.
This shows the importance of cultivating a good relationship
with the owners of the sites we Amateurs use for our repeaters.
The landlord
could just as easily have told us to pack up and leave,
but the time and effort
Doyle, N7UJK, has spent working with these fine folks,
cultivating a relationship built on trust,
showing respect for
their property, policies and personnel, motivated them to include our
operation in their plans for expansion. His
years of devoted service
to his county Emergency Management Agency have also
paid dividends, opening doors to two other sites.
During an emergency,
this repeater will probably be disconnected
from the greater
BeachNet
network,
to provide intra-county communications support.
The link system is capable of connecting the Cosi repeater
to the Neilton, Minot, Ocean Shores or Olympia site, to enhance
communications within Grays Harbor County. This repeater is easily
accessible from the Grays Harbor EOC in Montesano.
Web Cam: for a look at the road
conditions on Hwy 101, right outside the
gate to the site access road,
Click Here for the WSDOT traffic cam.
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