BeachNet Repeater System

BeachNet Repeater System

Pacific, Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Thurston & Wahkiakum Counties, Washington

145.170 |  145.310 |  145.390 |  147.020 |  147.180 |  147.340 |  224.040 |  224.820 |  440.675 |  441.675 |  442.675 |  444.050 |  444.200 |  444.300 |  444.400 |  444.500 |  444.700 |  444.800 |  444.925 |  444.950
 

 

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KO Peak

Pacific County, WA
46.461068, -123.550658
2900 Feet
Call: N7XAC

441.675  +5MHz   118.8Hz


KO Peak UHF Repeater

Location: KO Peak is the highest radio site in Pacific County, and is located 6 miles south of Lebam, WA. It is 12 miles by logging road from the highway, and can be inaccessible much of the year due to lingering snow because the road climbs the northern face of the mountain and much of the road is in shadow nearly all the time.

Coverage: KO Peak is a great long-range site, and both repeaters can be worked directly from Tacoma, Olympia and northern Grays Harbor County on the north; Vancouver, WA, and Seaside, OR on the south and well out to sea to the west. The intra-county coverage within Pacific County can be spotty, with some very good locations and some not so good. The "KO" repeaters are very strong in the Willapa Valley, and northern Pacific County, as well as portions of Grays Harbor County, along the Interstate-5 corridor, and on the Long Beach Peninsula. Click here for a site plot for the UHF machine, but representative of the coverage from both repeaters, with the 224.040 being moderately better.

The KO Peak site is instrumental in conjunction with the
BeachNet linking system to knit the network together. The UHF and VHF repeaters each have their role, and both can be accessed directly from the Washington State Emergency Coordination Center at Camp Murray. This is a keystone of the Pacific County ARES/RACES Emergency Plan. Click here for information on the VHF 224.040 MHz repeater.

The 441.675 repeater normally operates linked as part of the
BeachNet system of repeaters, with primary coverage in the Willapa Valley, and extensive areas of Pacific, Grays Harbor, Wahkiakum, Clatsop and Lewis Counties. The UHF repeater can be worked from Vancouver, WA, on the south, to Tacoma on the north. Although the terrain produces many shadowed dead spots around the region, the KO Peak UHF repeater can be useable from a surprising number of locations.

The KO Peak UHF repeater incorporates a remote base station, allowing frequency agile use of the FM portions of the 10-, 6-, 2-, and 1.25-meter, and 70-centimeter bands. This is available for communications with other repeaters or on simplex frequencies, with a very favorable range afforded by the 3000-foot altitude of the antennas. The entire network is normally connected together, and shares these flexible links. The repeater system controller uses the remote base station to provide the automatic links to other systems for nets and other special activities. The remote base station can be controlled from any repeater in the network by any of the system Control Operators. If you have a need to make such a contact, direct your request to a Control Operator.

The KO Peak station took a direct lightning strike on November 7, 2009, vaporizing the UHF antenna, damaging the nearby 220-MHz antenna, and taking out the circulator, preamp, and power supply. To make matters worse, the site was inaccessible under deep snow. This is arguably the "worst case scenario" as far as a repeater station on a high, remote site. Fortunately, the site structures and our equipment were properly grounded. The remainder of the station survived. Thanks to our loyal users, contributing in support of network maintenance, spares were on hand to replace the destroyed components. The UHF station was back on the air by December. The 220 antenna was replaced in May, 2010.

Hardware: The UHF station consists of a GE Mastr-II 110-watt continuous duty base station with the output routed through a circulator, low-pass filter, and a Phelps-Dodge 6-cavity bandpass-notch duplexer to a "Stationmaster" style gain vertical at the top of the tower through 100-feet of LDF5-50 7/8-inch hardline. The controller is an ACC RC-850 with Digital Voice Recorder and an FC-900 interface for the remote base. The 140-, 220- and 440-MHz remote base radios share a Comet CX-333 tri-band antenna forty-feet up the tower through a triplexer, while the 6-meter radio uses a ground-plane vertical on the fence and the 10-meter radio uses a vertical wire dipole on the side of the tower. There is a dedicated control receiver and a second, single-channel receiver that only "presses the reset button" on the controller as a fail-safe back-up.

 

 

 

 




 

145.170 |  145.310 |  145.390 |  147.020 |  147.180 |  147.340 |  224.040 |  224.820 |  440.675 |  441.675 |  442.675 |  444.050 |  444.200 |  444.300 |  444.400 |  444.500 |  444.700 |  444.800 |  444.925 |  444.950
 

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This Page Last Updated: 12/22/15.