Coverage Map

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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BeachNet Coverage Map Neilton Ocean Shores Olympia Cosmopolis Minot North Cove South Bend KO Peak Ocean Park Naselle Long Beach Megler Grays River Nicolai Neilton Olympia Ocean Shores Cosmopolis Minot North Cove South Bend VHF South Bend 220 South Bend UHF KO Peak KO Peak KO Peak Ocean Park Naselle Long Beach Megler Megler Grays River Nicolai

BeachNet System Network Linking Capabilities

Neilton 444.700: (4 links)
KO Peak, South Bend, Minot, Olympia

Olympia (CPU) 444.950: (4 links)
KO Peak, South Bend, Minot, Naselle

Ocean Shores 444.200: (8 links)
KO Peak, South Bend, Minot, Neilton, Naselle, Olympia, Megler, Aberdeen

Cosmopolis (Cosi) 145.390: (8 links)
KO Peak, South Bend, Minot, Neilton, Naselle, Olympia, Ocean Shores, Aberdeen

Minot 444.050: (2 links)
KO Peak, South Bend

North Cove 145.310: (8 links)
KO Peak, South Bend, Naselle, North Cove UHF, Megler UHF

North Cove 444.400: (10 links)
KO Peak, South Bend, Naselle, Nicolai, Long Beach, Megler UHF, more

South Bend 147.340 & 442.675: (2 links)
KO Peak, Naselle; (1 link for either, neither or both repeaters)

South Bend 224.820: (15 links)
KO Peak, Naselle, South Bend, Minot, North Cove, Nicolai, Neilton, Long Beach, Olympia, Megler
6-Meters: (8 links) Nicolai, North Mt., BawFaw, Tiger Mt., Capitol Peak, Grass Mt., Simplex.

Ocean Park 145.170: (16 links)
KO Peak , Naselle, South Bend, Minot, North Cove, Nicolai, Long Beach, South Bend, Megler, Neilton, Olympia, more

Megler 147.180: (8 links)
KO Peak , Naselle, South Bend, North Cove, Megler, more

Grays River 147.020: (16 links)
KO Peak, Naselle, South Bend, Nicolai, Megler, Cathlamet, more

Cathlamet 444.300: (16 links)
KO Peak, Naselle, South Bend, Nicolai, Megler, more

Nicolai 444.500: (4 links)
KO Peak, Naselle, South Bend, more

KO Peak 441.675, Naselle 440.675 & Long Beach 444.800:
Have frequency-agile remote base stations covering any frequency in the 144-148, 223-225, 440-450 bands (KO also has 10m & 6m), including standard repeater offsets and CTCSS tones.

 


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BeachNet System Network Linking Capabilities

BeachNet was conceived as a tool to assist Emergency Management in time of local disaster. With frequent winter storms that take out our power and telephone networks every couple of winters, sometimes for days, a back-up is definitely needed. The revelation that this area is prone to infrequent but massive earthquakes and tsunamis only adds to the need for such a system. Linking allows the use of this network over a large, multi-county area using low-power Amateur radio gear, in spite of the mountainous topography.

Of course, it will only be useful to accomplish our mission if it survives. Therefore, every measure has been taken to harden the repeaters and foster survivability wherever possible. The linking system is not a place to take shortcuts. While using an Internet-based system would have been easier, more versatile, and more economical, the reliance on vulnerable infrastructure outside our local control is a bad idea. Even our county's own microwave system failed in the 2007 wind storm when a dish departed a tower. Seventy-centimeter linking with 6- or 13-element yagi antennas provides a great deal of tolerance to misalignment, either by earthquake or wind. Therefore, RF linking on UHF channels was deployed in order to be as independent of outside infrastructure as possible, and resistant to the effects of a disaster.

In normal operation, the network is linked together using the KO Peak radio site as a hub. All of the other repeater sites support unobstructed line-of-sight paths to this centrally located 3000-foot-elevation site. In the event that the KO Peak station should fail, each of the satellite stations is capable of linking to at least one other backup-hub through the remaining sites. This capability also allows setting up smaller sub-networks when desired. For example, in an emergency situation, Grays Harbor County can disconnect their repeaters and reassemble them as a county-wide linked net, using (for example) the Minot repeater as a hub. Similarly, Wahkiakum County can take the Grays River, Cathlamet, and Nicolai repeaters off-line and hook them together. This affords each county the tools it needs to work the situation within its borders. As for communications between counties, that is as easy as turning a single link back on.

In normal day-to-day use, the wide-area coverage of our linked system allows casual communication over the several counties, here in the "Lower-Left Corner" of Washington State. Anything heard on any of our repeaters is normally retransmitted over the entire network. The coverage is better than most cellular phones.

Most of the time, 18 of the 20 repeaters in the system are linked together, with the 444.925 Megler IRLP repeater, and the 224.040 KO Peak repeater set up as "Stand-Alone", that is, normally not linked. Also, the 444.400 North Cove repeater may be unlinked and/or may be linked to the 444.925 machine. Additionally, the 145.170 Ocean Park repeater may be un-linked, or linked through the 444.500 Nicolai repeater, especially if NM7R has the responsibility to monitor that repeater's solar power supply that day. Particularly in the winter months, this repeater occasional needs a Control Operator to operate and monitor the operation of the generator, used to periodically keep the station batteries charged.

The 441.675 KO Peak, 440.675 Naselle, and 444.800 Long Beach repeaters are fitted with frequency-agile remote base stations. These are capable of remotely dialing up nearly any frequency in the 2- meter, 1.25-meter or 70cm Amateur bands, including CTCSS tone and repeater offset (or simplex). Having this capability with the radio and antenna at 3000-feet (KO Peak), or 2000-feet (Naselle) elevation is a powerful tool for reaching out to distant repeaters for connectivity in a communications outage. These tools are used for routine linking with other repeaters for regular weekly nets in the area, as well. KO Peak also has remote base radios for 10-meter and 6-meter FM.

It is important, when keying up on this system that you wait one or two seconds before speaking. Follow me through this ... When you key up, your transmitter takes [1] a few milliseconds to come up and stabilize. It then sends a signal to your local repeater, where the receiver tone-decoder takes a short time (maybe 200 to 300 milliseconds) [2] to verify that your tone is correct. It then turns on the local repeater transmitter, and the link transmitter to send your voice to the hub repeater. The link signal arrives at the hub repeater and it takes another 300mS [3] to decode the tone, before turning on the hub station link transmitter, to send the signal to the local repeater near the friend you are going to talk to. The link receiver there then takes yet another 300mS [4] to check the tone and turn that repeater transmitter on, so your friend can hear you. That can add up to something in the neighborhood of a full second or more. This makes it important for you to squeeze the Push-To-Talk switch and wait a full second before speaking, or the other person won't hear the first part of what you say. So, first, squeeze the PTT, then wait for the count of two, then talk.


Link Distances from KO Peak (Mi)
Grays River 8
Naselle 12
South Bend 20
Megler 20
Cathlamet 20
Ocean Park 23
Long Beach 25
Nicolai 26
North Cove 31
Minot 32
Cosmopolis 35
Olympia 41
Ocean Shores 50
Neilton 66







 

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: 06/27/19.