WCERRS Project: Equipment Details

The first article in this series provided an

overview and progress update on the Wahkiakum County Emergency Responder Radio System

(WCERRS) project. This article covers two categories of the hardware: repeater backbone and

user radios. The hardware backbone of our new

system has five repeater towers (see map in the

first article), with five pairs of repeater antennas on each tower, small buildings at the base of

each tower containing the repeaters' hardware,

and a three-station dispatch system housed at

the county courthouse building. Two of the towers

(Radar Ridge and KM) have hardened fiber-optic

cable from the courthouse to the towers. One tower

(at the school site) has fiber-optic cable from the

courthouse to the tower, and two sets of microwave

dishes, one feeding the East tower and one to the

Wickiup tower. This system continuously tracks

all user radios on the system and uses the tower

with the best reception of a user signal to transmit the signal to dispatch and automatically out to

all other repeaters on the other towers. In technical jargon, this is a "voting simulcast" system. All

of this repeater equipment is being replaced with

modern equipment and the repeater buildings are

being upgraded, using funds from the federal appropriation.

The 80' tower at KM Mountain is being replaced by a cell-phone tower leasing company in a

public-private partnership at no cost to the county.

The new tower will be 195' tall with our antennas at about the 160' level. This will significantly

increase our repeater coverage. Additionally, the

tower company will lease the top few feet to cell

phone companies, significantly increasing cell

phone coverage throughout the county for everyone, increasing 911 coverage, and increasing data

coverage for our emergency vehicles. The old tower

will remain in place and support the Amateur Radio health and welfare emergency radio system as

outlined in a previous article in The Eagle.

The user radios are separated into three main

types: Handi-talkies (HT), mobile radios in vehicles, and base station radios. Congressional appropriation is covering the cost of the 220 HTs to

replace those currently in use by each of the participating agencies: Wahkiakum Sheriff/SAR, Fire/

EMS, PUD, HHS, county and town public works,

and the school district. Each of the agencies has a

few base station radios, and mobile radios in nearly all of their vehicles. Some of these radios are being replaced, but most can be reprogrammed to

work with the new backbone system.

Each agency has a band of channels specific to

its work, with a repeater for its primary use and

several local direct channels. The HTs generally

have a range of 1 to 5 miles on the direct local

channels, while the mobile and base stations with

their stronger power and outside antennas have a

direct range of about 30 miles. All radios will be

able to reach one or more of the repeaters in nearly

all locations in the county. Some of the HTs have

special additions such as lapel mics so that Sheriff's officers can talk on their radios while in the

middle of helping someone. All of the HTs have a

special "man down" feature: by pressing one button, the location of the radio is automatically sent

to county dispatch. Each radio also has its own

code which is digitally recorded along with its audio each time the radio is used. The third article in

this series will cover use of this system in "normal"

use and in "emergency" situations.