Idaho ATV

The Mount Harrison K6ZVA Repeater GPS Location: 42 deg 19.36'N by 113 deg 39.20'W

The K6ZVA repeater operates from Mount Harrison in Southern Idaho. It is operated by Lee Kelly, who lives in Twin Falls, about 50 miles from the site.
 

From top to bottom:
Top:  The site of the K6ZVA ATV repeater - as well as a few other voice repeaters.
Center:  The remote camera on site.
Bottom:  The interior of the ATV repeater's cabinet.
Right-click and select "view image" for larger versions

This repeater is a crossband repeater receiving on 434.0 MHz and transmitting on 1253.25 MHz, both being vertically polarized and AM. The transmitted power is approximately 40 watts into a 12db gain vertical collinear.

This repeater includes a remote-controlled camera that can pan, tilt, and zoom. The picture near the top of the page shows an earlier incarnation of the camera and housing, while the images just above show a more current version.

News from Lee, K6ZVA:

5 August, 2003:

"Very long time no see.  I guess the main reason I have not sent any info for a while is - EVERYTHING KEEPS WORKING!.

"That site camera is a real winner.   Even though I did not evacuate, (pressurize), the housing, weather for 2 years has not affected the excellent performance.

"[I] Installed a Comet dual band ,70 cm - 23cm, a year ago and with a small base clamp mod for additional wind strength, has solved the antenna failure problems. Of course we use  just the 23 cm section. Still read your ATV coverage with great interest. You could probably emove some of that stuff I did which looks like junk!. Here are some pix I took this week. The site cam after two years. The interior of the 23cm repeater (sound transmitter is not shown). The wonderful wood shack and tower. The shack also houses a 147.00 (-), a 144.39 APRS digi , a 449.29 (-) and 147.22 (+) ATV com repeater."

An article and some pictures pertaining to this repeater appeared in the Winter 1996 issue of ATV quarterly.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

View of the Mark II camera with (left) and without enclosure (right)

One of the features of the K6ZVA repeater is the remotely-controlled video camera.  This camera has gone through several revisions.  The picture at the bottom of the page shows (I believe) the "Mark 1" version.  This camera worked but had the tendancy to suffer various ailments related to cold weather, including "fogging" of the optics.

The "Mark II" version had several improvements:  The moving parts of the camera were enclosed (so that ice buildup would not "freeze" the PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) actutator.  It also had a "hat" to reduce ice/moisture buildup on the transparent dome.  This camera, too, was replaced with a "surplused" harsh weather security camera (see above.)
 
 

7 November, 2000:
 

The ATV station at K6ZVA's QTH

 
 

Selected views of the emergency communications trailer

"We finally got all the planned work on the hill finished. This included a new Vertex 2M ATV comm. repeater. Except for some path variations, it's P5 here most of the time. The new site camera works faultlessly. It really needs to use that internal heater. The outside temperature Bob II PIC overlay just indicated 14F up there!.

"One other project that has kept me from doing anything else is an amateur radio communications trailer. It covers all bands and all modes with heavy emphasis on ATV remote capability. I have a couple of pix included showing the unit during a recent Jerome emergency radiation exercise where RACES was involved."

"We transmitted video from a hat cam, (1277mHz) to the trailer and then to the courthouse via 434Mhz. The courthouse is the major EOC for the Valley. I have plans to use a 1253 down converter at the courthouse so they can monitor the repeater to watch any RACES activity that might take place in the Magic Valley area.

15 January, 2000:

The newly-acquired outdoor camera/housing for the K6ZVA ATV repeater. This camera was, according to Lee, "currently in the 'test' mode" when this picture was taken.
(1/15/2000)

• "...[It] looks like our ATV video transmit antenna was not [Y2K] compliant!. It went down on New Years day from ice overload. If SAR [Search And Rescue] can get to it, they can swap the antenna ports [with the Aural Transmitter's Antenna] for a temporary fix. Will probably lose audio though.

"Lots of system rework can be done here in the meantime. A new controller (ATVC-4) has been purchased and with a few additions will be ready for summer. A new site super camera is being developed and is already passing tests in my back yard. We were able to take advantage of some INEL surplus video equipment and it is about the best cold weather equipment I have ever seen. The P/T unit is a heavy duty Pelco outdoor unit. The camera housing was modified using a new Panasonic Color Camera. It is heated and pressurized. The lens is all motor driven with very expensive long range zoom capability. We plan to remount the transmit antenna on the nearby wood phone pole. It will be supported in three places about two feet off of the pole. It should live through the winters this way. Several trips will be needed to accomplish this work but it should give us a super repeater."

Two views of the repeater site, circa 1999

(Left to Right) Work on the older camera and the repeater equipment rack.

April, 1999:

• "While waiting for the glacier to recede on Mt. Harrison, I have had plenty of time to figure out the next repeater fixes.  I really blew the last trip adjustments:  We have been watching very poor video, sync-wise.  I didn't set the pedistal properly and the sync tip is too low.  Direct video from the remote camera suffers.

 View of older ("Mark 1") camera mounted on the repeater's building.

"The 'ORG transmitter also has low temp problems and has the typical chroma sideband vs audio subcarrier [i.e. triple-beat, ED.] interference.  I have built a new 1253 1 watt AM video-only transmitter and will leave it powered up full-time to prevent warm up [problems.]  The controller will power up the PA only.

"The other new transmitter is a north country radio unit modified to provide the 20 KHz FM aural carrier.  This will be on a seperate vertical 14 dbi antenna.  This approach, along with careful pedistal adjustment using the local camera as the video source should vastly improve our system.  One other addition is the ability to speak to anyone in the camera view - that should shake them up."

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Thanks to Lee Kelly, K6ZVA, for the use of the above images...