22 Dec 2013 – Cazy Mountain

22 December 2013

Today, we trekked to the area locally known as “Cazy”, more precisely the “West Cazy” area of Pond Fork, Boone County, West Virginia in an effort to help the Boone County Firefighter’s Mutual Aid Association find a suitable location for a VHF repeater/antenna.

The proposed site location is owned by Alpha Natural Resources and is in the process of a bond release from the WVDEP. The mutual aid association is working on an agreement with Alpha for a lease of the proposed site. We were led by Droop Howell, the Fire Chief of Van VFD to locations in the “Cazy” area. We tested two sites, one of which turned out to be very hot for VHF comms in the Wharton and Van areas. We tested two-way comms via Fire department VHF and HAM 2 Meter. Both of which were able to send/receive at acceptable levels.

Below, you will see a screenshot of a Google Map rendering of a Google Earth KMZ File work-up by KD8VYF through CloudRf.com. This map shows an approximate RF propagation of the VHF band from the proposed tower site throughout Boone County and surrounding areas.

More info coming pertaining to this Expedition.

A continuing log of the Cazy Mountain Project may be found at our Club Site, www.wv8ccc.org.