Repeaters Near Owyhee Uplands, Steens, Alvord Desert

[Jerry]

I just took a few minutes to look up repeater frequencies in southwest Idaho and southeast Oregon, as in the Owyhee Uplands, Steens Mountain, Alvord Desert areas. Well, there are none to few depending on your location. There is one repeater in Jordan Valley, a few in the mountains surrounding Silver City and several others in Ontario, Burns, Lakeview and Winnemucca. There are also repeaters in more isolated areas such as Tuscorora, Nevada and Silver Lake, Oregon. We already know we can "hit" some of those repeaters from afar, but conditions must be just right. HF capability is a real plus in that area.

Long story short I found 17 Two Meter Repeaters and 12 UHF Repeaters in or on the outskirts of the area. There may be more, but that was just a start using the ARRL Repeater Directory.

[Jerry]

I don't want to leave the impression that all is lost as far as making contact on 2-meters is concerned. You may recall that while we were trying to out-drive a storm near the Oregon/Nevada border I made contact with a 440 Tuscacora, NV repeater. The repeater was over 50 miles distant and I only had 20 watts available to do the job. Radio waves travel long distances from hill to hill in that wide open country. Different story in the mountains or if you happen to be down in a canyon.