Frazier Peak Radio Details

Frazier Peak Radio

The Frazier Peak site is located about 10 miles west of Interstate 5 near Tejon Pass at Gorman. Known as the infamous "grapevine" hill, it's the last stop in the mountain range separating Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley. The site is inaccessible about 4 months of the year, except by helicopter, due to snow.

Frazier Peak site is at an elevation of approximately 7,990 feet above mean sea level. The site has a spectacular view of the surrounding area and was once used as a U. S. Forest Service lookout post. The lookout tower is still at the site although it is no longer used. While the Remote can be heard in many parts of the Los Angeles basin, that is not its primary coverage area. The site overlooks the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley and provides good coverage for people traveling on Interstate 5 in the South San Joaquin Valley.

Here's a picture of the abandoned U. S. Forest Service lookout post taken at the first snow fall. It now serves as a mounting structure for some government antennas.

Here's a picture of the site showing the building we are in. The Cactus antennas are on the right tower above the large dish antenna

The Frazier Peak radio consists of a Palomar Telecom Controller, a Motorola "MSY" Remote, with the transmitter driving a Cactus Standard 28 volt 80 watt output power amplifier. The link radios consist of Motorola Mitreks as transmitters and two (2) modified Motorola wideband "L" receivers, and one (1) modified Motorola wideband "M" receiver. There is a 2 Meter Remote Base, consisting of a GE MASTR Executive II mobile running at 25 watts output, installed at the site that transmitts and receives on 146.460 MHz simplex.

Here's a couple pictures of the radio cabinets with Chuck Karayan, WD6AML, the site manager working on them.

The front of the first cabinet from top to bottom shows the Motorola T1507 Duplexer, the fan and heatsink for the 28 volt Power Amplifier, Motorola MSY Remote, one of the modified Motorola wideband "L" link receivers, the Palomar Controller, a modified Motorola wideband "M" link receiver and the Astron Power Supply.

The back of the first cabinet from top to bottom shows the back of the Motorola T1507 Duplexer, the 28 volt Power Amplifier, the link duplexers, the second of the modified Motorola wideband "L" link receivers,another link duplexer and the Astron Power Supply.

The front of the second cabinet from top to bottom shows the 2 Meter GE MASTR Executive II mobile, the three (3) Motorola Mitrek link transmitters and the Astron Power Supply.

The back of the second cabinet from top to bottom shows the link transmitter TU-255 pass cavities, the back of the Motorola Mitrek link transmitters, the Astron Power Supply and the interconnect cabling between the two (2) racks.

These pictures show that being a contortionist is helpful at times to work on radios. There is barely enough room to move easily around the cabinet in the "closet" like space. The racks are mounted on dollies so that they can be rolled around and worked on.

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Cactus Intertie, Inc

Revised: May 7, 2011 by WA6PYJ
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The front of the second cabinet from top to bottom shows the 2 Meter GE MASTR Executive II mobile, the three (3) Motorola Mitrek link transmitters and the Astron Power Supply.	The back of the second cabinet from top to bottom shows the link transmitter TU-255 pass cavities, the back of the Motorola Mitrek link transmitters, the Astron Power Supply and the interconnect cabling between the two (2) racks.