Pat's Knob repairs are a success

According to Sanders County Sheriff Department Radio Technician Cody Best, the damage to communication equipment on Pat’s Knob sustained during a winter storm earlier in the year has been repaired. Sanders County Emergency Services had been relying on a back-up system for several months before the damaged equipment could be replaced.

The damage occurred when ice fell and struck an antennae and a radio unit in the facility at the summit of Pat’s Knob. The location houses multiple types of communication equipment that allows emergency services in the county to coordinate responses.

Best said the county had been waiting for parts to arrive and that the county had been operating on a back-up system known as a phone tree. A phone tree system relies on cellular technology. Best said the system allowed services in the county to operate at 100 percent capacity while they waited for replacement parts.

When the parts including a new microwave dish and radio arrived, Best and two industrial communications and electrical technicians from Billings went up to the site to begin repairs. They installed the new equipment in about seven hours.

“It took a little bit of time. We had to sync the equipment with another site,” said Best.

Best said the new equipment was working at 100 percent capability and the county was no longer using the phone tree system.

“We had to do some minor adjustments but everything seems to be working,” said Best. “ We are back to normal operations.”

Pat’s Knob is home to a Forest Service fire lookout station as well as a variety of antennas and transmission towers. About three miles south of Plains and rising to almost 7,000 feet, the mountaintop contains antennas from the Federal Aviation Administration, Montana Highway Patrol, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and numerous other agencies.