New radio equipment recently was installed at the Flagg Mountain and Little Buck radio sites for public safety use, said Okanogan County sheriff Frank Rogers.
     The equipment is are on line and working, and "the coverage is superb, even beyond our greatest hopes," he said. "The Flagg site gives us coverage all the way up to Washington Pass, as well as the Lost River district near Mazama."
     Until the change the sheriff's office had never had radio coverage in those areas, he said.
     "The Little Buck footprint covers the entire Methow Valley floor," Rogers said.
     Little Buck and the existing McClure site give the sheriff's office triple redundancy in the area, he added.
     "Coming from only one repeater with battery backup to three sites with generator/backup at two is a major improvement which cannot be overstated from the standpoint of public safety and first responder communications," Rogers said.
     "We could not have done this without partnering with the Washington state Department of Transportation and them being willing to let us come into these sites," he said.
     Rogers praised emergency manager Scott Miller and communications technician Walt Stalder for their work in getting the radio sites installed.
     "This completes our five-year plan to upgrade and build out the county radio system," he said. "With these last two installations we now have overlapping coverage in all areas of Okanogan County."