E-comm plan could eliminate need for Steptoe Butte repeaters

Emergency response transmitters on Steptoe Butte may soon come down under a plan by Whitman County’s emergency communications officials.

After years of wrangling with the state parks department over lease rates for the repeaters on the county’s highest peak, the county’s new communications plan may render them moot.

“When you first set up a communications system, the typical method is to find the highest spot, put a tower up there and crank up the power,” said Steve Krigbaum, the county’s emergency communications director.

As communications traffic increases, he said, that method becomes less...