DIARY #27

SECOND GUESSED IN ALASKA

After thinking we had broad agreement for our plans, described in Diary #23, to:

1. Put up a Base Station antenna on the Arctic Health Center building at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks - the same building which houses the LTER Staff and the Data Collection office run by Stephanie Pike,

2. Run a Cold Test with a DRG115 Freewave radio in a waterproof container on the roof of the Health Center Building, and

3. Put up a Radio Relay point on a high point on Chena Ridge which is also used by the FAA for one of their VOR radars.

We learned from Wendy Davis, LTER manager, that;

a. The University wanted us to go, at great expense, to put a new roof access ladder and opening, and then erect safety fences on the roof,

b. The Cold Test couldn't be done on that roof until the work was done, in spring weather

c. The FAA, when the University requested a permit from the BLM for our relay radio site, objected to any antenna within 1,000 feet of its VOR system, even outside its perimeter fence, or any metal tower that broke the plane called 'counterpoise' which extends out laterally from the base of the VOR system.

So, there was nothing to do but to fly up to Fairbanks in the dead of winter and address these problems. So I combined it with an invitation to make a presentation at the COMTECHII Alaskan Technology Conference in Juneau, Alaska, on the 7th of February.

Relocation of Base Radio

Because of the hassle that the Health Center Building would pose, Wendy found that the relatively new and modern 'IARC' Building, built for technological purposes - the one with the huge multi million satellite dish antenna on the roof - would offer a roof site for the antenna, conduit drops into mechanical rooms below, and a place where the data staff could come and download logger data.

Inside the IARC Lobby

Wendy David and Stephanie Pike on the Roof in February

Power outlets on the roof, and solid places to emplace an antenna tripod, as well as good a view of Chena Ridge - the Relay Point makes the new location satisfactory from the viewpoint of Antenna, power, radio.

Stephanie pointing to the distant Chena Ridge

But since the DRG115 is a Serial Port radio, it will eventually require a serial to ethernet adapter, and new PCW 'ethernet' capable Campbell Software before the serial cable drop into the building can be interfaced with the campus wide LAN system, to be reachable from the Data collection computer in the Health Center. In the interim it will require Stephanie to bring a laptop with serial adapter, and standard PCW208 software installed, to download data from remote data loggers down the Tanana River.

LESS THAN COLD TEST

Because of all the University bureaucratic delays, the Cold Test, which was intended to keep a DRG115, battery, data logger, and recharger that drew on 110v from inside the building, with inside and outside temperature sensors up on the Health Center roof operating through the coldest months of Alaska, has been delayed.

I suggested Wendy and Stephanie just ignore the original plan, and instead just get the box with everything except the recharger put outside at ground level, and run it anyway. Even though the coldest month has passed. It would be worth it for them to get some experience in downloading via the radio. Just replace the battery if it runs down.

So that will be done.

THE RELUCTANT FAA

As I feared, the FAA, knowing little technically about the radios we were going to use, would play it ultra-conservatively and use their veto power to suppress our use of the same hill they had a facility on, even though it is on BLM land.

Wendy Davis and I met with Paul Adams and a technician at the FAA offices in Fairbanks, and we jawboned. I was able to hear their concerns, and cleared up some of their misconceptions about what we were doing.

In a trip up to the facility at an earlier time, the FAA tech said that a location further down the slope might be acceptable. The question was whether that position would permit clear signal for us from the University, and down the Tanana River. So Stephanie and Wendy ran some tests of their own in a lower location, and found good connectivity down the Tanana River. But they had not tested from the roof of the IARC building to the Relay Point. Pretty chilly there to be doing any field testing - down below zero.

So after the meeting with Adams, Wendy and I set out pretty late in the afternoon - after 4PM when, in Alaska it starts getting dark fast. We drove up to Chena Ridge while Stephanie was up on the roof of the IARC building, where the new location for the base radio would be. It started snowing, and part of the road was snow covered when we left the highway.

We just had time to stop close to the location they were convinced would work as an alternative to being nearer the top. Being winter, we could see through the trees down the Tanana all right (will the summer leafage kill the signal????). Wendy was well prepared to hand hold a DRG115 radio, with a 12db Yagi, and use the cigarette lighter in the car for power.

Wendy getting a Good Link back to IARC

We spent little time there, but to my eyes the link was very solid back to the University. And they had measured it down the Tanana from the same point. We would still have to erect a 10 to 15 foot mast, or tower, to try and get as high as we can on the south slope of the Chena Ridge hill. But it looks like a feasible alternative, which only actual deployment tests will validate finally.

But Wendy can contact Adams at the FAA, they can come out to see the new site, and approve it. We will seek written permit from them and the BLM.

One other snag was that the FAA technician would have 'liked' for one of their electronic laden test aircraft, stationed in Oklahoma, to come up - paid by our project (at $1,000 an operating hour) - to 'test' the set up by landing using the VOR nearby. That may not be necessary, or it can be done during one of their routine, recurring tests. No way will I pay for such a costly expedition.

With that, and being sure my car was plugged into electrical engine warmer power plugs at the Hotel overnight, I left the next morning.

(There were two side bar meetings with University professors on related issues during the one full day I was there. They will be explained in the next Diary.)

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