DSES members, Ed Corn, Steve Plock, Dr. Richard Russel, David Molter, Gary Agranat, and Myron Babcock made a day work trip to the site on Saturday, May 21, 2016.
Steve and Ed checked the oil sampling from the generator and determined the oil that Ray provided for the generator was indeed synthetic oil with additives. New member Gary Agranat on his initial trip to Plishner received a “start up/shutdown” check out on the propane generator set. The generator was used all day for a shake down test to check out the installation of the relief air louvers that open on the east side of the generator shed. With the entry door closed, a significant amount of air now freely flows through the generator shed. Ed worked in the dish pedestal and started laying out the wiring for both an inverter and a generator power hookup. Ed will continue this pedestal wiring project on the next several trips down. An AC hum noise was noted when a ham radio transceiver was connected to the 12 VDC bus in the trailer. It was discovered that the battery charger connected to the batteries when the generator is operating creates this hum. Ed will install a filter on the charging system to eliminate this noise.
Rich, Dave and Gary spent most of the day clearing out the communications trailer of excess coax, dish antennas, and numerous other miscellaneous items cluttering the floor and workbench. A thorough vacuuming followed making the trailer the most organized and cleanest space at the Plishner site. Now the entire inside of the trailer is available for science and radio projects.
Myron brought his Icom IC-471H 75 watt UHF multi-mode transceiver to the site to test out the UHF link between the Plishner Site and Ray Uberecken’s home near Falcon, CO. This link will be used to control various instruments being used at the site when the internet is not operational. After making contact on Single Side Band (SSB) an attempt was made on FM. No signal was heard at either end. The frequency was changed to the lower end of the FM (440.0 MHz) band and contact was made. Signal strength at that frequency was not strong enough for the CTCSS tones to make the 85 mile path to turn on and off the controlling panel. Ray indicated that he will improve his antenna at his home.
Rich installed and tested the Dell laptop on the Radio Jove and HI Galactic Source Observations using the Plishner 60 foot dish and the Spectracyber system. A camera focused on the temperature and battery voltage was installed in the trailer. This data can now be routinely accessed through the onsite cell hotspot through the free TeamViewer software. Contact Dr. Richard Russel to obtain the username and password and instructions on how to use this information.
A group of 12 visitors from the Hammn’ Sams RV club visited the site Saturday afternoon. This group, all amateur radio operators, traveled 35 miles north from their weekend campout at the John Martin Reservoir camp ground on the Arkansas River to make this visit. Myron and Bob Sayers, members of this RV group, made this invitation. Dr. Richard Russel provided an impromptu briefing to the visitors and, without going up into the dish, Steve Plock helped 3 members view the dish pedestal.
The next trip to the Plishner Site is scheduled for the weekend of June 3, 4 & 5. This may be an overnight trip for at least one night out of the 3 days. We will finalize this decision within the next several days and get this information out to all members.