July 10, 2017 Technical Planning Meeting Minutes

Link to minutes: 2017-07-10 DSES Technical Planning Meeting Minutes

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Dear DSES members and interested parties,

Attached are the July 10th DSES technical meeting minutes. Please review.
In the future we will post these and past and future minutes on the http://dses.science/ website.

July and August are very busy months for the DSES. Here is a summary of the activities. This is a great time to get involved. Here is a summary of the upcoming activities in the next two months from the website. These and other work is elaborated in the attached meeting minutes.

*** DSES Annual Astronomy Open House at Plishner ***
Friday August 11, 5-12 PM, and Saturday August 12, 2017.

Work trip to Plishner radio telescope site in Haswell scheduled Sunday July 23, 2017: Install antenna feed, install antenna readout/control, finish propane tank work, re-connect internet hotspot, test harmonic generator source, battery swap, repair Jupiter science antenna.

QSO Party: Saturday September 3, 2017 – We plan to operate our ham radio station at the radio telescope site for the Colorado QSO Party

Dr. Richard Russell AC0UB will present a paper on “Ionospheric Reflection” at the 2017 Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers Annual Conference at NRAO Greenbank, WV. Dates: July 23 – 26, 2017.

Ray Uberbecken AA0L will present at the 2017 Central States VHF Society Conference in Albuquerque, NM. Conference dates: July 27 – 30, 2017. Ray’s topic is about an original engineering design and technique he developed, “Using High Power FM stations to Monitor Meteor Activity Utilizing the 19-kHz Pilot Carrier”. This approach to Meteor Scatter can take the place of using broadcast analog TV signals, which now are mostly gone.

Regards,
Bill Miller KC0FHN
DSES Secretary

 

DSES Plishner Work Trip Report July-02-2017

The following report was provided by Ed Corn and Steve Plock.  Special thanks to Gary Agranat for providing the pictures.

Myron Babcock
DSES Treasurer

 

 

Greetings all:

This is a summary of our trip to Plishner Sunday 7-2-2017. Steve, Dave, Bill,  Gary and my self made a very successful trip with a few exceptions.

Dave, Bill and Gary worked on the tumble weeds, cleaning all out of the ramp. I am positive they combined lost a bunch of weight (sweat down their backs) It was a bit warm. We all were involved in installing the chain link and construction safety fence around the perimeter of the ramp. We had enough fencing to do about ¾ of the perimeter. The rest will be completed the next trip down. This should take care of about 95% of the tumble weed problem.

Steve and I went to the comm. Trailer and re established the bunker battery monitor line. We discovered that Myron’s Hot Spot adapter has quit functioning. (DOA) I will get the unit back to Myron for exchange with his carrier. We need an agenda Item at the next engineering meeting to discuss the failure and preventative measures to prevent future failures.

Steve and I went to the generator tank and changed the wet leg valve. The excess flow check valve did check lock as designed so we did not have to depressurize the tank.

I corrected the wiring on the start/stop remote stations for the generator and Steve went to the bunker to help with the fencing.

After lunch we removed the feed and controller for the dish and Dave will deliver to Ray for modification.

I know I have forgotten some things the rest will have to fill in.

On the trip back Dave had a slow leak in a tire. Bill got him aired up and headed west. Steve and I headed home in my pick up. Just before Punkin Center I ran out of propane and switched fuels too late. This disabled my vehicle. So we put Steve in Bills van for the trip back to Ellicott and I called a favor from a friend who came down and recovered me. As of this writing the pick up is back on the road. Just too long of a day to make repairs on the road.

Submitted

Ed KC0TBE

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Steve Added:

Myself and Dave Molter removed the multiband feed from the dish and Dave Molter delivered it to Ray’s house along with the feed control panel which I removed from the comm trailer.

The original station clock has been put back near operating position in comm trailer. Bill Miller inflated tires on bunker transport wagon. I removed the hotspot from the comm. trailer and when Myron is given a replacement from his wireless provider I recommend that we re-install it in the bunker because there is a much better environmental conditions for it to operate. The main valve on the 1000 gal tank was successfully replaced by myself and Ed Corn and tank can be filled after leak test is performed. Ed will contact Haswell Propane this week to arrange pressure test and fill. Please distribute.

Thanks, Steve KL7IZW

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Bill added:

Additionally Steve and Ed loaded some of the old excess test gear and servers from the bunker onto Ed’s truck and sold them at the PPRAA ham fest the following Saturday. Bill brought back another one of the bad 6 volt deep cycle battery cores and will get the other from Ed to turn in for credit for two new batteries for the battery room on the comm. trailer.

Bill KC0FHN

 

The spiral staircase we constructed for the bunker, as a secondary/emergency exit, now being painted.