07/17/10

091011 - Was at the project early today - and got everything opened up.  A couple of the doors are difficult to open - I need to come up with a plan for that.  Paul and his two boys showed up at 9:30 and they gave it a go.  Great progress.  Paul got the boys started and then went off to do some chores of his own.  He came back to check the job, and had a go at cutting open the two C cans.  We didn't finish as we need more protective personal gear to finish the job.

I got there early, opened up the C cans, and was checking out what will become the 'covered balcony' on the East facing C can.  This is going to work just fine!  My intent is to create a little quiet area, hot or cold, rain or shine, that you can relax in.  

Tight eh?  Maybe a bit too tight!

Turkey day - and the boys are hard at work.  Beautiful day on the farm, and the wind was blowing

Bill's camera was tilted - not the C can

Paul starting to cut open the door openings between the two C cans.  We need some better protective equipment to finish this job

091011 - Paul and his boys came over yesterday and gave me an hour.  They sanded down the Generator and Battery containers, as well as a little on one of the C cans.  Here are the pictures of that work

091010 - Started Saturday with breakfast with other hams - about fourteen of us this a.m.  Then spent part of the morning at a SET exercise.  Left there to run around and pick up special locks for the C cans.  Managed to fit in a haircut, thanks Cat!  I was starting to look pretty shaggy there.  Ended up out at the Project by about 2:00 p.m.  Daniel, my son, dropped by for a quick look and to see what all the excitement was about.  He is home from Uni for Thanksgiving.  Paul and three of his boys dropped by.  They gave me an hour's worth of effort.  Both of the green cans (Battery / Generator) were sanded well, and are ready to be washed with TCP and then painted.  Watching the young kids scramble all over that unit was a little concerning.  They climbed it like it was a toy in a school yard.  I'm thinking that putting them up on top of the C can might be the best best - better altitude for antennas as well.  They both will likely need to go at the ends of the C cans - where there is the most strength to support the weight of the batteries and the boxes.

My brother Paul and I walked through both C cans and took a look at what had been done.  He suggested that the two older boys could do the rough framing of the second C can.  We're going to give it a try.  Paul will lay it out, and the boys will do it.  We'll start early on Sunday morning.  I will bring down the tools, and stop at Home Depot for what I am missing.  It will be a tight day - as I need to get up early, get the two turkeys prepped and on.  We will be smoking one, and regular cooking the other.  Judy helped me get some of the stuffing 'stuff' prepared Saturday night, so maybe I can make this work.

Al dropped by late this afternoon with his gas fired welder.  He welded the new locks on two of the C cans.  It isn't pretty, but I think it will work.  We'll drill and carriage bolt them when we get a chance.  One thing we did hear from a neighbour, is the 'forest' the West of us may have been leased to the Blueberry farmer one field over.  He is planning on clear cutting the area.  Well - positive thoughts, it will give us more sunshine, more great sunsets, and improve our 'field of fire' to the West.

If we can get the C can framed out, then Paul has offered to help me level the two C cans, and then cut them open so we have our open area between them.  We need to come up with a mechanism to make them weather proof, but one problem at a time.

I've been offered a 24 Volt rectifier.  Think of it as a 240 VAC to a 24 VDC battery charger.  It will output 24 VDC @50 amps.  It is 2 foot high, a foot and a half wide, and about 1 foot deep.  It was a commercial rectifier.

091009 - Spent a few hours today on the project.  Checked out the Generator / Battery storage containers - sweet.  The two C cans were delivered - very late in the day.  Al picked up the wet cell NiCad's and they were put in one of the C cans

Al undoing the security bolt on the door

One of the two has an equipment cabinet in it

Inside floor and wall of the battery / generator containers - they are heavy steel, insulated and lined with plywood

Inside back top wall of the generator / battery container

Al picked up the wet cell Nicad batteries.  There are three banks on the left, and one bank on the right.  This is a total of about 800 amp hours of 12 volt battery capacity

8 foot by 40 foot

Swinging it into place

First C can placed - not beautiful - but definitely functional.  This one has not been rough framed yet

Getting late - last job was to gently move the wet cell Nicads into the C can for storage.

091008 - Big day today - picked up the railroad ties, laid out the two C cans where they are going to go in the 'Compound', picked up the two storage cans - one for batteries and one for the generator. 

Here are some pictures of the day

Railroad ties - owwww - laid out for the C cans tomorrow very early a.m.

Al's radio level helped us figure out the low points

Mini-excavator makes short work of this

We also took a look at the batteries that we need to pick up tomorrow.  They are Nicad wet cells - there were four banks of them.  It is expected that there will be about 800 plus amp hours of batteries - connected in series to get 13 plus volts, and then in parallel to extend the capacity of the bank.  These will need to go outside in one of the insulated steel containers.

There batteries were an unexpected surprise - four banks of AGM cell batteries - each bank weighs about 500 pounds, and two together is 880 amp hours at twelve volts.  This will likely run the inverter that will provide power for the amplifier, and other 120 volt items - wow.

Tomorrow - two C cans being delivered to the site.  One has been framed out, thanks Brian, the other one wasn't delivered in time to be framed out, so it still has to be framed out.  We'll try and get the units bolted together this weekend - and we'll start the process with Jeff - HPS - to lay out the wiring diagrams.  We still don't know for sure about the 24 volt bus batteries.