From steps-owner@krypton.hpc.sdsmt.edu Thu Dec 9 21:03:35 1999 Received: from ncar.UCAR.EDU by mmm.mmm.ucar.EDU (980427.SGI.8.8.8/ NCAR Mail Server 04/10/90) id VAA46226; Thu, 9 Dec 1999 21:03:34 GMT Received: from krypton.hpc.sdsmt.edu (krypton.hpc.sdsmt.edu [151.159.81.8]) by ncar.UCAR.EDU (8.9.1a/) with ESMTP id OAA20616; Thu, 9 Dec 1999 14:02:11 -0700 (MST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by krypton.hpc.sdsmt.edu (AIX4.3/8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA17372 for steps-outgoing; Thu, 9 Dec 1999 14:02:05 -0700 Received: from lab.chill.colostate.edu (lab.CHILL.ColoState.EDU [129.82.147.7]) by krypton.hpc.sdsmt.edu (AIX4.3/8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA17368 for ; Thu, 9 Dec 1999 14:01:53 -0700 Received: from dab (dab [129.82.147.14]) by lab.chill.colostate.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id OAA01266 for ; Thu, 9 Dec 1999 14:01:57 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <199912092101.OAA01266@lab.chill.colostate.edu> X-Sender: dave@lab.chill.colostate.edu X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0 Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 14:01:53 -0700 To: Steps email list From: David Brunkow Subject: STEPS Communications/CSU-CHILL Update (with better format) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-steps@krypton.hpc.sdsmt.edu Precedence: bulk Status: RO Jay and Andy: This is a general CSU-CHILL communications / operations van update for STEPS planning discussions: 1.) Primary VHF repeater: Bob has been in contact with a communications company based in Goodland. He provided me with the following information: The tower at Goodland KS, (lat. N39-20-24 Long. W101-44-05) has two DB224 antennas at the 340 ft. level, they are fed with 7/8" heliax cable. I plan to use one for the radar repeater operating at 164.05 MHz Receive and 164.70 MHz transmit. If Erik Rasmussen used a NSSL repeater on the other antenna, we would have the radar's and surface network covered. As for soundings I would think they could use one of the repeaters as time permitted. I should be able to set up the Johnson radios to operate on both frequencies. I plan to take our repeater out in late January and do a test in the area, as to coverage, this would give us an idea as to any other equipment or towers that we might have to access. I believe that we should have good coverage in a 50 mile radius of the tower. NCAR-CSU has nine Johnson radios that we can use, some will need repair and we also will need to get some new microphones. We have basic power supplies to operate all of the radios, we can pick up some more when we have a better idea how many radios that we are going to need (>>> we need to start getting a list of users who will need one of our radios <<<). We can also get pager's from Mr. Dickey, (paging system operates on the same tower at a price of $13.50 each/month (>>> we need to know how many to order <<<). If Erik Rasmussen cannot get the NSSL repeater, we have another one that could be used but we will need to know ASAP so as to start a license application. In summary, we are planning to install the repeater Bob mentions above on the Goodland tower in January. Our general assumption is that this repeater will be primarily for communications between S-POL, CHILL, and the KGLD NWS office. If Erik / NSSL can provide the second repeater, that can be used for the direction of mobile mesonet cars, balloon launchers, etc. These repeater usage ideas are fully open to discussion. If NSSL cannot supply a repeater, Bob can start working on getting a second one operating and licensed for STEPS. However, we need notice soon if CSU must get a second repeater on the air. 2. User Van phones, etc: Dave has been looking into the possibilities for phone and data lines. At present, there are plenty of lines about one mile north of the Burlington airport (ITR), but they would need to bury more lines for the last 1.7 miles to the site. It is not clear at this point whether or how soon the phone company would do this. There also seems to be a shortage of T1 lines from Burlington back to Colorado Springs. There is an Internet service provider that is trying to overcome this problem by coming north through Yuma. The infrastructure already exists for this, it's just a matter of having the various parties involved agree to do it. Currently Internet service to the city of Burlington is limited to low speed due to the unavailability of T1's. We will continue to push for as fast an Internet connection as we can get, and we'll keep you advised of the developments. The situation for data lines a the Idalia site is much better in that there should be no problem getting a high-speed connection from the Idalia phone company back to the Boulder Giga-POP. Getting a line from SPOL to the phone company, however, is subject to the usual line scarcity problems. 3.) Radar site: A Burlington city council meeting will take place next Monday (12/13/99). The proposed CHILL installation at ITR is on the agenda. The FAA is also currently reviewing the airspace obstruction issues related to having the dome on the field at ITR. Approvals from the city and the FAA are the final hurdles in establishing a CSU-CHILL site at ITR. 4.) Misc: The CSU-CHILL staff will be glad to assist in assembling the STEPS ops plan. I suspect that the scientific issues are best addressed by the various PI's. However, we can provide advice on proposed user van layouts, computer network connection possibilities, etc. Pat Kennedy, Dave Brunkow, and Bob Bowie 12/9/99 David Brunkow -- CSU-CHILL Radar Facility -- Phone: 970-491-6248