Alachua County SKYWARN - AC-EMWIN Project `To Do' List

Alachua County EMWIN Project `To Do' List

AC-EMWIN: Things Yet To Do

Scout locations for placement of equipment:

DECIDED: JHMHS DSB rooftop.

Notify Gainesville ARS and Gator ARC (Univ. of Fla.) of the availability of the system, and get support from both clubs;

GARS ONBOARD - Supports idea. Will help with manpower to set up and run system, But did not wish to commit financially.
GARC ONBOARD - Supports idea. Will help with manpower to set up and maintain. Will provide space in the security of their club station, and provide use of their electricity.

Receive equipment from John Fleming (Techincal Svcs., FDEM);

Drop off equipment at GARC club station;

Contact Bill Weltner and Phil Paschiak (DSB PPD) regarding installation of satellite dish using NPN mount, and related installation policies atop roof of the J.H. Miller Health Center's Dental Science Building wing.

APPROVED. But they're a little nervous about NPN mounting. Would rather it be permenently mounted into wall of southern penthouse.

Contact Larry Benton (Shands Communications) regarding handling of any possible medical equipment RFI issues that there may be.

This is just a matter of advising them two days before we actually transmit, and the day OF, so that they can set up monitoring.

Contact Brad Tyler (Satellite Services) and Joe DiPietro (RF Engineers) about help with installation of satellite dish, which now requires drilling/mounting into the southern penthouse wall, per PPD request.

BOTH ARE ONBOARD. Joe and Brad will supervise and help with installation. Brad also advised he can provide grounding, other misc. parts and pieces, all the necessary length of RG-6, whatever mounting is required, pointing/aligning, and setting up equipment.

Install network card on EMWIN computer;

Install VNC (Virtual Network Computer) software for remote access to EMWIN computer, if needed;

(Ongoing.) Install/learn various EMWIN software programs and decide which is best:

WeatherNode (Buggy; problematic; support now defunct; a BIG processor hog; docs not too explicit for the novice) - free,
RE (NICE!; minimal problems...but expensive! - registration being $70!; docs could include more information coming from the novice's standpoint),
WM submodule/add-on - registration $25,
WM Retrans submodule/add-on - free.

Look into possibility of using a sound card to rcv signals as an alternative to having to purchase a demodulator device.

(Research indicates this is not possible.)

Locate/obtain 22-foot, 2" pole for 4-bay Cushcraft transmitting antenna.

We located a 50' push-up pole which would seem to adequately handle the job. Does not need to be fully extended. Risk Management advised we did not need to guy it.

Assemble a plug-in capacitor/relay to provide a delay to the to the Icom transmitter's transmit switch when power is applied. (This is necessary to get around a quirk with the radio on powerup.);

Attach 9-pin serial plug to end of serial cable to allow NWT-12 modulator device to be hooked up between Icom transmitter and computer;

Meet on-site on rooftop of DSB with Bill Weltner, Phil Pasciak, Larry Benton, Joe DiPietro, and Brad Tyler for final group discussion of satellite dish installation and location;

Second, final delivery from John Fleming:

appropriate length of 9913 coax,
4 PL-259 connectors,
Polyphasor lightning protector.

Assemble/mount Satellite dish; route the coax, set up equipment in the club station;

Advise Larry Benton of actual planned Transmit Test Days at T-2 days and T-0 days.

Signal reports from local area listeners - let's see how far out we're getting;

Look into upgrading operating system to something a little better than W98SE just to make sure system operates as stably as possible. (For example, Windows 2000 has much better memory handling capabilities.) Jeff Capehart suggested contacting Jim Carr to see what he had, for testing.

Call for volunteers and hold an "Installation Party" to put everything up on rooftop - assemble/mount Cushcraft antenna;

Testing of all assembled/installed equipment;

Publicity regarding project - create/disseminate official Press announcements.

Alachua County EMWIN Project
E-mail: acemwin@alachuaskywarn.org
Page Created: February 23, 2003.
Last Updated: December 21, 2003.

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