A month or so ago I ordered a new uplink dish and amplifier for WPR. Our existing uplink dish and amplifier are well past their useful life. They will serve as an OK backup system but eventually the amplifier will die and the dish will deteriorate beyond usability. In addition, parts for the existing uplink amplifier are no longer available.

The old uplink dish on Ross Hall…Note the discoloration and bent supports.
This dish has seen better days.

Another shot of the old dish. The amplifier is mounted to the center support strut.
The mount to the building actually looks more stout than the dish itself!
The cover on the back is for a heater which prevents ice buildup.

Early last week the facilities department brought the pieces of the new dish up to the roof of Knight Hall with a rather large crane. I told them we would take care of the assembly if they could get it up there. I wish I had taken some pictures of that process…It was an impressive sight having a massive crane between the two buildings hoisting up dish parts one crate at a time!

While I was fixing the Rock Springs transmitter on Friday my assistant and our Engineering Coordinator decided to finish putting the dish together. It came out quite nicely! I went up this morning to inspect the newly installed dish.

This is a 3 meter dish made by a Chinese company called Suman. I think it looks a little like an alien space ray of some sort…It is a very solidly manufactured dish from a relatively unknown company.

Reid and Larry in front of the new dish
Note the AP newswire receive dish directly behind it and the old uplink dish on top of the building in the background.

Reid inspects the elevation adjustment screw

All of the electronics mount at the back of the dish. Quite nice on a dish this size!

This new dish should provide WPR with many more years of service and improved reliability for the feed to its statewide network.