I was recently informed by our power company in Rock Springs that they would need to disconnect power to our site for most of a day to switch from the overhead power feed to a newly installed underground feed. This will ultimately result in more reliable power service to the site. The overhead service was subject to the high winds, ice and snowy conditions on the mountain. To keep the station on the air we decided to temporarily install a portable generator and low power transmitter.

UW88 at the transmitter site on Aspen Mountain…

 

 

Callie patrols the perimeter…

Our antennas are at the very top of the tower.  We will be dropping from 35 kw to 5 kw.  Not much of a difference to listeners in signal quality.

The recently installed transformers for the underground power feed…

Our existing overhead power service

The power company has already started to dig a trench to move our service over to the underground feed.

An 8000 watt portable generator will provide power…The power company has not yet arrived on site but we start preparing and getting things ready to go.

Hmmm…This looks familiar.  The same company that provided my Rawlins transmitter graciously provided a transmitter for this task as well.

The 30 kw FM transmitter–it will be off the air for the duration of the switch.

Currently on…for now…

About 16 kw of power up to the antenna to give us 35 kw of radiated power (after loss from the filters and gain from the antenna).

The temporary low power transmitter is brought into the building…

Front panel of the low power transmitter…Next we will connect power, antenna and audio.

Callie and Leo “assist”.  🙂

Callie approves.

UW88 standing by to take us to our next stop…

Reid connects an adaptor to the transmission line so we can connect the temporary transmitter.

Callie and Leo “supervise”

2000 watts of generator fueled transmitter power.  We’re back on the air at low power.

The temporary transmitter sits in the building happily keeping us on the air while we wait for the power company to finish the transition.

The power company has arrived.  It will take them some time to perform the transition so we will head to Evanston to deal with a satellite dish issue.

The view from Medicine Butte in Evanston

Our satellite receiver in Evanston…Signal strength is not nearly what it should be.

The Evanston transmitter…

Here’s the problem…The connector at the satellite receiver has been taped but it is not holding securely.  It needs to be replaced.  After replacing the connector the signal levels returned to normal.

Back to Rock Springs…The power company is still hard at work.  It looks like they are just about to finish up.

Our new underground power feed…

The overhead feed…Now disconnected.

The power company has just finished wiring the new transformers and energized the system.  Everything worked just fine and we are able to put the main transmitter back on the air.

Awww….Somebody’s tired.  Time to go home!