The last visit just three days ago found that two of our solar panels had come down due to the frame holding them coming apart. Seems that after many years the screws holding the frame together rusted enough to remove most of the threads and the last wind storm was able to pull the screws out of the wood.
The trip today had Tim, KE7TAC, John, KG7DPW, and Dale, K7FW going up to repair the frame and get the panels mounted once again. We started at 8 AM in very windy and cold conditions. We found frost and temperatures just at freezing at the repeater site and lots of wind. It was COLD!
The plan was to use the wood from the existing frame, but not knowing what else we might need we brought along lots of materials - pressure treated 2x4s, worm drive saw, drill, generator, extension cords, all manner of screws and bits, as well as some cordless drills and a drill/driver.
We were lucky that we could use the old pressure treated wood by removing the old screws and inserting some new ones. That made our work go pretty quickly. The cold combined with really strong wind gave us quite an incentive to work quickly.
Tim, KE7TAC, and John KG7DPW add a couple new screws to the one surviving 2X4. |
We need to send a thank you note to the company that makes these screws. They require no pre-drilling and use a star drive. Using my Makita drill-driver these did an excellent job of securing the 2x4s. If we install new panels I am going to suggest new wood and stainless hardware. |
One of the panels has a little damage. The power cord is not well seated in the connector. On the next trip up we should try and repair this to see if we can make the connection waterproof. Unfortunately it will probably be a while before the next trip up. We did not have any materials on this trip to deal with this. |
One of the tasks for this trip was to attach some asset tags to equipment. This is the repeater controller, a CAT 300. Having the repeater cabinet open gave me an opportunity to get a photo of it. |
Tim, KE7TAC on the left and John, KG7DPW on the right standing by the repaired panel support. |
Dale, K7FW next to the repaired panel support. Despite the sun, it was cold! |