After about a week of no problem with the transmitter, the Gentner called this morning at 7:45am. I quickly fired up the laptop and checked to see what was wrong. The Gentner showed that there was no power at the site. This was verified when I checked the camera aimed at the transmitter control panel and saw NO lights. I then looked at the audio rack camera and the only lights on were those supplied by the uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Since there is no standby engine, not much can be done except wait for the power came back. Sign-off is normally at 8:30am.

After devotions this morning, my priorities have been changed. Joe informed me that the three new APC SMT-3000 UPSs had arrived and were ready to install. One was for the transmitter site. When it is installed, the large one temporarily moved there will be returned to the office/studio. The second UPS would go into the Intelsat room and the third would be a ‘standby’ and located in the automation room. It will be running with a very light load to keep the battery charged and ready for use in case of a failure of one of the other UPSs.

These new UPSs have a power supply input cord with a 3 prong 110VAC 30 amp twist lock plug. For the ‘standby UPS’, I had to make up a cord with a standard 110VAC ground plug on one end with a socket to mate to the twist lock plug on the other end. This was not a difficult project, but finding the parts took a bit of the time. Benny was called to bring a standard plug from the site. Fortunately he was already out there unloading the new site UPS.

When Benny delivered the plug, I was able to install the ‘standby UPS’. It was connected to one of the servers in the automation. This server has two power supplies, and either one can provide power should the other fail. This standby UPS was connected to one of these two power supplies.

These UPSs have a lot of features that can be monitored and configured using a computer. The manual is on a CD provided with the UPS, so we downloaded it onto a computer for easier review.

For noon meal, Virginia and I decided to order Nasi Goreng carry-out from China Nobo Restaurant. It was delicious and there was enough for two meals for both of us. After lunch, we went to the site for the afternoon.

Preparing cable to attach to standard power plug to connect to the output of the new UPS.

I removed the UPS from its packing box and began to assess what was needed to connect it. Initially I was thinking of using the cord from the large UPS (that actually belongs in town), but the diameter of its cord was much too large to allow attaching a standard 3 prong plug for connecting it to the output of the new UPS. I began searching around the site for a suitable cord — large enough to carry the required current, but small enough to fit the standard plug. I finally located some ‘Romex’ type cable and connected the standard plug.

Inside that small opening there is a punch block with 66+ wires attached, just a few inches higher than the camera can 'see'. Virginia took the photo and held the flashlight.

I was then going to shut off the large UPS to retrieve the ‘receptacle’ socket from its output cable to attach to the cable I had just made. Here is where the next challenge came. How do you shut off a UPS? If you pull the power plug, the output is now powered by the battery backup! The large UPS requires a key to shut it off and there was no key. After calling Joe a couple of times, I finally located a key in a well hidden place. The time was now after 4 pm, so the decision was made to wait until tomorrow to make the transfer, rather than risk ‘on-air’ time.

There's not much room between the top of the rack and the ceiling and there is only about 18 inches between the back of the rack and the wall.

Now back to where I left off yesterday — tracing the fire alarm wires. On the punch block located in the ceiling behind the audio rack, I found two wires of a 2 pair cable attached to the fire alarm terminals. The wires were traced to a terminal block on top of the audio rack with feed through terminals going inside the rack. Two wires went inside a plastic duct and by removing the cover the wires were easy to trace. They went down, then looped back up to — THEY ARE NOT CONNECTED!! Joe and I will need to discuss what to do from here. At least wires are already there, if we want to connect them for extra monitoring by the Gentner.

Bags of salt on the pier -- here is another way to ship it, instead of in bulk in the hold of a ship. 'Bulk' is a reality term in this case -- purchasing 5 pounds of salt would be buying it in 'bulk' to me.

Now my curiosity motivated me to see where the other ‘fire alarm’ wire went. I found that it was attached to the bottom two terminals of all eight punch blocks in the phone panel and to the bottom two terminals of all three punch blocks in the transmitter hall. There was a two wire cable attached to the punch block located in the ceiling above the audio rack, but this cable did not go to the audio rack. By lifting numerous ceiling panels, I discovered it was attached to a transformer on a speaker (with grille) mounted in the ceiling. It dawned on me that this was the paging system for the whole building, and one of the punch block covers had written on it something about ’70 volt audio line’. I’m not sure that there is even a functional paging system any more. All the phones I have found are directly connected to an outside line and I don’t recall seeing a PA system anywhere.

A friend land crab crossed our path.

Or is he friendly?!

This evening, we went for a walk along the shore into town. It seems the waves are lessening, so hopefully we can swim tomorrow evening.

For supper we had the left over nasi goreng from lunch.