The transmitter ran great over the weekend with no cutbacks.
I reviewed some of the proposed projects and their priorities with Joe Barker. The number one project is still the installation of the UPS for the transmitter site and moving the temporary one there back to the studio, where it belongs. But the UPS is not expected to arrive until next week, so the security system is currently the priority.
During our walk this evening we saw some coral debris resulting fron higher waves caused by Hurricane Tomas passing about 100 miles north of us. Just in front of the pier is a small beach where children like to play. As we got nearer, we noticed children wearing their 'birthday suits'.
At the site, I concentrated on the motion sensors. The ones in the office area and transmitter room seemed to be functioning properly. Another one in the old transmitter room was not sensing movement, not the one in the work area at the back. They are mounted quite high on the wall and their beams were aimed high. I opened them and aimed the beams as far as they would go downward. They now began to detect, even at the far side of the rooms, but I did notice they did not work as well when walking directly toward the detectors.
The waves pushed up huge piles of coral onto this walkway.
Reading up in the manual for the detectors, I found that they detect motion most effectively for movement parallel to the wall they are mounted on. This checked out to be true, so we may want to review whether there might be a better place to mount them. Of course this would involve rerouting and extending the wiring for them.
Before leaving, I was able to partially activate the security system for the first time in months, if ever. I definitely know more about the system after working with it for a couple of days.
'Twin' tugboats tied at the pier. They are used for the huge oil tankers that dock at the oil depot at the north end of Bonaire.
After getting home, Virginia and I decided to walk over to see if the sea had calmed enough for a swim. It was still pretty rough, so decided to go for a walk along the seaside into town.
Just as we started, the transmitter ‘called’ my cell phone to inform us that something was amiss. We quickly went back home and verified the radio signal was OK. I fired up the computer and found that the transmitter was on Exciter B instead of A, which was an indication that something with turning ‘on’ the carrier control had caused the switch. I was able to remotely switch back to exciter B. Will do some changes tomorrow to see if something can be done to avoid this in the future.
The crane in the background is on a barge. It should be interesting to see how they unload it onto the pier, which is beside it.
Now that things were settled down, we returned to our walk. In several places where the sidewalk is close to the shore, the rough waves had deposited coral pieces on the walkway. Waves were still splashing occasionally onto the walkways, but the piles of coral were indication that Hurricane Tomas had some effect resulting in the waves previously being even higher.
Getting to bed quite late tonight after putting photos into two blog entries before posting them.