Neodesha Profiler Move

The new site location is selected and a lease is negotiated with local landowner. The site must be located in a rural area, distant from any major power lines and airline flight paths.

The area is cleared of vegetation and the site is surveyed. The locations for the shelter and antenna support pillars are staked, as well as the perimeter fence.

A backhoe begins to dig a trench from the power pole to where the shelter will be located.

A backhoe digs the holes where the concrete pillars will be located.

The pillar foundation forms are placed with reinforcement bars.

The concrete foundations for the pillars are poured.

The wet concrete is vibrated to remove any residual air pockets.

Once the foundation have set sufficiently, sono tubes are installed in preparation for pouring the concrete pillars.

The sono tubes are filled with concrete.

Anchor bolts are embedded in the wet concrete at the top of the pillars.

The foundations and pillars are allowed to cure sufficiently, and the sono tubes are removed from the pillars.

Cable conduits are installed for AC power and communications. Cables are then pulled through the conduits.

The trenches and pillar holes are back filled and compacted.

The front end loader makes quick work of filling in the trenches and holes.

Water is used to soak the back filled areas to prevent sink holes from developing in the future.

More soaking, and the final layer of dirt is applied and compacted.

Plastic underlayment is installed under the shelter and antenna to prevent vegetation growth.

The plastic is covered with approximately 3 inches of loose gravel and small river rock.

Meanwhile, back at the old profiler site, crews are busy disassembling the antenna, and salvaging any usable materials that can be reused at the new site, such as the fence material.

The the new site, an extensive grounding system is being installed around the perimeter of the profiler's compound. Ten to twelve ground rods are used to ground the fence, antenna support structure, and shelter. 3/4" copper wire is buried around the fence perimeter which is Cad-Welded to the network of ground rods.

Here we see an example of how the copper cables are welded together using a Cad-Welder. The caldron is filled with a flammable powder, when the power is ignited, the intense heat literally welds the copper cables together.

This is an example of a finished Cad-Weld.

The shelter is removed from the old site location using a crane.

The shelter is then loaded on a flatbed truck and transported to the new site location.

The shelter is then placed on the concrete pillars.

Crews begin installing the fence at the new site location.

The crew installed the antenna field access gate and wires the antenna fence access alarm sensors.

Since the new site location was just down the road from the old site, it was decided to try to move the entire antenna support structure without disassembling it completely. A crane lifts the entire antenna support structure and places in on a flatbed truck.

The antenna support structure is transported to the new site location.

The antenna support structure is set in place at the new site with the crane.

The crew guides the antenna on to the pillars, now is when they find out if they did a good job of placing the pillars and anchor bolts.

With the antenna structure secured in to position, the crew welds the grounding wires the steel I-beams. The welds are then cleaned up with a grinder and painted to prevent corrosion.

The antenna ground plain in installed and fastened.

The AC power is hooked up to the shelter and shelter is then connected to the grounding network.

Communications and phone service are wired into the shelter.

The GOES transmitter antenna is installed and connected.

The antenna elements, power dividers, and distribution cables are installed, connected, and weather-proofed.

The final systems checks are completed, and the site is now ready to be fired-up.