Lemmon 650 Installation, Phase 1 Field Report

July 18, 2020

A small screw ascended Mt. Lemmon to install the Lemmon 650 machine, consisting of the following:

Site Owner

1. Henry (N7HND / WQII718)
2. Jack (KB7ZZY / WRHZ520)
3. Anthony (K7ILH)

Tucson GMRS Assoc.

1. David (K6DSA / WQVS960)
2. Darren (K7VLL / WRCU527)
3. Justin (WRHZ624)

Completed Tasks

The following tasks were completed:

1. The Lemmon 650 repeater, duplexer cavities, linking equipment, and uninterruptible power supply was mounted and tested. Power output and line losses were verified and internet connectivity was confirmed.
2. A temporary antenna, LMR400 feed-line and polyphaser was installed and weatherproofed.
3. Additional ground rods were driven around the site.
4. Grounding conductors, trenching and back-fill were approximately 75% completed, tying together the tower structure, cable trays, and two equipment buildings.
5. USFS fell a damaged tree that compromised the safety of the site.

Tasks Remaining for Phase 2:

The following work remains to be done as part of phase 2 of the installation:

1. Install the permanent antenna, feed-line and Polyphaser at its full height.
2. Complete trenching and grounding conductoring between the inner and outer ground rod geometry and guy wire anchors.
3. Trim ground well covers, rework temporary bonding conductors from equipment grounding busses to service entrance ground
4. Test and mitigate automated shut-down functionality to safely halt and power down the controller during a power failure event with UPS batteries depleted.

Photos

Photos from the workday: