As expected, things were busy today with 7 DTU and 5 INEGI staff arriving, though still had time to a) pick up Dan (then put him to work!), b) have a nice lunch, and c) have a nice dinner...
Since one of you has asked, weather has been beautiful (as predicted). Fog this morning, but burned off quickly. High temps were about 16C and partly cloudy high clouds made for great views, including seeing a bit of snow on the highest peak in Portugal. Still about 14C in the ops center, so somewhat chilly.
DSM configuration
Started by showing our set-up for tse13 to DTU and INEGI. INEGI is concerned about humidity getting through the Gordon hole clamp and condensing and will supply some desiccant packs (though they of course will saturate eventually). We also discussed using more plumbers putty to seal around the clamp, but have yet to get some.
I am most concerned about connecting to the screw terminal blocks on the 24->12 DC-DC converter, which has been a bit problematic in the ops center and would be even harder at 70m. INEGI is less concerned, but I'm still considering other options.
Later in the day, packed up tse13 (the ridge 100m tower) stuff and built up tse09 (valley 100m). In prep for this, Dan and I unloaded all DSMs and the second 1/4 of TRHs from the seatainer.
Network
Per took over the job of configuring the Ubiquiti network modules and I supervised mounting of the WiFi antenna at the ops center (that INEGI staff ended up doing). It looks good, though still isn't powered up since we don't have power yet to the ops trailer. Per also dug up a +12V power cube with a European AC plug, so we'll be able to bring up Ted's router as soon as power is available. José Carlos will contact the network utility to see if bandwidth can be improved (to the 50 Mbps specification they paid for). José also will arrange for power to the ops trailer soon.
Mechanics
The truck with DTU equipment arrived this morning and was downloaded with a local forklift. I helped drive two of their boxes to the valley 100m tower, while DTU transported two more to the NE ridge 100m tower. DTU went back to this ridge tower later in the day to explain set-up of their sensors to INEGI. The plan for tomorrow is for DTU climbers to install everything (including our stuff) on the ridge tower while INEGI installs the DTU and our equipment on the valley tower. Dan will advise on our stuff in the valley while I will advise on the ridge.
We note that no towers yet have power, but DTU has a generator we can use to bring things up to check that cabling is correct. (Though it isn't clear when we would move it between the ridge and valley sites.)
Also, there still are no short towers erected, much less power, so Dan and I have no incentive to split off and do other things.
Other towers
Samortecnica appears to have finished at least one more 60m tower today. If so, that leaves two more 60m and one more 100m to go.
We heard today that one "valued" member of ARL's team suffered a serious medical issue that will delay them by at least 5 weeks. They now plan to set up their equipment on 9 Jan. (along with our primary set up).
Other prep
I slipped in reprogramming of all TP01s this morning, as well as replacing fuses on another few motes (much easier with Per's <perfect> tweezers).