St. Paul Ski Lodge Radio-Telemetry Base Station Moved to New Mast 

    
Michael Barton hacked a trench into bedrock for a buried phone line to the new radio-telemetry base station tower site near the St. Paul Ski Lodge.

Barton and Andrew Temple pouring the concrete base for the new tower, with three 1” all-thread posts welded to a steel frame embedded in the concrete providing the mounting points for the mast.

 
The lower 20’ of the 30’ tower being prepared for standing using a rope winching system.  A ‘gin pole’ was temporarily mounted to the assembly for placing the topmost 10’ section of the tower after the lower 2/3 of the mast was secure.

Once the assembled lower two sections of the mast were in place and secured, all guywires were pre-assembled and installed on the top section of the mast, and the guywire ‘stiff-arms’ extending laterally from the joint between the first and second sections of the mast were prepared.

With the guywires installed to the top section of the mast, preparations for lifting the top section into place using the gin pole begin. 

   
Chris Landry guides the top section of the mast into place as Temple and Barton haul it up the gin pole.

  
As soon as the top section was bolted to the mast, the three stiff arm and guywire assemblies were installed and secured to their anchors, while the mast was still secured to trees and other anchors.  No surprises!

  
The results – a thing of beauty, ready to rig up with a 40 watt solar panel and the base station radio gear.

This new location for the Senator Beck Basin Study Area base station significantly improved the radio signal to and from our four study plots.  The photovoltaic power supply at the base station was also substantially enhanced enabling hourly communications with the study plots without drawing down the base station battery bank.  We are much obliged to Chris George, owner of the St. Paul Ski Lodge and a member of our board of directors, for his generous contribution of the mast components themselves, and for use of his property.  We also appreciate the contribution of the new batteries used in this power supply upgrade by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.  Data from the Senator Beck Basin Study Area are utilized by the CAIC in their Highway 550 avalanche reduction program, and to inform their avalanche danger ratings for backcountry recreationists using the Red Mountain Pass area.