Microwave Dish

2008-09-23 05:30:53.000 – Steve Welsh,  IT Observer

Observatory Tower

So why a picture of the observatory tower? Look again and you may notice something different.

Yesterday we took down the old bashed up microwave dish and replaced it with a brand new one. The dish houses a microwave antenna which is set up to talk with a similar unit on the roof of the Mount Washington Observatory headquarters building down in North Conway. Through this dish passes all our internet, email, polycom and phone data.

The new dish is slightly larger and has a flat front instead of the convex shape of the previous antenna. We are hoping that the flat front will lessen the effect of winter icing, which can be very detrimental to our communication link with the valley. The dish has also been mounted closer in to the tower so we can access it more easily for repair work. Many times last winter we were out hanging over the parapet trying to scrape ice of the dish. Hopefully this coming winter the task will be less frequent and a little easier.

Special thanks to Wayne, our snow tractor driver and mechanic, for hanging over the tower and bolting everything together.

Steve Welsh,  IT Observer