this seasons first runs

[mattfidaho]

had to head up and clear ice....

and the next day another tower site that had some wind damage... at least our dish moved, and wasn't torn apart.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

cool pictures! i really like that first one. looks like some beautiful country

 

[muleman]

Who fills the propane tanks? Are 2 tanks enough for the whole winter?

 

[mattfidaho]

Who fills the propane tanks? Are 2 tanks enough for the whole winter?

depends on the site, most are the tower owner who sub leases to other people, at most sites they drive a bob tale propane truck up to fill them... there is one site they have to send a different driver each year because any one who has been up there never wanted to go back LOL .
and all the sites we are currently at have utility power, so the propane is just to run the generator if the power goes out.
they usually fill them right before winter and Knock on wood.... we are rarely out of utility power more then a day.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

nice pics i'm looking forward to my first run of the season this weekend if the weather holds and not too much overflow

 

[Mtn-Track]

You certainly come up with some great pictures! Keep them coming!

And.... what a difference a day makes. The first photo's look like something from Antarctica. The next day is completely different. Different sites I presume? Pretty cool.

How do you get the ice off the systems without knocking them out of alignment?

 

[mattfidaho]

You certainly come up with some great pictures! Keep them coming!

And.... what a difference a day makes. The first photo's look like something from Antarctica. The next day is completely different. Different sites I presume? Pretty cool.

How do you get the ice off the systems without knocking them out of alignment?

the first site is at 8771 ft, and the second one is 7214 and 85 miles to the south. both can be challenging in the dead of winter but this early in the year its just enough snow to make it impossible to drive a truck :-/

I usually us an ice scraper to clear down the ice, just being careful to not bang it too hard. last year we tried a test.... a 55 gal black garbage bag over the small 2 - 3 ft dishes.. it works well. they flap enough in the wind to help keep the ice from building up... this was the first trip up to install the high tech bags this year

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Awesome pics!!!

 

[shopman]

Great Pictures... at least this part of your job makes us all jealous... just waiting for enough snow to get out and test our baby - keeps going north of us!