Small Town News

Radio repeater project was two-year effort

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The long-awaited project of replacing the aging and scattered Ajo Mountain radio repeater system at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument began March 30. The repeater system serves and supports five separate agencies, according to Lee Baiza, superintendent of Organ Pipe.

"It has been challenging to bring all these individual operations into one systematic engineered operation," he said. "The dialog on my behalf started approximately two years ago, since Department of Homeland Security had a need to expand their initial installation. As a land manager for this area, we were challenged to maintain some management or oversight of all these structures and individual functions on the peak."

The first challenge was identifying which agencies actually had equipment onsite and whether it was operational or not, noted Baiza. The National Park Service hired a contractor to provide a detailed study and compare that information with what was received from the separate agencies. At the same time, agencies were asked to anticipate future radio communication needs.

"Through much collaboration between the different entities, we were finally able to set up a realistic plan," said Baiza.

The first large purchase needed was a new building. Baiza said the Intermountain Regional Radio Coordinator for the National Park Service stepped up and offered to fund the new structure, which is made by a company specifically for this type of application. He added that Dale Sorrels then made sure the building met everyone's needs and demands.

The next concern was to come up with a way to resolve the power issue, since the ridge-top is in rugged and remote country. The. Department of Homeland Security stepped up to provide the solar array and the battery cell pack to power all radio equipment and an air conditioning system to keep the electronic equipment from getting hot.

"Since some agencies decided to take advantage of this opportunity to upgrade their equipment, this meant we really needed to set everything up first to make sure it all worked before flying all these items up on the peak," said Baiza. "Flying this equipment was the only real option. Once the building arrived, each entity had the opportunity to place their new equipment in the building while it was near the maintenance facility at Organ Pipe. This proved to be a very smart decision as many changes needed to be made and it was much better to identify them at that time than later."

Baiza explained that' the downtime involved in switching from the old equipment to the new was very critical since the radio system in some cases is the lifeline of agents and park rangers doing their work.

The next challenge was to devise a way to secure the new building and its contents on a very narrow ridgeline with steep rock faces on both sides. Organ Pipe acting facility manager Bob Bryant was given the job.

"Bob was able to develop a template of the building' using PVC, which was then used onsite to provide us all with an idea of how much tweaking we really needed to do," explained Baiza. "Since now we knew where exactly the building needed to be located, it was up to Bob and his staff to form and pour round columns which were engineered and strengthened with rebar. The staff included Kenny Richardson, Frank Sanora, Andy Martin, Michael Claiborne and Bob. These individuals worked hard and in two days they had completed the foundation work for the columns required to support the building."

The stage was then set for the March 30 event. The maintenance area at Organ Pipe was taken over by Department of Homeland Security employees and their support contractors to include two helicopters and their crews. Everything on the new building was dismantled and separated into individual sling loads not exceeding the 7,000 lb weight limit of the sky crane. The other helicopter was used to transport staff and participants up and down the mountain. The new building was flown to the ridge site and the transition from old radio equipment to new took place over the next few days, culminating with the old shack being flown off the peak. By Friday April 2, everything was operational and the project was deemed a tremendous success.

"This is one project that was feasible only through collaboration by all interested and involved parties," said Baiza.

The helicopter operation included a bonus for Organ Pipe. One day there was some down time for both helicopters so their crews were asked about removing an abandoned 1973 Pontiac from a remote area where the terrain made it almost impossible to access, which is why it had been there for about thirty years. A recon of the area was conducted. Within a short time a plan was configured and approved by the flight officer and, five minutes after taking off, the sky crane was returning to the maintenance area with a car in tow.

"Now I know why my father always liked Pontiac's, he knew they could fly!" quipped Baiza. "This was a huge win/win situation since we all felt we really contributed to the preservation of the resource not only by removing the blight of the vehicle but by developing this opportunity for future removals. It was the subject of conversation for some time. It is very probable that without this type of support this vehicle would have remained there another thirty years."



Copyright 2010 Ajo Copper News, Ajo, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 Ajo Copper News Ajo, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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