Electrical code hell

[calzap]

I was recently asked to help fix a remote radio repeater that wasn’t working.  Assumption was that wind had damaged an antenna on the tower because the repeater did respond to inputs but response was poor and erratic.  No tower climbing was anticipated because there was a backup antenna with transmission line already installed.  But we took some spare radio equipment and tools just in case.  And yeah, it was the antenna, and it was an easy fix … just attach the spare antenna line to the equipment.  The broken antenna can wait for a tower climber to fix or replace.

I had never been to this location before.  The equipment room was quite a sight!  A lot of thought had gone into the equipment and the solar/battery backup power.  It was well chosen and arranged.  But very little in the room was labeled.  Antenna cabling was a bird’s nest.  Worst was the mains wiring.  See the pics.  An inspector would have a heart attack!  The folks who care for the site are experts in radio electronics, but either lack mains code knowledge or are concerned with keeping the site going and not so much about upkeep of the “vault”.  Next time I go there, I’ll bring parts and tools to help rectify the situation.

Mike

[Benta]

Send the photos to their wives.
That'll get it fixed quickly.

[Whales]

Careful working with random TPS/romex, you might find they're being used as balanced signal pairs.  If it's in metal conduit then it's coax 

[LaserSteve]

On a scale of one  to WWV  that's a four. Actually no where as bad as  many I've seen. At least it has a breaker box, many don't.
What disturbs me is the lack of arresters. Of course these days the coax  arrester costs more then the radio. If it's a single band shunt fed antenna,  marine radio  style, then they may have an excuse.

As expensive as diplexers are, you think they could mount them a bit better.

Serious lack of swastika graffiti,  hacked off Heliax and WR90, internal bird dung and dead pigeons,  plus the fact that you did not get bit by an otherwise harmless angry king snake... I'm not impressed.   

Kudos to the owner for leaving a spare soldering iron/dummy load. That adds +3 Dbm to the score. 

Steve
 

[calzap]

Steve,

I was told that if it had been summer, the vault would have been loaded with black widow spiders.    Winter has some advantages.

Mike

[Stray Electron]

Steve,

I was told that if it had been summer, the vault would have been loaded with black widow spiders.    Winter has some advantages.

Mike

   That is FAR from being the worst looking shack that I've been in! Since I don't see any webs, spiders don't appear to be a problem. But in a lot of areas that I've been in you always want to check before turning over pieces of wood or metal that have been laying outside for any length of time.  I found a black widow spider in the grill of a truck in Florida one time and another time in Virginia I found two of them in the deep threads of an off road tire on a truck.  Both trucks had only been parked for a few days.  I've found a couple of dozen black widows outside but I have never found one inside.

  FYI  Boric acid powder, sold as roach and ant poison seems to be DEADLY to spiders too.  But personally since they kill other pests, I leave the spiders alone unless they're taking over the place or unless they are poisonous.  Spiders that invade my personal indoor space get picked up and dropped off outside.