Log Entry: July 6-8

July 6, 2009. 20:00 hrs PWS HF Radar Experiment Day 1

The UAF HF Radar crew drove down to Valdez with 5,000 lbs of gear and met the research vessel, Auklet at 9am in Valdez. We unloaded most of the lighter equipment from the trailer at the dock due to low tide and then used the commercial fishing fleet’s crane to load 8 barrels of biodiesel, 32 batteries, the generators, CODAR equipment, spares, satellite dishes and all the tools to put everything together. We left the dock at 12:30am and arrived at Knowles Bay by 5pm. First trip to shore at 5pm and worked until 8pm. We took ashore 4 containers of biodiesel, tools, power panel and genset. We also cleared brush, started dismantling the A-frame and huts, and got ready to set things up. Flat calm conditions today were near perfect for beach landings with our heavy gear.

July 7, 2009. 21:24 hrs PWS HF Radar Experiment Day 2

Today we started with a superb breakfast of French toast and sausages before spotting a black bear on the beach 100 m north of our site. We kept our bear spray at the ready on our first beach assault of the day. Once ashore, the final touches were put on clearing out the A-frame. That 600 lb genset was a bear to move! The old Starband satellite dish was removed and the Hughes Net dish installed. By lunchtime, the new genset was well on it’s way to being installed, and we nearly had high speed internet. We took advantage of the high tide after lunch to move 16 batteries to the beach, one of us (Steve) even carried two 70 lb batteries at once. By the early afternoon, the CODAR antennas were installed, the batteries all checked out and the Hughes Net Satellite was found. Mark worked assertively with the fuel pump, earning excellent remarks all around.

By the end of the day, the high speed internet was installed, the genset was working, and the CODAR is almost there. David Janka had an awesome dinner ready of Alaskan shrimp, red beans and rice. We followed up a steamy hot day of work with an appropriate swim call and are now basking in a hazy glow of exhaustion.

July 8, 2009. 18:23 hrs PWS HF Radar Experiment Day 3

Eagle and bear on beach in the morning. We set up SeaSonde electronics and installed/tested biodiesel generator. Leslie Abramson from the Prince William Sound Science Center arrived today by float plane.

Success. Our first data was collected and sent to Fairbanks!

Shrimp scramble for breakfast and burgers (beef, Garden, and/or salmon) for dinner.