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British Columbia Frequency Modulation Communications Association
The Big Move
As most of our members are aware, in February 2007, the BCFMCA, after 35 years, was told we would need to move out of our existing location in the maintenance shed on Mt. Seymour.
This eviction notice did not come as a complete shock, as over the past few years, we had not had a real firm lease in place. We were just waiting for the other proverbial "shoe to drop".
As a result, the Executive and Board of Directors spent the next few months feverishly working to find a solution that would allow us to keep operating from that site.
While we were not able to reach the agreement that we were originally after (to place a portable building at the base of our tower), we were pleased to be able to reach a compromise with Mt. Seymour.
Finding a Home
This is the Letter of Agreement that we have agreed to with Mt. Seymour to allow us to continue our operations from this vital site.
The agreement with Mt. Seymour would see a building placed in the approximate area shown in this photo.
Now that we had an agreement, we needed to get down to actually getting a building!
While the negotiations were going on, we sourced out options for buildings that would suit our needs.
We looked at various ideas, even one that included getting a shipping container outfitted to turn it into a communications shelter. Unfortunately, most of the options we looked at were too expensive for us to persue further.
After some inquires, one of our Directors was able to secure a 10'x10' portable building as a donation from TELUS Communications for use as our new home.
The catch? It was located in Williams Lake, and would have to be moved down.
Here it is, sitting waiting for us to come and get it:
The Prep
Of course, with a building, you need a solid foundation to put it on!
Lee, VE7FET, came up with a plan that would give us a nice, firm, non-permanent foundation to put the building on, made from railroad ties.
And, of course, you need railroad ties to do that with... so he managed to source out 10 beautiful specimens, each 10 feet long (same dimensions as the building), from one of the local railroad contractors. Again, contacts played an important roll, and we ended up with them donated to us!
Since we didn't know when the building would get moved, we decided to get ready, just in case.
On August 4, Lee spent the day (in the BLAZING HEAT) drilling all of the ties so that they could be bolted together into one unit.
The next moring, Lee enlisted his father's help to transport all the materials to site, and met up with:
- Onno, VA7OC
- Geoff, VA7CWD
- Ian, VE7HHS
- Neil, VA7DX
... and the work began.
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As you can see, we ended up with a solid foundation to put our new building on!.
The Search
It took all summer following tips and leads, trying to find a way to get the building moved.
Of course, this task was made more difficult constrained by the resources we had available to pay someone to move it, and the fact that the number of companies capable of such a move is a pretty short list.
The weeks ticked by as leads dried up and fall drew closer.
The end of July (our eviction date) came and went, and by the time the middle of August came around, we had to make the tough call to move everything out and into temporary storage, while we still tried to find a way to get the building moved.
Finally, on a nice September day, the 17th in fact, we received another tip from Ed Sebulsky, VE7AFC. Ed said that through contacts of his, Ray's Towing in McLeese Lake were the ones we should call to make this happen.
This wasn't the first time Ray's Towing's name had come up, but with contact info in hand this time, we gave it a shot.
Well, to our delight, Ray agreed to help us out, after he finished a run up to Yellowknife that week.
Moving Day
Lee, VE7FET, had a couple good chats with Ray, and next thing we knew, he and his YL were heading up to Williams Lake later that week to start the process of moving the building down!
Now, before we get to far, a little about Ray's Towing. Ray, and his wife Terry, are the nicest people you will ever meet. They are truly "salt of the earth" types, and these days, those people are a rare find.
Ray and Terry have been moving mobile homes and every other size and shape of portable building for 33 years. You want someone who know's what their doing, and know's how to do it right? Give Ray a call, 250-297-6585.
Saturday morning (September 22), after Ray and Terry made it back to Williams Lake, and after a short meet and greet session, Lee and Ray headed off to go get the building loaded up.
A little bit of jacking, and some cribbing, and next thing you know, you've got a building up in the air looking for a trailer:
Now, there's truck drivers, and there's professionals. The things that Ray can do with that truck and trailer, and where he can put it, are nothing short of amazing. Up a small hill, and under a building balancing on blocks, in one shot!
With it on the trailer, the next task was to get it positioned for transport. But that is better done on nice, level ground:
Blocked up again, and slide the trailer back to get in position:
After that, it was time to tie it down, and head back to Ray's for a good meal, and a night's rest before heading down to the Coast.
Originally there was talk about possibly transferring to a smaller trailer before heading up the mountain, because of the cramped quarters up there, but, Ray decided to just go for it.
Up on the hill, it was the reverse of the day before. Blocking the building and rolling the trailer out to get it as far back as possible. This time Cam, VE7MMV, came up to help out too:
Now, did we mention that Ray can drive?...
With the SnowCat's in front of him, buildings behind him, and other obstacles around, he managed to jacknife that trailer right into the exact spot so it was lined up perfectly with the platform we had built to put it on!
Then, the 33 years of experience really started to show, as Ray proceeded to explain just how we were going to get this building off the trailer.
A chain hoist on each side, and we started to slide the building off the trailer:
When it got over the cribbing, we added some more blocks in case we got past the center of gravity so it would have somewhere to rest on:
We worked it ever closer to its foundation, at which point the edge of the building was put on a custom roller to help it roll across the railroad ties:
Slowly we kept creeping it off the trailer, adding another set of rollers to the cribbing as the building neared the edge of the trailer:
Then, in no time, there we were, the building on the foundation:
After that, all that was left was to remove the rollers, and clean up. In the end, we've got a building exactly where we want:
Next Steps
A HUGE thank-you to Ray and Terry for coming to our rescue on such short notice. After all other options failed, this "Mom & Pop" business showed why they have such an outstanding reputation in their industry.
Now, we're on to the next phase in the project, getting all our equipment installed in its new home, and BACK ON THE AIR!
Site Preparation
On September 29, Lee, VE7FET, moved in all the new equipment racks and support ironwork. Neil, VA7DX, also came up to assist in leveling and bolting the racks to the floor.
October 1 saw our building receive lights and heat. The electricians from Mt. Seymour hooked us up. A BIG THANK-YOU to Mt. Seymour taking care of this for us promptly. Its much nicer to work in a warm, dry, building! The rest of the day was spent by Lee working on the overhead ironwork and some other miscellaneous tasks (picking up materials, labelling breakers, etc).
October 3 was a nasty day for weather. Lee got soaked in the 3ºC rain/snow/sleet/hail building the deck in front of the building. A couple of trips were made to haul gear to the site out of storage. VE7LAN, VE7RPT-220 the power supplies and fuse panels all got mounted in place. Cam, VE7MMV, came up to help bolt some of the duplexers to the wall... another long day.
October 5 brought a nice, sunny day. Lee, Cam, and Ian, VE7HHS, were on site to continue working on installing and wiring equipment. Ian built and installed the strapping around the side of Seymour's building to attach the coax to.
October 6 was another miserable day. More fog, periods of rain, and 3ºC. Today saw a large work party come together for installing the coax to extend our cable runs, as well as conduit to the tower. We tried to restore the three runs that had be severed by an excavator a few years back, but they were found to be wet and non-repairable. Luckily, we had enough coax, and a trench already dug, to lay two new runs to the tower direct from our new building. One of these new runs almost reachs the top of the tower!. A big thanks to Sol, Will, Ian, Neil, Kevin, Dave, and Lee for fighting in the mud to get the hard work done!.
October 8, Lee, Ian, and Cam were back once again to keep the promise of getting some machines back on the air by the end of the day. Cam finished up the important wiring inside, Lee spliced cable together, and Ian worked on finishing up the conduit run. Finally, after countless hours, it was time to start plugging fuses into the fuse panels and watching the equipment come alive! At the end of the day VE7RPT-VHF, VE7RPT-220, VE7RPT-UHF, VE7LAN, and VE7RAG-VHF were back on the air! There's still some work to complete to get the remainder of the equipment back on the air, and there will be hours of work putting the finishing touches on the little details, but WE DID IT! The LARGEST project in BCFMCA history is finally nearing completion!
Once I take a little break to catch my breath, I'll get some pictures up for everyone to look at. 73's de VE7FET.
October 26, another trip up the hill by VE7FET brought VE7LAN and VE7RAG 1.2GHz DV back online. Also installed some shelves to get some stuff off the floor.
October 27, Lee and Neil pulled in the CAT5 to the tower for the BCWARN node. This gave us our internet connection back, without the extra WiFi link between the shack and the tower. A new SRL310-C2 UHF antenna was temporarily installed near the bottom of the tower, on one of the new coax runs, to be used for VE7RAG UHF (D-STAR). The SWR monitor was also hooked back up.
October 28, Lee hooked up VE7RAG UHF (D-STAR). This finally gets all the repeaters back on the air. Yay!
Pictures!
Finally, here's some pictures of the various stages of the relocation efforts (click on the pictures to get a bigger version):
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| Will installing cable hangers. |
Digging the trench to the tower. |
The water just kept coming! |
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| Cable in hangers. |
Splicing new cable to old. |
Cable all spliced and weatherproofed. |
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| Equipment racks. | Overhead ironwork. | Equipment installation. |