KC9LFD.org

Long story short, the lightbar has been malfunctioning still. But here are some updates.

I’ve replaced all the strobes and yet the bar continues to act up. After some more work, then the serial communications failed to work altogether. I finally called the Wisconsin Whelen rep and picked his brain. Here is what we came up with:

• My wiring was a joke, especially at the battery end. I had heavy gauge wire running to a small gauge wire with a dinky inline fuse that ended up melting. I replaced the line and put an inline Maxi-fuse.
• After replacing the aluminum or steel wire, whatever it was, with copper, I apparently damaged the serial comm. cable that went to the lightbar which caused a complete failure of every serial device in the network. I replaced all my serial comm. lines with new ones from the Whelen rep and it works
• Apparently my power supplies also were bad even though Whelen said they were good. I have a pair of used ones coming from Texas while the Whelen rep is sending mine in for repairs or replacement.

Apparently my wiring is still a joke. I have 2 lines of extension cords (one positive, one negative) with all 3 conductors twisted together to make up for my lack of 8 gauge wire. I personally don’t see the problem but apparently that could be my last failure point but so far the thing seems to be working. I’m just waiting for some power supplies to put in it. I picked up some heavy duty 8 gauge wiring ready to replace my extension cords if the issues persisting.

Believe it or not this thing will be alive once again. In hindsight, I could have picked up a different (not serial controlled) lightbar for $150. For all of the money I’ve spent fixing this lightbar, I could have picked up a brand new LED lightbar. What can I say, I’ve been spoiled with Whelen’s B-Link serial controlled network. I should be getting some power supplies this coming week…

UPDATE: 12/4/2009

Both power supplies came yesterday and were hooked up. It sure was cold haha. The power supplies were considerably older than the ones that I had in the lightbar that are currently being worked on, but they work. Last night and today the lightbar passes the MPC01 diagnostics.

YAY!

It lives again! For all the money I spent on it, it should. I have a practically brand new lightbar. Though I’m still using my existing power wiring, I will consider redoing it once I get the appropriate wiring and a warm day.

Upcoming H1N1 vaccination clinics in Sauk County.

Mon, December 7th, 13:00 – 20:30: Wilderness Resort & Convention Center, Lake Delton
Wed, December 9, 13:00 – 20:30: Reedsburg High School
Fri, December 11, 13:00 – 20:30: Prairie du Sac Fire Department
Mon, December 14, 13:00 – 20:30: Spring Green Fire Department
Wed, December 16, 13:00 – 20:30: Boo U, West Baraboo

These events have been canceled and may be re-scheduled for early next year.

A few days ago I received an email about Columbia County needing assistance with their H1N1 vaccination clinic at Portage High School. They only have 1,500 doses, so we all figured there would be a massive swarm of people.

The Layout
With the clinic being at the high school, there were 2 parking lots available to use. There were 2 ARES members stationed near the first parking lot for overflow parking, 2 members at the primary parking lot directing traffic into the lot and down rows with empty spaces. Myself and one other member were stationed at the front door, 1 member was at the exit to ensure nobody tried to sneak in, and 1 or 2 people were inside offering assistance.

The Start
Even an hour before the clinic opened, people started lining up. Within a half hour there were at least 200 people standing in line. We figured this is how it was going to be all day. There was no trouble with all of those people in line, some students and people needed to be escorted inside the building to the bathroom or the main office for school related stuff.

The Results
Within 10 minutes of the clinic opening, the line was processed in the building. Since the initial arrival of people, the amount of people showing up slowly trickled down from there. Maybe 1 or 2 people every 10 minutes for the next 4 hours. It was non stop excitement. Just kidding. It was considerably slower than expected, but at least we had the staff there just in case there was a massive flood. Even at 1700 hours the traffic never seemed to pick up.

My Gear
Besides bringing my sexy self, I packed a few things with me:

• My HT with earpiece (most people had speaker/mic’s)
• Traffic directing flashlight
• Extra batteries for the flashlight
• Backup traffic directing LED glow stick
• My reflective vest with name tag
• Gloves (very handy!)

I didn’t bring a backup battery for my HT though I did give it a top off charge the night before. I keyed up maybe 4 times at 2 watts (though low power, 0.5 watts, would have been more than enough).

Overall
From the Columbia County EC:

“Well we did it again folks! I received many thanks from EM Pat Beghin, County Health Officer Susan Lorenz and Portage Police Chief Ken Manthey. It is hard for anyone to predict how these types of things will go. Based on the original line of an estimated 300 people before the doors even opened I don’t think anyone expected it to be as low key as it was. Our previous contacts with Portage Daily Register reporter Lyn Jerde is helping out too!!

73
Rich Green KC9FNM”