[CC-ARES-RACES] Visit to Civista Medical Center

[Darryl L Flick]

President Rob and I visited the Civista Medical Center today for the
purposes of repairing the two coax feeds that lead from the rooftop
antennas to the 2nd level radio room.  Upon arrival, Hospital staff
cordially confirmed our intentions and we went straight to the radio
room, which is more commonly known as the Education Training Room (second
level). We discovered that the interior closet normally accessed in order
to get to the above-ceiling coax, was locked. As we had our own ladder,
we got above the ceiling in the common area of the room, and easily
reached the two coax coils with no trouble.  Thus, we must amend the
report accordingly. Once uncoiled, we again checked the SWR with an
analyzer. Again, we confirmed the dual-band coax had an intermittent
short, and the PL259 for the HF coax was incorrectly installed.  We
snipped off the old and prepared everything for the new plugs well in
advance of plugging in our soldering iron. Once prepared, I notified the
floor nursing staff and the security staff of our intentions. This was
just in case someone smelled the odors associated with soldering. As it
was, we positioned ourselves next to an open window, while Rob held the
coax and fanned with an empty 3-ring binder.  I did the soldering.  Our
efforts were laden with high risk, fear, and the thoughts of "How in the
world will we explain this one to the emergency response personnel that
respond once we unintentionally trigger the fire alarm system."  Well,
nothing happened, however I gotta admit that this was some of my hastiest
and unimpressive soldering ever.  But, it got the job done. I was very
happy and relieved to unplug that soldering iron.  The room only had
temperature activated sprinklers visible, however institutional office
settings often have ductwork mounted smoke detection devices that
activate first-stage alarms and annunciator panels.  We wanted nothing to
do with that. After that effort was completed, we tested the coax again
on the analyzer. Oddly, the dual-band tested erratically. We set the
analyzer firmly on the floor, and the cable far from any movement.  The
SWR rhythmically jumped from about 1.3:1 to 1.6:1, and then back again. 
We first thought an influence at the rooftop antenna, however there was
not a puff of wind to speak of.  Once hooked to a radio, Rob was able to
key repeaters in Lexington Park with only 5 watts. It worked fine....but
still not satisfied.  The HF side worked very well. The analyzer without
a tuner proved that the dipole was not resonant. With the tuner, it was a
beautiful flat reading.  Rob was able to make a rough contact to a gent
in Illinois, but once this contester learned Rob was QRP, I guess he knew
it was too much work for that point. Thus, he told Rob (very
emphatically) "You are killing me!!"  It brought a good laugh.  We coiled
the lines and replaced them above the ceiling.

Action Items:
1.  Shorten the lengths of coax. Each may be at least 10' - 15' too long.
2.  Gain access to the roof top antennas and ring our the lines to
determine any trouble areas.  This is best arranged Monday through
Friday, while the engineering supervisor is on site.
3.   Install new PL259 connectors in the room with engineering staff on
hand to ensure no issues with fire alarms.
4.  At the point the CMC is ready to disassemble the current antennas and
reinstall them on the new top floor (under construction), request that we
participate for purposes of tracing lines, configuring "As Built"
drawings to ensure general knowledge as to routing of coax, and install
grounds (currently none).
5.  Gather all radio equipment stored in engineer's office, inventory,
setup and operate.

We had a very fun and productive afternoon at Civista Medical Center.

Thanks and 73,

Lee and Rob
N3YWZ / N2OMC