Fri Oct 9. Last day of this build phase. With the time lost to rain yesterday, we really had to go hard at it, measuring and laying ground cable and making last-minute corrections around the arrays. A weary crew made its way to Bend after nightfall and most were up again by 4 am to catch early flights home. The attached picture was taken mid-week while Simon was pre-tensioning the poles of the west main array.

Thu Oct 8. Spoke too soon about the weather. Today it poured and the grounds turned to muck. We did the indoor work of assembling the transmitters in their racks and taking inventory in the OTH-B building. Still had most of the afternoon off, except Simon who braved the walk out to the site. Had dinner with the contractor crew and laid in plans for a big finish tomorrow.

Wed Oct 6. The antenna arrays are complete apart from a few minor adjustments. The ground cables are being cut. The shelter now has a complete roof and roughed-in electricity. Simon has hung his Dartmouth-green pennant from the nexus. The weather has been good but watch out for dust devils!

Mon Oct 4. The reflector array is going up on the east main array and the Ray-Ellen crew has made a good start at hanging the antennas. The trenches are in to the interferometer arrays. The equipment shelter just got a roof. This was a first day at the site for Mike, Ellen, and Jeff. Footnote: The signs are still up from the OTH-B days.

Trenching has started. Sun Oct 3. The crew is gathering in Bend tonight to perform Phase 2 of the construction of the Christmas Valley MSI radar facility. This follows the successful completion of Phase 1 construction a mere few weeks ago. Again lead by site PI Simon Shepherd of Dartmouth College, this crew counts VTers (and Kansas/Fort Hays PI) Mike Ruohoniemi and Ray Greenwald, a post doc from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Jeff Spaleta, and a Ph.D. student from Dartmouth, Ms. Ellen Cousins (nee Pettigrew). The plan is to head to the Christmas Valley site as early as possible Monday morning to start tensioning the main reflector arrays. Stay tuned!