St. Paul Island, Alaska Storm Destroyed AT&T Dish

[arcticracer]

We have been busy repairing damage in Western Alaska from the huge superstorm that passed through the area last week. I just returned from Point Hope where 80 MPH winds ripped the waveguide off the antenna.

Here are some photos of the dish on St. Paul Island, off the SW Alaska coast where the winds destroyed the antenna. These are strong, reinforced heavy steel dish mounts and 4.5 meter antennas. The winds were up to 100 MPH there, maybe more.

 

[Mr Tony]

oof that dont look good.

what satellite was it aimed at?

 

[arcticracer]

All of the dishes in the network are aimed at AMC-8. This one is aimed at China now

 

[KE4EST]

So is everything back up and running yet?

 

[RT-Cat]

Wow! 4.5 meter dish. That's a big one. So was that storm. Guess you have to do that repair work in temps that would make Iceberg cold.

 

[stardust3]

Brian Williams on NBC made the comment a few days ago about the extreme weather hitting Alaska. He said the if that same type of weather were to hit the lower 48 it would be front page news for days on end. Never have been to Alaska, but from what I read about & seen on TV it sounds like everything is extreme up there. Although I'd love to visit this great state, l don't believe I'd be man enough to live there. My hats off to you for the work you do. :up

 

[arcticracer]

The storm is now being called the worst on record. St. Paul service is not restored yet, if it were somewhere else that did not have the wind associated with Saint Paul we would use a portable dish, not sure if that would stand up at St. Paul. When things happen, we don't have the luxury of waiting for "good weather" we have to roll. Here is the Network Event Notification:

Network Event Notification Outage​

Notification #: 11-04 ​

Saint Paul (STPL)​

​

Date and Time of Event: 1800hrs AST, 11/13/2011

Location: Saint Paul Island


Cause and Impact: Major Arctic storms and residual winds knocked the satellite antenna off its mount taking site off the air.
Testing completed: Verified status VIA M&C

Who was called/notified: ANCC Supervisor
Estimated restoration time (if known): Unknown at this time.

 

[stogie5150]

As bad as it is, at least no one got hurt. I have witnessed 100mph wind and it isn't nice. Good luck getting it back, lotta work ahead.

 

[arcticracer]

St. Paul

I am not on this job, I work out of Fairbanks and the Anchorage crew has this area. I can see the reflector got tweeked, it will not be reusable. I have heard stories of a dish that was installed at one of the radar sites that was ripped off the mount during a big blow and was never seen again. Places like Tin City, Cape Romanzof, Cape Newenham, Cape Lisburne, Indian Mountain, unimaginable winter conditions. Google the Alaska Radar System, the modern version of the Dewline and in the same locations. Still in operation, 15 of them.