Now that the fame and celebrity of National Geographic has worn off it’s time to get back to work. The three high racks under construction now structurally complete. We added the outrigger camera diamonds to each last night. The next step is to add the backup rigging lines. This is a line that runs along the carbon poles. If a pole breaks in flight the line keeps the vehicle together.
Yesterday I ran a cable planning marathon. The new radio has one connector standard, the antenna has a completely different one. The worse part was that an amp that goes between them has a different connector type on each end. Now we’re not talking just male of female. I mean completely different connector styles and standard. On three of the connectors the manufacturers used opposite designation from each other for the same connector. I ended up calling each manufacturer (nine) and getting a photo of each one. After much wrangling I talked two companies into putting different connectors on there equipment. That combined with an adapted and one custom cable and the system has a layout. Now we’ll see what actually comes out of the boxes when they arrive….
Making Data Cables
Working on High Racks
Inspecting Balloon Bags