Lightning
I can't believe it. I am almost half way thru this hitch. Seems to have really gone fast when I think about it.
When I left last time, I was tired of the Harmattan. It had been weeks of being in a hot, dry and gritty hair dryer. Haze everywhere. Everything dry and brown. But now, with the coming of the rain brings storms that sweep in from the Gulf of Guinea like freighttrains, high winds blowing the palm leaves sideways like the favorite shot of CNN when a big storm is on its' way in. I was in a trench up to my elbows doing a cad-weld when this one came in. I saw it over the Gulf, bruised dark clouds, choppy winds and you could see the rain in sheets underneath.
We are putting in a state of the art lightning protection system that is called ' ring of fire'. It is comprised of a system made up of large copper wire laid in loops around the main buildings and antennas of the telecom compound. I am doing chemical welds that actually bonds the copper together in whatever fashion the mold you apply gives. T's, parallels, end-butts, there are a number of configurations. I prep the wire, place it in appropriate troughs in the graphite mold and clamp it together. I then put a 'charge' of some kind of powdered metal mixture in the mold and place a small ignitor compound on top, then close the mold with another bit of the igniter chemical on top of a touch hole. I have a spark thingy on an extension handle and I step back and ignite the top charge, just like an old percussion weapon. A huge bright light, a cloud of really smelly gas emerges and after 20 seconds, you can release the mold and viola, you have a welded copper joint. It is really cool!. We will be connecting the ground buses of all of our circuit panels to it, then installing lightning arrestors. There was a storm last year here that caused over $150,000 worth of damage to the telecom equipment. So elaborate schemes like this is worth it. Especially if I am on rotation and we get one of those storms. I will be very thankful.
There seems to be nerves abounding in the local government. There must be some kind of significant coup? threat. There are armed, uniformed men everywhere in town. The Russian Mil Helicopters are flying every day and the gunboats are in the bay, just cruising up and down. Normally they are tied up at the piers. Somebody is worried and they have went to Defcon 2 here. I am told that my position is one of 15 that will be kept here in case of an evacuation. Those 15 will shut down the base and retreat to one of the offshore platforms.
They have another think to think if that happens when I am here. I am going to be in line at the airport with my bags in my hand. The hell with being a hero for this company. They can find some young buck to fly over here and take my place. I am going home!
Speaking of which. Next Tuesday is the half way point. Woo HOO!
When I left last time, I was tired of the Harmattan. It had been weeks of being in a hot, dry and gritty hair dryer. Haze everywhere. Everything dry and brown. But now, with the coming of the rain brings storms that sweep in from the Gulf of Guinea like freighttrains, high winds blowing the palm leaves sideways like the favorite shot of CNN when a big storm is on its' way in. I was in a trench up to my elbows doing a cad-weld when this one came in. I saw it over the Gulf, bruised dark clouds, choppy winds and you could see the rain in sheets underneath.
We are putting in a state of the art lightning protection system that is called ' ring of fire'. It is comprised of a system made up of large copper wire laid in loops around the main buildings and antennas of the telecom compound. I am doing chemical welds that actually bonds the copper together in whatever fashion the mold you apply gives. T's, parallels, end-butts, there are a number of configurations. I prep the wire, place it in appropriate troughs in the graphite mold and clamp it together. I then put a 'charge' of some kind of powdered metal mixture in the mold and place a small ignitor compound on top, then close the mold with another bit of the igniter chemical on top of a touch hole. I have a spark thingy on an extension handle and I step back and ignite the top charge, just like an old percussion weapon. A huge bright light, a cloud of really smelly gas emerges and after 20 seconds, you can release the mold and viola, you have a welded copper joint. It is really cool!. We will be connecting the ground buses of all of our circuit panels to it, then installing lightning arrestors. There was a storm last year here that caused over $150,000 worth of damage to the telecom equipment. So elaborate schemes like this is worth it. Especially if I am on rotation and we get one of those storms. I will be very thankful.
There seems to be nerves abounding in the local government. There must be some kind of significant coup? threat. There are armed, uniformed men everywhere in town. The Russian Mil Helicopters are flying every day and the gunboats are in the bay, just cruising up and down. Normally they are tied up at the piers. Somebody is worried and they have went to Defcon 2 here. I am told that my position is one of 15 that will be kept here in case of an evacuation. Those 15 will shut down the base and retreat to one of the offshore platforms.
They have another think to think if that happens when I am here. I am going to be in line at the airport with my bags in my hand. The hell with being a hero for this company. They can find some young buck to fly over here and take my place. I am going home!
Speaking of which. Next Tuesday is the half way point. Woo HOO!