file: moving.html
version: 1.2
27 Apr 2001
last update: 10 Feb 2004

Index:

1. 5th April 2000: Moving out of the lift-house into a container

2. 25th April 2001: The container moves to another location on the roof: housekeeping!:

3. 26th April 2001: The great lift

4.16th January 2003:  Mounting a Vantage Pro Plus weatherstation for testing

5. The final big move: bye..bye container!

1. 5th April 2000: Moving out of the lift-house into a container

Since its beginning in 1994, the equipment of meteoLCD was located in the old dusty machinery room of an equally old lift. Due to the general construction work on the building, we had to move out, and find refuge in a brand-new 2 ton (2000kg) container that was lifted up onto the roof. Moving out / in was done during the 3 days from the 3rd  to 5th April 2000 by the tiny crew of meteoLCD (Jean-Paul Klein, technician, and Francis Massen, head of the station), and by the crane...
The following pictures are something of a family album for these days. All pictures have been taken with a digital S10 powershot camera, and resized to a maximum size of about 30Kb. Needless to say, it rained nearly continuously during these days...

This was the original lift building, where our gaz sensors and power-supplies were stationed. On the left side of the roof are the 2 Solar Light UVA and UVB sensors, and the rain sensor. The top of the mast holds the total solar irradiance, and secondary UVA and UVB sensors. The chimney is simply a vent, not an active smoke spitter!

Another picture of this building, showing the case that held the datalogger and wireless transmission equipment

This is our new container, with the heavy crane that lifted it up on the roof (the roof is horizontal, the photographer was swaying in the wind..)

Jean-Paul fastening the main mast

.. and fixing the inlet for the ozone sensor

A look into the new container.. before tiding up.

Francis doing some soldering inside the container; what an improvement to be able to work under a roof and not in the open! (remember that it ALWAYS rains here when something broken down has to be mended.) The open case shows the Delta_T datalogger above the Phoenix Contact connector blocks

... to be continued

2. 25th April 2001: The container moves to another location on the roof: housekeeping!

Almost one year after the first move, here is another one: the roof on which rests our temporary container will be refurbished, the whole bitumen will be teared away, to be replaced by a hopefully more impermeable roofing. Well this means that our container is a hindrance, and so it will be displaced by a big crane to another spot on the roof. Today (25/04/2001) we dismounted in a hurry all the equipment under (as you should know by now) pouring rain. Our confidence in the delicate handling of this displacement by a 30to crane is limited, so everything expensive and breakable has to be dismounted and carried away by hand . This back-breaking job was done by Marcel Thilmany and Francis Massen.

Here some pictures of the event:

	Marcel on its way to the work: this is not the crossing of wild water, but we are on the second but last floor drenched by pouring rain...
	Francis sitting admidst some of the hardware..The bricks in the back will be the definitive housing of meteoLCD (maybe at the end of this year) [ how foolishly optimistic we were! It took 2.5  years before we could move in... (comment added 10Feb2004)]

3. 26th April 2001: The great lift

	This is the dismantled, almost empty container before the big move, waiting for the 45m crane.
	Here is the machine: a 45m meter crane from ARENDT Co. Look at the narrow road, which makes it difficult to swing the crane far enough over the roof.
	The container is attached by 4 heavy chains; there is much wind, but the rain just stopped!
	Up it goes: the container in the air, in the background the world famous DIEKIRCH brewery. The big sign on the roof of the brewery is a beerglass, and contains also a ligthning rod: hope fully will it protect us too during the coming summer storms!
	The cran was unable to manoeuver with the container: a truck had to be called to transport the box just round the corner of the road...
	..where it is lifted up.
	..voilà! The container rests on its new location; we start without delay reinstalling the equipment to minimize down-time.
	Marcel and Francis remounting the main mast. MeteoLCD was online again on Friday 27 April 2001. Total downtime was approx. 3 days.

Is this the second-last move, or will there be many more?
Check here to be informed!.

All photos but last by Jean-Paul Klein or Francis Massen; last photo by Jean-Claude Krack.

... to be continued

4. 16th January 2003: Mounting a Vantage Pro weatherstation for testing

Prof. Antoine Kies of the University of Luxembourg, Physics Dept., bought selfcontained Vantage Pro weatherstations from DAVIS. He wants to use them in the field near radon sampling stations in boreholes or in springs. MeteoLCD consulted Prof. Kies in his search for a maximum complete, and minimum complicated weatherstation. The Vantage Pro Plus holds all usual sensors, plus UVB and solar irradiance. Communication with the base station (which operates on batteries) is wireless, and the sensors are powered by a solar panel (plus a battery for backup) . This is a real nice small weatherstation, easy to move and mount.

The pictures show Antoine Kies (left) and Francis Massen (right) mounting the Vantage Pro Plus for a 2 week long intercomparison.

<<< Antoine Kies

<<<Francis Massen

5. The final big move... bye, bye container

Moving out of the container to the new location was definitively not a quickie : it took several months, with a gradual switching from the old to the new equipment. Downtime of the station was less than 4 hours. The last act was done the 10th February 2004 from 08:00 to 11:00: All remaining equipement and hardware in the old container was dismounted and took the way "home". Marcel Thilmany and Francis Massen did this on a slippery glaced roof (it had frozen during the night), and had to pay attention not to take the plunge. Here are the last pictures of this work, made with a tear in the eye: even if the container was not luxury in itself, it was a decent housing for 4 years. The equipment survived arctic and saharian temperatures, as did the operator. Many thanks to the folks of the "Bâtiments Publics", the official organization in charge of our buildings, who gave us this shelter!

	Marcel at the entrance of the container; all outside instruments have been removed during the previous days.
	Work going on...Francis amidst spilling equipment
	Removing the last bolt!
	See how time repeats: compare the 2001 picture with this one!

THE END... 
NOT to be continued!