Relocating the 6m telescopes from Hat Creek to Cedar Flat

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Relocating the 6-m telescopes from Hat Creek to
Cedar Flat
Al Masters cut holes in the receiver cabin
insulation to access the 48 bolts holding
reflector onto pedestal.
Alberto Bolatto inspects one of the electrical
transformers and its associated birds nest.
June 2004. The BIMA telescopes in the compact
array at Hat Creek.
July 2004. Removing the first reflector at Hat
Creek. The telescopes must be broken into 2
pieces for transport.
Sep 2004. The crew from Bigge Crane arrives at
Hat Creek to begin loading pedestals onto trucks.
Each pedestal weighs 25 tons.
First convoy of pedestals head south.
Accelerating back onto US 395 after detouring to
avoid the underpass.
The 512 mile route from Hat Creek to Cedar Flat,
chosen to avoid highway underpasses.
With the pedestal supported on cribbing, Jim
Wirth removes one of the old support legs. New
bases were constructed to support the telescopes
at Cedar Flat.
A pilot car precedes each truck to watch for
low-hanging wires or other obstacles.
Jim Morgan checks the all-important load height
176. Telephone wires can be as low as 14
above the highway.
Convoy of 3 reflectors travels south on US 95
near Hawthorne, NV. The highway patrol closes
the highway while the convoy passes.
Dan Phillips and Matt Fleming check one of the
newly welded bases, fabricated by Donal Machine
in Petaluma.
Oct 2004. Pedestals and reflectors await the
winter at Cedar Flat. New bases must be finished
before the telescopes can be reconstructed.
Reflector near Pyramid Lake, NV.
Negotiating traffic circle on Dandini Blvd north
of Reno.
Sandblasting one of the new bases prior to
painting, at Northwest Services near Petaluma.
The first load of new bases is delivered to Cedar
Flat just in time, less than a day before the big
crane arrives.
Doug Friedel and Joel Roberson install a support
leg on one of the bases.
Offloading one of the bases.
Shih-Ping Lai sorts bolts at Cedar Flat.
Joel Roberson and Paul Rasmussen align the
reflector and pedestal so all 48 bolt holes match
up.
View from inside the receiver cabin as reflector
is lowered onto the pedestal.
Dick Plambeck scrapes rust off the pedestal
flange.
Reassembling the telescopes at Cedar Flat.
Lifting pedestal onto a new base.
Lowering reflector onto the pedestal.
All telescopes reassembled. The Bigge Crane is
about to depart.
Joel Roberson and Alberto Bolatto remove
sunshades from the cargo container.
August 2005. All telescopes reconstructed at
Cedar Flat.
Chris unrigs the reflector after all the bolts
are in place.
Photos by Dick Plambeck, Alberto Bolatto, and
Rick Forster