West Portal

Site is located on a terrace on a ridgeline part way up the hill above the town of Moccasin overlooking the Don Pedro Reservoir and just west of Priest. The site is located at the fork of two gravel roads and is grassy and treeless.  The land drops off to the south ( photo ), west ( photo ) and north ( photo ), and rises to the east ( photo ).  It has iron rich soil and full sun exposure. There is no nearby shade.

RAD-Met

• AC power to the enclosure comes from an outlet inside a nearby shack ( photo ) and is run through neoprene jacketed wire. A future upgrade would replace the wire with rigid metal conduit.
• A 304 stainless steel enclosure is installed on unistrut attached to two 1 ½ in. sch 40 galvanized pipes with concrete footings ( photo ).
• The cell antenna is attached to the top of one of the poles and 900 MHz RF antenna is attached to the other. The GPS antenna is mounted to the top of a piece of unistrut between the two other antennas ( photo ).
• The MRR is mounted on an METEK's aluminum tripod. The tripod is staked to the ground with chain ( photo ). The MRR heater power and MRR data cable runs between the enclosure and the MRR are buried a few inches below the surface ( photo ).
• The disdrometer is mounted on a single 2 in. sch 40 galvanized pipe with a concrete footing ( photo ). Two 8 in. pieces of rebar were inserted perpendicular to the pipe below ground level before concrete was added to the footing. The data cable for the sensor is wrapped in split loom. The cable run between the enclosure and the sensor is buried a few inches below the surface.
• A plywood box with solar powered fan covers the enclosure to reduce solar heat gain ( photo ).

SurfaceMet

• The SurfaceMet is installed on a tripod to the east of the RAD-Met enclosure ( photo ).
• The tipping bucket is mounted on top of  1 ½ in. sch 40 galvanized pipe with a concrete footing ( photo ). The data cable is run through flexible aluminum conduit and buried a few inches below the surface ( photo ).