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Mothership



48 foot single expando Mobile Communications Trailer



On location in Telluride, Colorado
Telluride Film Festival 2019
 

Mothership has replaced our trusty C3PO Comm Trailer that has succumbed to road salt and age.

Originally an SD Television Production trailer built by Gerling,  Mothership is now our mobile communications and operations facility.

It features a 200amp 3-Phase or Single Phase power entrance and distribution system, and two HVAC units totaling 10 tons of capacity. The HVAC units are arranged as 5 tons for cooling equipment racks, and 5 tons for people. During August in Missouri (100+ and 70% humidity) one 5 ton unit can keep it uncomfortably cold. The "basement" has 384 sq ft of storage bins under the primary 384 sq ft of operations space. The expanding section is 32 ft long and adds 128 sq ft of operations space.

The multi-tap power distribution system can accommodate any source voltage from 190 to 240 volts and transform it to 240/120V for use by the trailer and systems. Separate transformers for HVAC, as well as for technical power, isolate the mechanical systems from the technical systems. The technical power system incorporates 50KVA of precision voltage regulators.

A 480V power source can be accommodated with an external 50KVA step-down transformer.

All electronic systems and interior lighting operate on 12 or 24 volt DC prime power and are backed up with onboard battery banks, which provide several hours of operation in the absence of utility or generator power. The interior lighting was converted from 12 volt 50W Halogen lamps to 12V LED lamps which conserves significant power draw, dropping from 1KW down to 127W. 

The entire roof surface is non-skid and load bearing. "Cheeseboro" clamping fixtures provide for rigging and assembly of 1.5" pipe structures to accommodate microwave dishes and antenna mountings at the rear of the expanding section.

The trailer is intended to be a companion unit for our high-capacity mobile tower, along with a repeater shelter; as the hub of a large system. In combination  with our 250KW generator trailer and our warehouse/shop trailer, these units constitute a mobile compound for a sustained deployment or project. (Hit "back" after viewing these links)

 

 

 

 


Inventory Control Space - Curbside wall Midships
Walkie battery chargers are wall-mounted in the two rack bays on the left side of the photo.

 


Dispatch Space - Looking Rearward
Microwave radios, T1 Channel Banks, and 8 Motorola Digitac Voting Comparators.
The "spaghetti" is the patch bay for the T1 channel banks and audio into and out of the comparators.
A proprietary UHF/VHF/42mhz/800mhz interoperability radio bridge housed in a roll-in road rack interconnects with the comparator for the emergency management channel and becomes part of that system.

The bridge will also operate in standalone mode.



 
The rear 15' of the trailer is the dispatch center, and can support up to 7 dispatch positions.

The three primary consoles are 18-channel Telex/Vega C6200 consoles, with the capability of adding four PC dispatch positions running the Telex/Vega C-Soft dispatch console application.

As many as (so far) 60 external PCs running the C-Soft dispatch application have been networked into the trailer, providing all 60 external users complete access to all radio channels.

 

 
See also:
Remote receive site and repeater Shelters
Repeater Site Truck
Mobile Towers
Generator Trailer - "Voltswagon"
A discussion of Disaster Restoration Services