STAY TUNED:
DOUG’S PROGRESS REPORT FOR MAY
By
Dale Dauten, Syndicated Columnist
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke
The weather keeps getting hotter, so Doug Walker just keeps starting his work earlier. You might spot him at Silveridge or The Resort at five o’clock some mornings as he strives to keep the retrofitting of the cable TV/internet progressing on schedule.
BEFORE & AFTER
Doug sent us new pictures of the process of replacing and updating the amplifiers and splitters. Here are the BEFORE and AFTER photos of just one of the “green boxes.”
First, you see what it looks like inside one of the boxes…
Here are close-ups of corrosion that’s taken place over nearly two decades of being in the heat.
Then, you see some of the new parts Doug is installing…
Of the second photo, Doug says, “Below the box that says Surge-Gap, you can see the two black pipes. The black material is rubber waterproofing. I have to use a torch to heat it up to make the waterproof seal. That’s an example of how we are doing things — first-class, done right.”
Finally, here you can see the new parts installed and ready to bring HD TV and high-quality internet to residents…
Doug’s work at The Resort is more involved than at Silveridge because in addition to the retrofitting work, he also has to reconfigure the set-up of the cables. With about 800 residences, and with all residents potentially using the internet at the same time, he had to create three “mini-systems” instead of the one big cable system currently serving the entire park. Doug explains: “Every time someone clicks a mouse, it sends a signal back through the system. If you have a lot of those going on, it creates too much ‘noise.’ So we’re creating three smaller systems to make sure to we don’t run into problems.”
Here’s the bottom line of Doug’s progress report for May…
Doug estimates that he has completed 90% of the retrofitting work at The Resort and 70% at Silveridge.
HD QUALITY ON ITS WAY
Meanwhile, as Doug works on the internal system, Cox and its subcontractors are at work on bringing the fiber optic cable to the parks. They are installing new pipe by boring underground and then connecting the existing Cox Business system to the park’s cable network. Once that work is complete, Cox will be able to connect the parks to the HD TV system.
Doug’s prediction?
“I think we’ll be hooked up to HD by the end of June.”
And what about the new high-quality internet?
“Our goal is to have it working by the end of Septemeber.”
Stay tuned. We’ll bring you Doug’s updates each month.
Note: if your unit is not occupied during the off-season, the cable connection will be temporarily disconnected. Let Rhonda know if you will be coming to town and it will be turned back on.
MEMORIAL DAY ACTIVITIES
|
