New Satellites

Sometime around the time that Chief Blackhawk made his way through this area, the limey-green satellites that control our irrigation system were installed.  Ok, this may be an exaggeration, but by next week, the limey-green satellites from 1988 will be replaced by new, forest-green satellites that have all of the latest bells and whistles.

My guess is that most everyone who's been on the course has seen the satellites, and many of you may wonder what purpose they serve.  Essentially, these satellites control the individual sprinklers that line our greens, tees, and fairways.  To run an irrigation program, we use specialized software that's on a computer in our shop to set individual programs for the course.  Generally, we will run separate programs for the following areas during a typical summer day: native soil greens, sand-based greens, native soil tees, sand-based tees, north-side fairways, south-side fairways, east-side fairways, and west-side fairways.  These programs are set-up to run sequentially on the computer.  Once the programs are set-up, they are downloaded to the satellites, which then turn on the irrigation heads automatically during the night.  Each one of our old satellites has the potential to operate 32 individual irrigation heads, and there are 18 satellites dotting the course.

As you can probably imagine, there is a great deal of technology involved and having reliable satellites are absolutely essential to maintaining healthy, playable turf.  And, after 22 years, it would be an understatement to say that the old satellites were beginning to show their age.  Only the mice that took refuge in (and chewed the wires of) the old satellites will be sad to see them go.

This week, the new satellites arrived, and Gabe Lopez from Reinders and members of our crew have been busy getting them installed before winter arrives.  The following photo diary will show you the process by which they are being installed:


Here, Gabe is locating the wires and pipes that run from and around the existing satellites.

Next, a 20' trench is made near the satellite.

Due to all of the interconnected electrical components, damage from lightning strikes is the biggest threat to the satellites.  Inside the trenches, an 8' long copper plate hooked to a wire that's attached to the satellite is used as an electrical ground.  A powdery compound that holds water is dumped around the copper plate to enhance grounding.

Once the grounding mechanism is installed and run into the satellite through the concrete pad, the trench is backfilled and compacted, and the new satellites are ready for installation.