Refer to this field map for Westlake Farms for the following discussion. Note that the tens and hundreds digits indicate the section number.

Candidate 1: Section 15

We would park our base trailer at the "camp" along the north edge of field 22055. I've taken photos of the main shed, place to park the trailer, power drop, and circuit breaker panel. It also is likely that there is a telephone drop near this location. This shed is big and the irrigation canal that runs along the line labeled "PUMP DITCH" is quite large. Thus, the towers need to be quite far away from here. I haven't yet

The towers would be located near the SE corner of field 22150. Here are photos with views to the W, NW, and N from this corner. The five fields: 22040, 22030, 22090, 22100, 22150 are all fallow. (Field 22160 is lightly watered to make tall grass for bird habitat.) When I was there in early May, these fields had somewhat different surface cover. Here are photos of the edge between 22150 and 22100, 22040 and 22090, and 22040 and 22090. I also have photos of the surface for 22090, 22040

For this site, the towers would have to be powered by a generator, since the nearest power would be over 3 miles away. We would use RF ethernet for the data transmission to the trailer 4 miles away, which is within the specification of 5 miles between sites using a pair UNI-16 antennas which we have. It would be a trip of 5.5 miles to drive from the base to the towers over roads which are not supposed to be driven at over 15 mph (for dust reduction), but which I drove at about 35 mph during my survey.

I left California thinking that this was the best location for SGS.

Candidate 2: Section 34

We would have the trailer in the same location as for Candiate 1. The towers would be in the middle of field 21345. Here is the view to the NW from this location. The fetch isn't quite as good, but adjacent fields 21327, 21335, 21337, 21280, 21275, and 21277 all will be fallow. Even the fields 21297 and 21217 across the main Hwy 41 will be fallow.

There are more irrigation canals between these fields, and the "PUMP DITCH" along the S edge of this field is high. Generator power would still be needed at the tower, but the distance from the base would be only 2 miles. RF ethernet data connection still would be used and the 2 mile distance should be well within the 5 mile specification. Hwy 41 gets a lot of traffic and is 2.5 miles upwind.

I haven't spoken with the farmer specifically about either of these two sites and don't know what his reaction will be to this base location or operating a generator for the towers. I also don't know if the surface conditions will change by September.

Candidate 3: Section 08

For this site, the base would be at the same location as for EBEX. It would be parked along the S edge of field 21177 either here or here. A transformer would be installed to get electric power from poles which look like this (which will be done for EBEX anyway). Outside telephone connection (voice or internet) would have to be cellular, though an RF connection to one of the Westlake Farms buildings is possible.

The towers would be located in the SE corner of field 21087, which currently is growing garbanzo beans (see a diagram of these fields), but will be harvested stubble by September. The fetch would be about a mile over this field. Irrigation canals run every 1/2 mile N-S here.

We have not yet decided on how power would be provided to the towers. It is possible that we would lay out a mile of cable along the road (about 1/2 mile longer than for EBEX). It also is possible that we would use a generator. Data communication would be via RF ethernet using UNI-16 and OMNI-8 antennae which are specified for a distance of 1.7 mile.