FiberParty::DuctConquerors
From What The Wiki?!
Conquered again :))
It seems the rain from yesterday was nice to us and gave us back the rope on the highway side of the railroad track (that's the not-camp side --Juerd). At this moment there are two 5 mm thick ropes in the railroadduct which are tied to bricks to prevent the ropes from further floating :). We also did check the Eindhovenseweg again and it seems the rope there was gone permanently. When checking on doing so we actually met some of the police officers who will help us secure the Velder compound during wth (That's not what I understood --Juerd; Some of their collegues where planning on coming over. --T1000) The gentlemen were very nice and just were wondering what we were doing. After telling them what happened they wanted to know everything about the event and were even planning on joining :0 (Oh? --Juerd; See above --T1000). We actually tried to convince them to join the fiberparty but they were not interested ;)
--T1000
Additional story info:
Well, you kind of forgot to mention that the police made us remove the orange strobe lights, even though they agreed that it was safer with them. Apparently they are illegal, contrary to what I've read in several places. It was also the first time I experienced the identification law in action. They wrote down our names, birth dates and other useful information they found on our IDs. The worst part of the police intervention was that we had to wait while they confirmed with other people that what we were doing was legal. That delayed everything by 30, maybe 45 minutes, which meant it was dark by the time we could continue, and thus harder and even less safe, now that people no longer slowed down much because of the warning lights.
We eventually managed to conquer another duct near the Eindhovenseweg, after at least 5 tries. The three hardest ducts now have strong orange rope in them, secured to white bricks that serve as anchors, in the ducts.
The police also asked us to call them at 0900-8844 (0900-TUIG --buZz; I was trying to avoid mentioning that! :) --Juerd) to inform them at least one full day in advance the next time we would do something like this.
Even though we were forced to make the traffic situation less safe, and even though our work was delayed so that we couldn't check all the other ducts, we did have good conversations with the policemen. They were friendly and were (like literally everyone we encountered the past week) very interested in hacker culture and WTH itself.
It was another fun night. I'm looking forward to the FiberParty.
--Juerd
Update: According to Reglement Verkeers Regels en Verkeerstekens 1990, §12, esp. art. 30 and 31 and Regeling Optische en Geluidssignalen 1997, art. 5, esp. b and g, our use of orange strobe lights was in line with the law. Still, there might be a question of interpretation regarding "ten behoeve van", but concerning safety it does of course makes very little sense to make any difference based on WHY you're working alongside and in the road.
--Juerd
Unconquered :(
T1000 has checked the state of the two hardest ducts and concluded that the heavy rain has unfortunately flushed the ropes under at least the RailRoadDuct and the Eindhovenseweg away. Tomorrow (Fri) around 20:00 another attempt will be made, this time securing the rope with bricks.
The RailRoadDuct is conquered!
WTH happened here? A problem exposes itself on Saturday, dozens of people go brainstorming about a solution, some even go and investigate the site, and on Monday, the problem is solved altogether. There is currently rope in the duct, so that we can pull the fiber through when the time comes.
It took us almost three hours to figure out a solution involving 15 pieces of yellow PVC pipe (which worked much better than expected, partly because of the duct tape), lots of duct tape, rope and ingeniously designed copper wire devices. (Dont forget the three hours of preparation work that was done at work ;P --T1000)
By shining a (green) laser through the hole, we determined that the curve at the end was the only one. The end of the laser beam (which began at the beginning of the tunnel (the side of the camp grounds)) was visible at the left wall, seen from the end side of the duct. We also determined there was water in the duct. Mud and lack of gloves promised that things would get dirty really quickly, and they did.
Pieces of 4 meter pipe were duct taped together with small pieces of larger pipe used as connecting sockets. This is much quicker and much stronger, and at the same time less expensive, than using the usual sockets for this.
We tried first from the beginning of the duct. After shoving a part in, it got stuck and we retracted it. The head we used for the pipe was a permanent marker with duct tape. This was then replaced with a rounded head made of copper wire. Later, the wireframe design would prove to be very useful and in fact saving the day.
The new thing got in only 24 meters, while we established using GPS that the length would be 45 meters if it were a straight tunnel, which it wasn't.
We tried the same thing from the other side, which worked better because of the way the duct pipe segments were put there. This time, we got more of the tube in, but it got stuck again eventually. After pushing it through a few more meters, inch by inch, turning it to try and dig through the dirt, we decided to use the remaining pipe to try and grab the pipe from the other side. For this, another copper wire head was made, this time a triple hook.
After removing random dirt and dead animals the first five tries, the sixth provided a steady force of resistance, so we were pretty sure it grabbed the other tube. Remember that we had no means of seeing what was inside the tunnel. The rounded head wasn't even visible with the laser pointer.
A rope was pulled through, and that was the end of a big problem that endangered the entire fiber plan.
The duct is a little over 48 meters long, so the measurement of 43 was very accurate, because that measured a straight line.
We then applied the same techniques to other locations, those being several smaller ducts. The caretaker from Velder was very helpful in showing the route the cable would go (which was very different from the route that was uploaded to the Wiki earlier!) and explaining we had to put all of the rope inside the ducts, because mowing season had started and soon all the trenches would be mowed, which could destroy our ropes.
For visibility, we wore orange safety vests and had orange strobe lights for the cars, because everywhere we went, the speed limit of 80 km/h was very likely to be ignored by most drivers. All the flashing and orangish looking people were very effective in getting people to slow down, and in attracting locals who all asked WTH we were doing, and if they could help. And in fact, some times that help was very welcome and useful!
Each time, we moved the PVC pipes in three parts, tied to a car, with another orange safety vest (which obviously didn't survive) attached to the end. The other car drove at the back, on the left lane (meant for traffic in the other direction) to warn oncoming traffic. For this, again, the orange strobe lights were very important items that we were glad to have. It all looked and felt very professional. Without all this, we could probably not have regulated traffic the way we did now. All drivers responded immediately to the stop signs we gave them.
T1000's idea of using PVC with duct tape was crazy and shouldn't have worked. (T1000 obviously doesn't agree, but hey, it's my story ;) (Thanks again Juerd ;P I really enjoyed the company :P --T1000)) And the bare idea wouldn't have worked. But fortunately, Bottomdweller (Juerd's older brother) had the means and ideas to make it work. Juerd had the safety equipment that allowed working in more busy areas. Together, a very succesful combination of people and materials.
Without all the brain storming that went on during the volunteer's day, in the IRC channel, and here on this wiki page, it would not have been solved so quickly. Even though it took only three days, many days worth of man hours were put into this challenge. I'm glad we're all brilliant hackers, and didn't wait until the fiberparty itself and expect the problem to resolve itself.
This is the way preparations should go. We attacked this problem from every angle we could think of, and went forward with what looked promising, combining knowledge and using what was available effectively. Compare that to what lazy non-hackers would do, and be thankful you're a hacker :)
--Juerd
