We Load the Truck Tomorrow

We are still building the hardware for the Burning Man GSM test network. We should have finished that by Monday, but:

• We used acrylic sheets for mounting radio components the first assembly. Big mistake. The sheets cracked overnight from the strain of the screws. We rebuilt them with aluminum yesterday.
• A soldering technician disappeared with our power amps and half of our USRPs. We'll deal with him when we get home. Or maybe have our lawyer deal with him next week. In the meantime, we have a system to build and are expecting replacements today.
• Some of our cavity filters got damaged in shipment and had to be returned for service. We got them back yesterday. I want to thank Anatech Microwave for their excellent customer support on that emergency repair.
• The USPS appears to have lost our wifi gear. Hopefully, a second shipment arrives tomorrow. Thanks to PCBAY.com for doing their best to clean that up.

The good news is that we've had some volunteers step forward to help, especially Alon Levy, John Gilmore and Donald Kirker, and their help is saving this project. We still plan to be on the Playa by Saturday afternoon and running the main site by Sunday afternoon. It has just meant a few long nights this week.