Friday afternoon 22nd June we had our first successful test of a WebCam to view the tunnel break-through on Wednesday 27th June. After several failed tests, with help from Mimi Chang and Teri Church to get the OK to purchase directional aerials and boosters for the wireless signal, and Fred Hooker to get a 150 foot Cat 6 Ethernet cable, Brooks Collins and Ken Martell placed a Cisco Wireless Access Point on the roof of the Collider Hall building (slide with Ken & Brooks on roof by aerial). The Access Point was connected to the SLAC network by the 150 foot cable. With the aid of the directional aerials the signal from the web cam and its server (about 250 meters distance away from the Collider Hall) was picked up by the access point on the CEH (slide of setup) and broadcast on the Internet where it was successfully picked up in the computer building by Les Cottrell using realPlayer.
In the following days we redid the CEH power connection and re-ran the Ethernet cable to use regular wall and building penetrations (with the help of Joel Prado, German Rodriguez and Joel Rodriguez), and worked with Turner to ensure the setup near the tunnel entrance would be acceptable.
On the First Light morning, we checked the setup at CEH and installed the web cam and its server in the enclosure near the tunnel exit. However, the signal was poor and it did not work properly. We re-checked things at the CEH end (slide of Ken re-checking) and it had good connectivity at that end. We called in the results (slide of Les calling Brooks). Part of the problem appeared to be the Turner crane which was probably intercepting the signal (slide of crane). Turner moved the crane, we realigned the aerial at the tunnel entrance end (slide of removed crane and aligning aerial) and performance improved.
Once we had the web cast working, the ceremony began. At the opening Bradley Plummer gave a brief introduction (slide of Brad preparing). Many dignatories were present and gave talks (slide of John Galayda (blue helmet) giving speech with Pierre Odone (white shirt) of FNAL and Keith Hodgson (on right), slide of Arty Bienestock, slide of Mimi Chang, Persis Drell and John Cornuelle giving speech, slide of Keith Hodgson giving speech). After the speeches the borer started up and penetrated the remaining earth (slide first hole) and went on to enlarge it (slide with borer barely visible).
Well over 100 users simultaneously viewed and listened to the web cam images and sound. SLAC's current license is for a maximum of 100 simultaneous users. Fortunately we got agreement beforehand from RealPlayer for a one day extension to a maximum of 1000 simultaneous users.
Les Cottrell
