VMS Hobbyist Activities

Not all Hobbyist activities revolve around configuring and using the systems. Plenty of time and effort goes into rescuing, begging for, repairing, etc., the various systems and peripherals. The "Road Trip" or "Midnight Run" is a very frequent activity, and even if you are not a VMS expert, you can be sure of popularity within your group of hobbyists if you are qualified in any of the following areas, which are by no means all-inclusive:
1. Have a truck or van, the bigger the better.
2. Can lift or move large weights.
3. Can drive for 12-16 hours straight.
4. Know how to rewire a 3-phase machine for single phase.
5. Can do component-level repairs to boards and such.
6. Have business relationships and contacts in the industry.
7. Have access to climate controlled space for temporary storage of equipment.
8. Have tools, Can take things apart and re-assemble with no instructions, in the dark.

Images:

Midnight Run; SF200 (24pcs. RF72, & 2pcs. TF857)- The SF200 was too heavy even for us, so we took all of the drives out of it, tipped it into the van, slid it forward on cardboard, and then placed the drives aft of the rack. In the images you can see the bottom of the rack with the casters. A row of assemblies (each with four RF72 drives) is visible across the back of the van. The names of the team members have been obfuscated to protect the innocent...

left to right: Hardware Hacker, Senior Consultant

Left to right: System Manager, Senior Consultant

Please disregard the formation of UFOs in the top right quadrant of the picture. These are NOT the UFOs you are looking for.