Tech Staff Meeting Notes October 22, 2007

Current Top Priorities are: Station Maintenance. Mud-Island. Two new GPS stations. (Also wish to get INV populated.)

There are four levels of priority.

Priorities Wish to try to get these done (or make progress on) before the next meeting (yeah right)

Second Tier Fit this in too if an opportunity arises. May be good to do instead of priorities but check with Mitch. Likely to be a priority in a previous and/or subsequent month

As Time Permits Fit these in when you can but not instead of first or second priorities

Other Stuff we hope to get to and don't want to forget about

The task list was updated July 7, 2007 to incorporate some tasks previously performed by Dave Greganti. Note that everyone is still needed to work on essentially all tasks. There is however, a single person who is primarily responsible for each one. Mitch of course, is ultimately responsible for everything.

Greg's List is incorporated in these notes with somewhat less detail.

This was a marathon meeting broken into three sections. In addition to these notes, we also discussed what to do in the post-Steiner Era. Greg provided this list of questions and issues. A matrix of tasks and people will be useful to see what we need by highlighting whats missing. Mitch distributed an incomplete draft. Greg is going to show Chris how to neutralize etchant from the board shop. We also discussed computer room power systems. Greg is going to show Steve how to keep track of which computer is putting what load on what leg and keep things balanced. Chris will perform wiring changes as needed. Neither of these topics were completed so another meeting will need to be scheduled.

Priorities

Station Maintenance, NMSZ

Station maintenance will become the top priority after the GPS work is finished around November 2.

Holly's list on 10/21/2007:

LNXT Node
CWPT
MIST.EHE
GOBM.EHE
PLAR.EHE
WADM.EHN

NMAD Node
TIPT
CHRM
MLDM unreadable
PPLM.EHZ drifting
BRNM drifting
BROM.EHN drifting
BETM.EHN
BROM.EHE

MKTA Node
TWAR
QUAR
NHAR.EHN
HCAR.EHE
LRAR.EHE

Isis Oxidation Problem
JHAR.EHE
SJBM.EHN
MCAM.EHN

Need a dual mux assembly or two. Have the AMUX64T's. Pat will build up the rest of the hardware.
MKTA spare air conditioner is repaired. Needs to be returned to the doghouse.
Need a remote reset at lnxt. Have permission from WASL to piggy back on theirs.
Just need Pat to wire it in and show us how to use it.
Need new RF preamps at MKTA.
MKTA also needs a GX620, ISIS telemetry upgrades, radio realign, etc.
PEBM and HENM sometimes have telemetry fades. Should reevaluate comms.
NMAD needs brush control when the leaves fall.

HDBT
Mud Island vertical array is operational.

Install T-1 access and bridge hardware at weigh station.
Install Boswell hardware when TDOT is ready for us late fall or early winter (make sure all necessary hardware is obtained NLT September.
Install Richardson hardware.
Integrate with the rest of the data processing servers.
TDOT has the channel banks and is configuring them.
The proposal for an identical vertical array at the weigh station received a positive review.

HDBR
The number 3 recorder keeps losing gps lock.
The recorder disks need to be reformatted. This can't be done remotely. The constant read/write to the fat file systems is going to make this reformatting something that needs to be done periodically. Requires physically going under the bridge to do it. Dont ya just love dos and obsolete hardware?
The wireless resets seem to be getting noisy making it more tricky than normal to reset.
Lost contact with two of seven recorders.

GPS

We're in the process of getting James out of the station maintenance business. GPS stations will be treated as any of the seismic network stations. Mac will be the lead for routine maintenance. Data handling and processing is still done by Bob et al.

Greg is in charge of getting anything done to the GPS stations to Steinerize them. This is necessary to make sure we can maintain them without burning alot of time on reapplying bandaids. Note that they are in pretty good shape already. The primary hassle is communications.

Most of the work for the upgrades and two new stations will be complete in the next to weeks. Driller is currently scheduled to be on site the week of Halloween. Chris will need to be on-site. According to the bid, we do the install and the driller drills and assists. Bob should probably be there too. Chris is looking into how best to weld the stainless rods.

Items left:
Comms for MIAR, CJTR.
Install 2 Monduments, LCHS and New Harkham.
Install LCHS electronics and fiber run (not fiber anymore thought there will be optical isolation).
Install New Harkham tower and instrument enclosure.
Install New Madrid end of link (4' dish).
Install RLAP tower and monument equipment.

ETN

Station Maintenance

Van Hill gate got bull dozed. Need to replace it when they're done working.
TZTN needs a gate.
NEIC requested John's help in siting the Campobello station (northeast South Carolina). He found a state park willing to host it. Need to collect some noise.
NEIC decided to fix Murphy.
BRBC needs a new XLAK GPS antenna. John has the antenna.

Network Completion

The map shows stations with yellow triangles being new ones.

station man-days status

MGNC 8 done

CCNC 8 done

WSSR 8 new

TVNC 8 new

Maryville 8 new

VHTN 8 done

RBNC 4 done

TRYN 4 done

GFM 4 done

SMNC 4 done (see note above)

PLVA 2 abandon

BHT 8 move (eventually)

station	man-days	status
MGNC	8	done
CCNC	8	done
WSSR	8	new
TVNC	8	new
Maryville	8	new
VHTN	8	done
RBNC	4	done
TRYN	4	done
GFM	4	done
SMNC	4	done (see note above)
PLVA	2	abandon
BHT	8	move (eventually)

TVNC is installed. The radios need repaired. John sent them to Greg.

Chris will schedule a trip with John the week after Halloween. Steve and Al will get 5 GX620's ready to go. These will go at Sewanee, two at Athens, Star Mountain, and Mt. Mitchell.

Routine Maintenance Kudzu, battery check, etc, etc.

Second Tier Priorities

ANSS.
CVTN and ASAR optical isolation. Need to upgrade to year 3 hardware. Hardware ready.

Steve spoke with Dean Kemp at NWS. They are willing to let us piggyback on their cable internet (not .nws.noaa.gov). Dean is looking into the possibility of a static IP. This would get NAIT online.

Lenox Agreement. Mitch spoke with Ron Martens, EMF Broadcasting. There is a desire for some sort of MOU and a visit to CERI. Mitch will set this up.

FDL. There is a new FDL Policy. .
Bill reports that his laptop works well with the equipment but the others do not. Steve will show him how to get the others set up like his.
Steve has boot floppies and instructions for downloading data from the multi-channel seismograph without using the NT domain (which is defunct). The images and instructions are also available at /gaia/data/fdl/strataview.boot.floppy.
Bill is fixing the several breakout boxes and cables for the 6TD's that got damaged. Mitch will instruct people who check these out on the how to use the handle for a handle instead of the cable.

As Time Permits

3876 Power The power for the new lighting on the east side of the general parking lot to the west of CERI is coming from 3876. When the contractor is finished, Chris will need to check it to see if there is a way to isolate the circuits for the house from the circuits for the sidewalk lighting. Otherwise, Jim pointed out that it increases the risk of lighting surges that could damage equipment.

3890 Power Chris is going to make a diagram for 3890. Good luck son.

Inventory Jim has all the broadband sensors defined and is working on additional equipment (e.g. isis) and the connections. Mitch will install Bill's account in mysql and inv so he can start building stations. Mitch needs to sit down with Jim and figure out what we need to have ISTI help us with. Sid will be available after about mid-May to finish up anything we need his help to take care of. Apparently the downloaded docs from guralp for the cmg5td's have the old +-4g contants. Mitch has paper documentation with the correct +-2g constants.
This is languishing. It needs to become a priority for both Mitch and Jim in December.

Steiner Brain Dump Seminar Need more of them as weather permits. Especially calibration and computer room power.

Other

Thin-wire aironets are no longer available. This will be a problem for the DBB. It will need to be addressed hopefully later rather than sooner. Steve reports the new ones play with the old ones so its a resolvable problem.

Withers needs to determine current orientation for MPHB so we can pull it and orient correctly.

There are a plethora of preventive maintenance type things around CERI that Greg handles. He will construct a list of them so we can decide who is doing what.

The infrasound array at the Langston farm was designed with a life of 6 months. It is not currently operational. Chuck would like to get it working again and possibly install others elsewhere. Probably need a redesign and rebuild for this to put back the corners that were cut for the temporary deployment.

Need to teach someone (our hazmat dude?) to neutralize etchant and clean the etching tanks. Along those same lines, Greg has a ton of drawings that play only with the "Eagle" software on his computer. Mitch is unaware of a way to convert to a more generic format. Also require a printer that does negative (the one on Greg's serial port does, others do not). Mitch knew this dependence on vendor specific software would bite us one day. That day is soon.

Pink Palace hardware needs to be rebuilt.

John needs a spectrum analyzer.

Evaluate computer room power. Steve will be the keeper of the spreadsheet post-Steiner.

Test worm rack batteries.

Install new netgear switches.

Build more battery regulators.

Priorities	Wish to try to get these done (or make progress on) before the next meeting (yeah right)
Second Tier	Fit this in too if an opportunity arises. May be good to do instead of priorities but check with Mitch. Likely to be a priority in a previous and/or subsequent month
As Time Permits	Fit these in when you can but not instead of first or second priorities
Other	Stuff we hope to get to and don't want to forget about