Tech Staff Meeting Notes August 2, 2011
The top priority is always repair of down stations.
NM problem stations
ET problem stations
ARRA upgrades are complete. Well done gentlemen!
EDIT, NNAR & CHNM: NNAR and CHNM repeat through EDIT and the received signal is very bad due to trees. NNAR and CHRM are very noisy and fade out quite a bit. EDIT is now located in the Chicksaw National Wildlife Preserve so cutting trees is not an option. There isn't a clear path to a repeater on the Edith forest tower either. New a new plan (maybe go directly to the node?).
WALK: Chris and Manning were unable to reach WALK up in the KY bend. Mr Lynn indicated that the station was completely underwater but it is still up? (yes still up).
Power is restored to mud island so we can reinstall HDBT at our leisure.
The levee that formerly protected MORT is still breached and may not be repaired. It was privately contructed in the 50's or 60's. Its probable this station will flood yearly with currents. There was erosion damage this time which hopefully will only be repeated during 100 year floods. We'll rebuild MORT, harden it, and see what happens.
CWPT now telemeters directly to the lnxt node. Unfortunately it and GOBM are even noisier now than they were before?
Flooded
HCAR
EPRM
MORT
HDBT
Down
Unk. Problem
Isis Oxidation
Muted Amplitude
Gain Channel Problems
DBB
The tower at Edith is now vented so help avoid heat damage to
the aironets.
We're down to two spare aironets and our particular model is no longer
manufactured. From a protocol perspective, we can replace pairs
at a time without having to replace all the radios. The ones
that can't be "easily" replaced are the ones with thin-wire ethernet (sftn,
lnxt, and nmad). Those would require replacing the thin-wire down
the tower with fiber. But we can replace the others (mkta, edit,
luxo, star) with new pairs and gain spares to delay replacing the
thin-wire. We need to select a model that minimizes the reengineering
of existing infrastructure (power, space, heat, etc).
MKTA
AC unit in the penthouse isn't working. Probably just needs cleaned.
DSL is installed and operational. YAY!
Construction is finished at the mill. We can get the phone line
permanently buried now.
LNXT:
Chris got a quote for the service contract for the generator. It raised
some questions and he'll get more detail on what it actually includes
so we can decide whether to purchase it.
NMAD:
Need alternate comm path. Telecom says dsl isn't available (though
we once had ISDN). Cable internet is available but costs $108/month.
Steve is checking on internet reset devices (better than the clunky
adam6060) so that we can discontinue the pots and help defray the
cost of the cable internet.
G and D and the local EMA installed a 25kW generator to power that
side of the building. If there's room power-wise would they let us
power the rack from it too? We could share the maintenance of the
generator. We'd also have to install a transfer switch.
Lease renewal is in the UM bureaucracy.
AZTN: Replaced XLAK clock. Still doesn't work. The new clock
tested successfully in the shop. Bad antenna?
CERI:
Twisted pair from Richardson is extremely noisy causing problems with
the analog backbone. Richardson is also on the UM 5-year capital
improvement plan to be replaced. Mitch will contact the administration
to see if we can get onto Wilder or someplace similar. Note we'd want
to get the dbb and abb to that location, then move discriminators, mudworm,
etc there (includes a 6' and a 2' uwave dishes, and two 3' 220MHz yagi's).
What about the dbb? It would be nice to continue that all the way back to
CERI in case we lose our connection to campus. Likely don't have line of
site with Wilder (repeat through the Zack Curlin garage or engineering?).
Steve wants to install an alternate internet service at CERI. A good
idea but Mitch is too cheap right now and worried about escalating
communications costs.
Ownership, Operation, and Maintenance of the four Charleston, SC stations
(C1SC, C2SC, ADSC, and TRSC) will be turned over the Univ. of SC at Columbia.
Initial December 8-9 went well. John contacted site owner and IT people
for firewall and permissions. He requested CERI access be continued for a
tbd transition period. Mitch will work with Phillip to get data flow
redirected to Columbia. Then those feeds will get added
to the CO network export to CERI. The stations will keep the same name but
the network code will change (from NM to CO).
RDST, CBHT, and MCAR are coming in via gcf2ew on anssworm. CBHT occassionally
loses its connection but is overall, ok. MCAR loses its connection about
twice as much so while its mostly functional, it should be better. At
RDST, a datapacket sneaks through a couple times per day. So, there
must be hardware problems. RDST should be fixed or removed (though
if there is a hardware problem, it can't be redeployed).
Year3 upgrades
Replace foam rubber plugs at all year 1 stations (need to notch it to
accomodate the GPS pods):
ASAR, CBHT, CUET, CVTN, HDBT, LNXT, MCAR, NAIT, SFTN & TUMT.
NAIT: Couldn't get the NWS cable modem to cooperate at NAIT (firewall?). Dean was going to ask
Comcast about it and maybe get a new modem. Steve will follow up.
CVVA once again appears stalled. John will send his final plea email.
We need a single document (access database excel spreadsheet) to document
information on all freefield strongmotion stations to include contact(s),
current IP's(eternal/external), what ports are allowed in
from what IP's here at CERI, telnet yes or no, trigger levels etc. etc.
HDBR
Granites are on order.
HDAR
Bad CMG5 E/W.
Not getting broadband feed.
On hold for Boswell comm.
HDBT
Replace two bad mss100's.
Bad 100' accelerometer.
On hold for Boswell comm.
Most of the "down" are BRBC node and most likely a result of the
ham operator's interference. John will meet with him the week of 7/18
to resolve the issue.
Down
strong motion down
Remaing upgrade stations are DYTN, and CCRT.
See map.
STAR Node
Install vents in the cab on the tower.
BHT move. Latest update from John:
BRBC Node
Power upgrades: RBNC, and TRYN.
TRYN: Hardware is removed from the tower and will be reinstalled when
the new one is complete.
The radio operator moved his antenna but we're still being interfered with.
According to the rules, he's not supposed to be bleeding into other bands
like that so he needs to fix it. John has a request in for him to do this
(or stop transmitting).
MTTN Node
Greentop is getting a new tower. When?
Due to remodeling, we pulled K2 1738 from Firestation #2 in Dyersburg, TN in
February 2009. It is in the shop with accessories.
The netquakes at Olivers house will be redeployed at CERI so we can
learn how to install and operate them.
The seisnet group on umdrive is at
http://umdrive.memphis.edu/mwithers/seisnet
You will need your uuid and password.
The pink palace display now includes a heli connection for MPHB. Need to
retrieve any remaining hardare (e.g. antenna and reciever on roof).
GNAR/GSAR
TUMT.HNN -- Cramer reports that the gain on TUMT HN channel is significantly
down for 2010 and 2011 events.
ARPT - sporadic
BRGM, CWPT, GLST, and WADM SC* -- lnxt sca channels appear hosed
NNAR - sporadic - tree interference (also effects CHNM)
PLAR - to be moved
RDGT - sporadic
MATM
NHAR
JHAR- to be decommissioned
STAM - sporadic ( also effects WADM)
POBM/PPLM - see image
HENM - see image
GLST.EHE
BACM.EHE
DWDM.EHE
WADM.EHN
CHRM
NODE Tasks
ANSS SM
station yr3 hardware router mss100 firmware plug comment RDST Y Y N ? ? Al has determined that other RDST IP's are trying to access our router, and Steve will look at
routers external connection and security settings MCAR Y Y Y ? ? upgrade not documented CUET Y Y Y ? N upgrade not documented MKAR Y Y Y ? N comment CBHT Y N Y ? ? Steve torequest our 192 IP be put on a private VLAN COLT Y Y Y ? Y none GILT Y Y Y 3.81 Y none NAIT N N N ? ? still not on internet NMEM N N N ? ? none TUMT N N N ? ? none
ETSZ
TRYN
TVNC
Unk problem
WSNC.EHE - see image bad L4
CSTN - still gappy
CCNC - interference
RBNC - interference
SMNC- interference
CVVA
CCRT is next on the list.
DYTN was deeded to the State Forest service with a conservation easement.
There is a committee that oversees these easements that meets only
once per year. John thinks it meets in the fall and is finding out
for sure. He'll also look for an alternative site as a plan B.
So, before I proceed any further, we need to decide if a replacement station for BHT should get a RefTek and if so, do we want to put the station at Black Mtn. or at another site.
The backstory:
There seems to be a strange, repeating signal on many of the stations,
most notably on WSNC/RBNC. It repeats about every 14 minutes and lasts
about 1 sec. Example data are in
/gaia/home/mwithers/public_html/STAFF/Analog/2010/20100910_051500_MAN.
Click this picture of it on CCNC.
John listened for them on the spectrum analyzer at the BRBC node and reports:
Every 13 min. 53 sec. there is a noise burst that raises the noise floor and knocks out our stuff. I'm
wondering if it could be a sideband from something. I listened and I couldn't hear anything but white
noise when it happens. I'm wondering if cavity filters and pre-amps will help.
John identified the source of the interference as an amateur radio operator who has a
repeater at 224.540 MHz which has a side band right about 217.5 MHz. He'll be
meeting with him at the tower in two weeks to determine how best to resolve it.
He's transmitting 2W and we're pointed right at his omni, so either the ham
radio needs tuned or a filter, or we need to move our antenna.
GPS
STLE landowner has asked
that we move eq. cabinet and protect antenna monument with steel barricade.
The VLF power supplies were installed CJTR and PIGT. Still needed
at NMKM and RLAP.
These stations still need to be steinerized: CVMS, MACC, HCES, MAIR, NWCC.
MAIR is now connected directly to the Water District internet. We can
recover the wireless hardware.
James's May departure may be delayed til July.
AG Network
FDL
NSMP
MISCELLANEOUS
