Tech Staff Meeting Notes September 3, 2025

The top priority is always repair of down stations.
NM problem stations
ET problem stations

Duty Table updated July 2025

Priorities

• Helene Upgrades: CCNC and ASTN on deck
• Luxora Node
• NM station repair
• ET station repair
• Preventive Maintenance

News & Highlights

annual back-to-school lunch and CERI general meeting are combined this year. Lunch is Friday Sep 5. Vadim needs bragging bullets to share.

Luxora is ready to become a node. Need to make progress on the ET upgrades first.

Ron Martens at KLUV retired. Mitch will try to find out who is replacement is. KLUV and WASL had agreed to help with installation costs of the generator but that's on hold until the new KLUV engineer is up to speed.

Tipton Co. no longer needs power at the water tower near Peckerwood Point that hosts our ABB repeater. Does not impact us since the ABB was decomissioned. (along those lines, there are about a dozen analog stations that need to be removed).

The X702/X703 sensor merry-go-round continues. X703 will get a reftek/I5 and X702 will get a reftek/CMG3. Both sensors were already obsolesced.

We need to resume routine Preventive Maintenance (PM) for stations to avoid unplanned outages (especially from kudzu). Jim's spreadsheets for most recent service:
ETSZ Service Status
NMSZ Service Status

DM2025 has begun and we have an index. Must be completed by Jan 31, 2026. Request includes four projects:

• upgrade and harden five ET stations (Helene).
• replace obsolete server room HVAC system. New Liebert is on order. Need to coordinate with OSB for the installation and determine if and which processes need to move to another room. Need to find out how long it will take.
• upgrade repeater at Luxora to remote data concentrator node; and
• replace system disks in data processing servers.

Have hardware in house for four of five DM2025 upgrades. Stations to be upgraded are: WMTN2, ASTN, VHTN, CCNC, and MGNC (access pending). CCNC and ASTN will be done next week (Sep 8). We will be installing the cascadia in place of the vertical S-13 and decomissioning-in-place, the horizontal S-13s. Mitch will ask Yolanda about the fifth set.

USGS is moving forward with their SLU adoptions. See this map for plans and progress.

The money pit (aka LNXT generator) needs propane.

Helene Upgrade and Hardening

Congress approved Helene Disaster relief funding in December 2024 and it included funds to upgrade/harden 13 NM and ET stations in disaster declared states (TN, NC, SC, GA, and VA.) We'll do the three remaining digital upgrades in NM (ARPT, FPST, and MFRT) and the rest in ET. Prioritize replacing Geobits (MGNC, TVNC2, DSNC, WMTN2, CCNC, VHTN) and stations with single-component problems (GMG and VHTN). Install LRVA replacement and repair as yet unknown damage at MGNC.

Funding is for two years (only 1.5 for us) and GFE for all 13 will arrive first year. Our first year runs 7/1/25-1/31/26 and we plan on doing Five ET upgrades in year 1. Complete the remaining 8 upgrades (5 ET and 3 NM) in year 2 that runs 2/1/26-1/31/27. This funding is part of annual DM supplements. Year 1 in DM25 and year 2 in DM26.

MGNC access remains restricted. The road has numerous serious blockages. Jim also learned the new agreement with the USFS and the Green Co. Amatuer radio club for the forest tower included a special use permit (SUP) for CCNC but not MGNC. We have the documentation for MGNC but it mistakenly was not included in the agreement. It is however mentioned on page 1 of the agreement in the section titled, "This Permit Issued for the Purpose of:" and it says, "Operation and maintenance of seismic monitoring equipment on Camp Creek Bald site, Madison County, NC and Clingman's Peak site, Yancey County, NC. Site(s) which consist of..." Jim will contact the new Ranger (Niall is no longer there) to see about an SUP for MGNC.

NMSZ

NMAD node building has a leaky roof. Need to hire a contractor to make the repair, clean, and paint.

DBB is sensitive to inversions and rain. Cell modems are carrying the load. Have new radios that transmit 1W. Need to install them.

Need to review station list to reduce redundancy (e.g. PLAL) and the number of urban strong motion stations (e.g. GILT).

CVTN/CVMS. A contractor, A2H, was hired to design and build the new school. They're aware we're there and are willing to work with us to restore those stations when the time comes.

The City of Cape Girardeau sold the building housing sm station CBMO. Mitch has been unable to get in touch with the real-estate agent. Dave discovered the buyer is a philanthropist possibly converting it to a museum. Dave checked on it during the trip to NHIN in April and its still empty with no apparent changes.

FVM. Joe Davis (Joe.Davis@mdc.mo.gov) was looking into easement they have with SLU. Station took a lighting hit. Dave recovered the pumpkin. Lost a power over ethernet converter, wiring, etc. Will require a return visit.

Remove decommissioned I40 bridge and AZTN hardware as time permits.

FLPT is down. On the "close list" so it can be closed rather than repaired.

LRAR suffers from a lot of horse noise. It's located near a horse stable.

UALR needs a new vault.

NMDown

ETSZ

LRVA is closed due to Helene damage. Need to recover the equipment and find a new site.

Murray Co. Fire/EMA is using the lower part of the fire tower at GMG and have 5G microwave. Might be able to piggyback and get AC and internet. Sensor needs to be reinstalled.

ETDown

TVNC2 keeps dropping out. It's using the Choctaw license (as are DSNC and DYTN) but it has a large mountain in it's path. Consider replacing with a cell modem.

Etowah utilities is running fiber up to Starr Mt. They seemed amenable to sharing bandwidth with us if it can be made to work with our router. Could then get the camera going again. Camera is damaged and needs replaced. And we can bail on the Dalton link.

GPS

SCCF loses comms. It appears the prison may be jamming the signal. Bob suggests swapping the receiver and brining it back to download data. Looks like we've come full circle to the days of sneaker-net. GPS status page

AG Network

make BAT3 permanent.

X703 and X702 have persistent problems. They are long-lived temps.

Z41A keeps losing comms. Is surrounding by tall pines. Needs a cell booster.

FDL

The old FDL wiki is here: https://umwiki.memphis.edu/display/FDL/CERI+FDL

The new FDL wiki is here: https://uofmwiki.memphis.edu/books/ceri-fdl-migrated/page/ceri-fdl

MISCELLANEOUS

The seisnet group on umdrive is at http://umdrive.memphis.edu/mwithers/seisnet You will need your uuid and password.

The seisnet wiki uses confluence at https://www.atlassian.com/