Tech Staff Meeting Notes November 10, 2025

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

Duty Table updated July 2025

Priorities

• Luxo work, reconnect dbb
• Get started on Luxo rack
• "End of year" upgrades (MSAR and LRAR)
• ET trip between T-day and Xmas
• station repair
• Preventive Maintenance

News & Highlights

Discussed Luxo node. A day of work remains to move our equipment into the building. The DBB with the new is ready to be reconnected though we want to keep the waveform data flowing over the cell modem. The station trigger traffic is on the dbb and will resume when reconnected. The radio from SFTN to LUXO keeps hanging possibly because there's no traffic on it. That will be tested when we put traffic on it. The rack still needs to be built and the 1u node server is in hand ready to be configured.

The DBB upgrade to xetawaves is complete. Dave reconnected as these notes were being written and all appears well. The links should be much more robust and less vulnerable to temperature inversions and inclement weather.

Discussed standard procedure of replacing batteries after 5 years. Battery quality has improved and may now be able to extend the life to 7 years if we continue to purchase high quality batteries.

The question arose about what training do staff need to prepare for the UofM switch from banner to Oracle in January. Looks like there are four courses: employee self service, time and attendance, performance appraisals, and procurement. Not sure all of those are needed right away and it may be better to wait for the recording. More info is here: https://www.memphis.edu/erp/training/roles.php .

Preventive Maintenance. Jim's spreadsheets for most recent service:
ETSZ Service Status
NMSZ Service Status

Safety reminder from October meeting. Always be present in the task at hand no matter how many times you've done it before. Balin Miller died in a climbing accident by rapelling off the end of the rope while retrieving equipment after ascending El Capitan in California; a task he did a thousand times before.

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.

WMTN2 is the the last upgrade we can complete. Need the fifth set from ASL but USGS is currently shutdown.

CRAC (aka Liebert) is in process. We are supposed to have a 208 3-phase unit but a 480V 3-phase was ordered. The old unit is out and the new in place. But they are waiting on a transformer to step up the voltage to the new unit. The condensor outside also overhangs the pad by about 4-6 inches. The portable unit they installed was not vented so it was blowing the heat back into the room creating a net added heat load. Dave fixed that and found it still wasn't keeping up so we are running with doors open and fans blowing. Transformer is supposed to arrive this week.

USGS is moving forward with their SLU adoptions. Unfortunately they haven't yet changed any stations from NM to GS. Mitch will continue pushing for this after the shutdown ends. 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). Reinstall LRVA replacement and restore.

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.

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. Working on an IP scheme though it's unlikely it will allow direct access to the stations that transmit through the nodes. This is done and it works great!

Remove abb hardware from water tower at Peckerwood Point.

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.

Remove decommissioned I40 bridge and AZTN hardware as time permits.

LRAR suffers from a lot of horse noise. It's located near a horse stable. When it gets noisy, it can stay that way for several hours and it renders the station unuseable. Consider moving it if a location nearby can be found.

UALR needs a new vault.

NMDown

ETSZ

LRVA is closed due to Helene damage. A crew was able to make it to the site and found a nearby clearing formed by the storm that could be suitable. It won't make the telemetry shot so will need to be a cell modem.

A student's father was able to hike to MGNC and provide photos. Damage is minimal. Waiting on the parkway to open.

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. Jim learned that the prison is not permitted by law to jam cell signals. It remains unknown why we can't see the cell modem. Bob suggested we replace the receiver to recover the data. GPS status page

AG Network

temp stations have spikes. Only BYL0 and X703 remain and these are also corrupted with the spikes. See examples in NMSZDown list.

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/