Tech Staff Meeting Notes January 7, 2025

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

Duty Table updated July 2025

Priorities

• Complete Luxo node before the end of January
• "End of year" upgrades (MSAR and LVAR)
• AG PM
• station repair
• Preventive Maintenance

Be present in your work and pay attention to safety. Don't fall off the end of the rope.

News & Highlights

Funding for year 2 (begins Feb 1) is administratively delayed at DOI. It is unlikely we'll have a new budget in place by Feb 1. Salaries won't be a problem, but purchases and travel may need to temporarily borrow from another account. Will know more toward the end of Jan though known supplies should be purchased this month.

Need to spend down the Seisnet main and DM accounts. Jim has a list.

Made great progress on ET and backlog of preventive maintenance though half the NM/AG stations didn't get a service. Need to get as many of those done this month as possible with a special focus on AG.

Don't forget the ANSS all-hands year end highlights meeting on Jan 19. See email for teams link.

Preventive Maintenance. 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.

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. Still waiting on the plenum and a controller board that fried (before even being operations!!). Mitch would prefer an inspection by and independent contractor prior to signing off on it.

Old note carried forward. 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

RDGT replace cell with radio to CACT.

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 is not being blocked. James suspects the antenna is off azimuth. Can see it but can't get a stable connection. No data from it for months. GPS status page

AG Network

All permanent stations are due of PM visit.

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/