24 Sep 03

24 September 2003 Status at The Aquatic Hillcrest

Headline: Radar Running, Tracking and Correlating

Today we met with the GAF and communicated some early analytical data from REPS recordings taken Friday morning. We outlined our plan to drive to Frankfurt airport, ship the bad A6 board back to Syracuse for repair, and pick up Brad Shannon with a good (Engineering) A6. We also will try to get our COTS box.

We picked up Brad, went to Eagle, shipped our A6 board to Guy Blasi in the Engineering Lab, and then tried to get the COTS box. They claim it is there, but there was confusion in the paperwork over the type of material it contained. We clarified that it is new COTS material, and they said we should be able to get it in a little while. We went for lunch down the street, came back, and they asked us to wait 10 more minutes. After 40 minutes, they said 20 more minutes. Then they had a problem with their computer system, and when it came back online they told us the Customs people wanted to go home for the day. They felt since it had been there over a month another day would not hurt. Eagle was very apologetic and promises to deliver the box to us at the radar tomorrow by noon. I left my contact information in case there are any further confusions. I also can contact them. The box was tracked to Eagle in Frankfurt by our agent, Hubert Merkel.

We got back to the radome about 1630 and installed the A6 board, and brought the radar back to life!

We also found that the GFCI supplied and hand carried by Brad is not the correct part. A circuit breaker was sent, and a GFCI is needed. I placed photos of what we need below on the web. I should have done this before. My bad. Ron T thought of putting pictures there. Good going Ron.

We left the radar running. In the morning we need to check the noise detector. Further fine tuning is required, and then we will dry run the remainder of the tests.

Link to Dry Run Status

Daily oil leak analysis: no change.

Photos from today:

Left: the GFCI breaker we need. Right: the GFCI and the box it mounts in.

Brad and Bill install the Engineering A6.

Waiting for Brad at the Frankfurt Airport.

Waiting for Customs at the Frankfurt Eagle terminal.