26 Sep 03

26 September 2003 Status at The Aquatic Hillcrest

Headline: Radar Running Well

We arrived to find the radar running. Bill is tackling the RES again today while Ron and Brad step through dry run of test 1D-P1. I am printing procedure 1D-P1 that was e-mailed to me overnight by Eva Orosco and Paula Trudell after scanning it into a PDF file. It is 47 pages, one page at a time through Bill's portable bubble jet printer. Good thing Bill brought it. Then I made another copy. The GAF made copies of the change pages we need to have a complete and accurate set of test procedures, which we now have.

Doug Hornbacker has sent very encouraging results from his analysis of SSR performance based on the ASCII REPS data we sent last week, indicating good SSR performance.

As soon as we get a handle on status today, we will confer with the GAF and decide if the TRR can be held Monday or needs to be postponed, and if so, how long it will need to be postponed, and ramifications on travel and lodging arrangements, etc. It may be possible to have a preliminary TRR Monday, begin some formal tests while other tests are being prepared and dry run.

At 1100 UPS delivered the Noise Detector Board to replace ours, which we think is causing problems. Ron and Bill are having trouble finding the right cable configuration for test 1D-P1, which only mentions "a special cable." Bill tried to save the RES from its death spiral.

At lunchtime Chapters 2, 3 and 6 of the maintenance manual, needed to perform certain tests, were delivered. We have given up on the ITU tests and moved on to trying to get the STS to read the time.

At 1530 Brad finally got the STS to receive the time of day properly.

At 1600, 4 row receivers are ringing up bad. 2 of them are 2 of the 5 just sent back for repair. Fortunately the GAF has 4 row receivers sitting here at our avail should we need them.

At 1715 we have just changed out 2 row receivers that had 2 bad channels, and swapped 2 around that each had one bad channel. We are powering the radar back up now to determine what effect this has on the faults. These are the only significant faults being seen at present.

At 1930 Brad and Sgt. Pohl are putting the DEC laser printer back together. It has been sitting here so long there was a flat spot on a roller, and we had to take it apart, fix it, and get it to run for the tests.

Ron and Bill have been taking REPS data for test 15E P2. They performed a system alignment and the system looks GOOD. Swapping the two row receivers did not clear the fault, so it is probably a bad transmitter. There is also another row receiver that needs to be replaced. We will run the system overnight and take some early morning REPS data for Doug Hornbacker to analyze back home.

Retiree John Phillips and Dave Beale both returned our calls today to try to help resurrect the ITU - Modem communications for the GEADGE test. So far, no luck, but John is going to check his notes, and Dave is going to look in some other places.

Link to Dry Run Status

Photos from today:

Brad and Bill change out row receivers.

Brad and Sgt. Pohl rebuild the laser printer. Some of the decor at our favorite place for dinner.

Team Aquatic Hillcrest recharges for another long day tomorrow.