AGO3 Station Report
2000-2001 Summer
UT Day 347 - 361




On-site personnel:

The AGO team consisted of Beth Bergeron and Jess Barr (Field personnel/Groomer) and Joe Kujawski (AGO technical service team).

Station:

The station was cold upon arrival. The primary failure mode was probably related to the Turbo power priority issue identified last summer. Some ice could be seen on the shroud, but the shroud was not completely blocked. All of the experiments were being powered by the solar panels. The technical service team successfully started the thermo-electric generator and raised the station temperature to 20-25øC. That temperature was maintained throughout the service call. AGO-3 was not targeted to be raised this year and will not need to be raised for several years.

TEG:

The TEG Turbo was modified to enable it to extract power directly from the PSC. This will allow it to become the highest priority power user at the AGO station. New batteries for the turbo were installed.

Batteries for the electronic shutoff valve were changed. Manifold propane pressure was left at last year's setting of 3.5 psi since there was about one tank of propane left at the station. The maximum burner temperatures that could be achieved are: #1: 250 C, #2: 275 C, #3: 300 C, #4: 290 C, #5: 265 C, #6: 250 C with a freon pressure of 15psi. Maximum burner temperatures range up to 300 C with a freon pressure of 22 psi.

The fin plates were installed to restrict air movement from the TEG fins by 75%.

Data Control Unit (DCU):

Two Storage computers (Rev 2) were installed in the DCU. The old storage computer disks were removed and will be shipped to Augsburg College for data retrieval and processing.

Power Supply Controller (PSC):

The PSC was fully functional upon arrival. TICDPIC002 was upgraded to V4. See AGO3.AGO for experiment power settings, priorities, and other station  information.

Data Acquisition Unit (DAU):

All functions were normal when the unit was turned on. Non-volatile random access memory was replaced. The DAU software was upgraded to Rev. 3. See AGO3.AGO for DAU settings.

Global Positioning System Receiver (GPS):

The GPS was working when the service team arrived on-station.
 

Bell Labs Fluxgate Magnetometer:

Data were examined to verify the operation and leveling of the magnetometer. By examining this data, the service team determined that there was no need to change the magnetometer settings.
 

Settings for the magnetometer are:

Sensitivity : 1000 nT

H Offset : + 00 08 750
D Offset : OFF 00 00 000
Z Offset : - 02 04 000
The electronics were checked out per the servicing documentation. The results of the checkout were as follows:

 

Axis Meter Out DAU Save File

Reading Reading Name

H: -10.001 V 000 H
P300_FLH.GIF

- 9.850 V 00B H
+ 0.007 V 7FF H
+ 9.850 V FF7 H
+10.000 V FED H
D: -10.000 V 00F H


P300_FLD.GIF

+ 0.000 V 803 H
+10.000 V FF3 H
Z: -10.001 V 00C H


P300_FLZ.GIF

- 0.006 V 800 H
+10.001 V FF6 H
Sample data were collected and stored to the laptop.
Tohuku ULF Search Coil:

Sample data were recorded to disk. These data were examined to determine functionality of the instrument. Sample data were collected and stored to the laptop.

Stanford VLF Receiver:

Stanford's upgrades to the BB-snapshot system and battery elimination systemwere installed and tested. These upgrades functioned as expected and did not interfere with other experiments.

A calibration of the Stanford experiment was attempted. However, this calibration could not be succesfully completed due to the calibrator not working properly. During the attempted calibration, it became evident that the E/W channel of the experiment was not working properly. The symptoms are:

1) The output of the E/W filter on the line receiver does not respond to changes in the external calibration signal.

2) Broadband data for the E/W channel does not have the same shape as the N/S channel.
Data was collected and examined for possible problems.
Settings for the experiment are as follows:

8-16 KHz 20

16-32 KHz 20
0.5 - 1KHz 20
4-8 KHz 20
24.0 KHz NAA RF-20 IF-15
1-2 KHz NS 10
2-4 KHz 10
30-40 KHz 10
1-2 KHz EW 10
Line Receiver NS 30
Line Receiver EW 30
Sample data were collected and stored to the laptop.

University of Maryland Riometer:

Riometer data was collected and determined to be acceptable. (See P300_RI1.gif and P300_RI2.gif).
Sample data were collected and stored to the laptop.

Anubis Seismic:

The Epson Handheld Terminal (EHT) provided to the service team did not work. Without the EHT, the seismometer could not be initialized and could not be made  to work. Both the DAS and the seismometer were removed from the site per the  PI's request.
 
 

Dartmouth LF/HF Receiver:

Dartmouth was upgraded for the higher data sample rate. Data was collected and examined on the Dartmouth experiment.
(See P300_LF.gif)

Sample data was collected and stored to the laptop.
 
 

Allsky camera:

The Allsky camera upgrade was completed. For some reason, after the upgrade was completed, the Sun pot had to be adjusted to prevent the camera from taking pictures during the day. Sample data was collected and stored to the laptop.

Interference testing:

Not done at AGO-3

Telemetry System

The new AGO telemetry system was installed and tested at AGO-3. However, the system was not left at the site. It will be fully installed at AGO-4.
 

Miscellaneous:

GPS position: S 82  45' E 28  35'. Elevation: 9334 ft.
 

Notes for the future:

1) The field service team should bring a complete rack level spare PSC instead of spare boards.

2) Whenever a power source or experiment has been modified, it should be tested  for greater than 1 MOhm isolation to chassis BEFORE the unit is connected to the PSC. Note that the PSC is very sensitive to violations of this specification.