CuPIDO: Site 3 Messages, 31 Entries..

AJ and I went to station 3 to get it back on the air. The station was running
and data was being recorded on the USB. The logger communicaiton was down,here was also a bad cable from the rain gage.
  We were able to get all of the problems fixed except for GOES. The weather
turned bad so we had to get out of there. On the ride back we had to wait at
a wash due to flooding.
We were at the site from ~11:00 to 12:30. Any rain tips in this period
should be ignored.

details:
rain - the rain gage cable was cut. This may have been due to the cable
running across some sharp rocks on the ground and somebody may have stepped on
the cable.
logger - the logger output was working fine. The problem was in port 5. It was
a mystery. I tried reversing the TRH and Logger ports. Both sensors worked fine.
When the logger was reconnected to port 5 there was no data transfer. The
problem is either the esrial interface panel or port 5 on the Emerald. In the
end we changed the config file and moved the logger to port 8.
GOES - due to the weather we did not have any time to determine the problem
with GOES. The response from the GOES command gave one the impression it was
communicating but none of the parameters looked correct.
 

Based on the rain plot, it appears that the rain gage at station 3 is not
working. There were rain events at 1,2,and 4 and the krypton died
(water on the lens) at 3.

TRIME measurements: 14:05
15.5%, TDR=33
15.2%, TDR=32
15.3%, TDR=32


Soil sample: core sample was sealed and brought back to base, no tupperware
used.****Don't use any for bulk density***
 
0-3 cm net wet weight in Al foil tray =              57.1 g
       net dry weight in Al foil tray =              47.3 g

3-6 cm net wet weight in A2 foil tray =              77.3 g
       net dry weight in A2 foil tray =              62.3 g

6-8 cm net wet weight in A3 foil tray =              66.0 g
       net dry weight in A3 foil tray =              53.8 g

Radiometers cleaned at 2:01, seemed cleaned.

1 test tip at 1:56.

Cleaned krypton at 1:45.

A.J.I. and Steve S. arrived at 1:28 and left at 2:15

Activities:
- Mast down from 1:40-1:53
- Krypton cleaned at 1:45, voltage was at .4
- 1 test tip at 1:56
- Radiometers cleaned at 2:01
- TRIME and gravimetric samples

Arrived around 16:05,  Oncley, Maclean  

Wind speed at this site has been dropping to exactly zero
for long periods, as if propeller bearings are bad.


Mast down 16:15

Replaced prop vane propeller head.  Bearings on old head
were noisy.

Mast up 16:25

Swapped usbdisk.

Today we finally noticed in the data that the site 3 prop-vane often reads
low (sometimes 0) wind speeds.  The first really noticable instance is Jul 31
at 1900, though there are a few drops earlier that day and probably even a
few days earlier.

data_dump shows that the vane signal is just fine, thus this problem most
likely is simply dirty bearings on the propeller shaft.  Steve S. reminds us
that the prop is a removable subassembly on this sensor.

We haven't located the spare prop that Chris's inventory shows should exist
somewhere.  (We haven't checked our pickup truck yet.)  Nor have we located 
any spare bearings in the base.  Steve S will send us a package tomorrow with
bearings and/or a spare prop head assembly if one can be found in Boulder.

In any case, we aren't too worried, since this station also has sonic, which
seems to be running fine.

1202 - 1 test rain gauge tip.

krypton kleaned by mast down at 12:15.  Voltage 0.08 -> 0.2 V.
Mast back up 12:20.

Rnet cleaned ~1543 today.  was level despite fence post being crooked.

rads cleaned ~1142 today.  all okay.

Did notice that dessicant crystals inside housings are now mostly pink.
Do we have more?

Visit to 1, ~15:30-16:00 MST, 4 Aug.

Purpose: Show Steve the site

Actions:
- repair electric fence.  cows got inside, but no station damage
- exchanged usb drive
- upgrade software
- clean radiometer
- test rain gauge
- take photos

Visit to 3, ~11:20-12:25 MST, 4 Aug.

Purpose: [first visit in a while, due to road closure] fix intermittent 
Rpile.out data gaps

Actions:
- repair electric fence.  appeared that a horse stepped through site, but
  no station damage
- exchanged usb drive
- upgrade software
- fix Rlw connection in logger [blue wire to H1 in block 3 on AM416 was 
  pretty loose]
- clean radiometers
- test rain gauge
- soil samples
- klean krypton [0.08 -> 0.2V] (requires mast down + ladder)
- take photos

Notes:
- box 4
- GOES 120

12:07 MST, 8/4

Trime:
moisure  32.0 (all 3 readings)
TDR      11 

Took soil sample, tub#2 0-3 cm, tub#2 3-6 cm,
and rubbermaid tub labeled "stn5" was used for 6-8cm.


0-3 cm net weight in tupperware = 143.0 g - 46.3 g = 96.7 g
       net weight in Al foil tray =                  96.7 g
       net dry weight in Al foil tray =              78.3 g

3-6 cm net weight in tupperware = 131.9 g - 46.3 g = 85.6 g
       net weight in Al foil tray =                  85.7 g
       net dry weight in Al foil tray =              70.8 g

6-8 cm net weight in tupperware = 108.4 g - 42.9 g = 65.5 g
       net weight in Al foil tray =                  65.4 g
       net dry weight in Al foil tray =              57.7 g

7/26/06

10:23 MST
Trime:	7.1% TDR 50.0
	7.1% TDR 50.0
	7.2% TDR 50.0
	7.3% TDR 50.0
	7.3% TDR 50.0
	7.3% TDR 50.0

Gravimetric samples collected at 10:30 am MST
Weighed 7/27 at 9:30 am MST

0-3 cm net tupperware:	147.4 - 46.3 gm	=	101.1 gm
       net wet foil tray #1			101.2 gm
       net dry foil tray			 93.8 gm
3-6 cm net tupperware:	131.6 - 46.5 gm	=	 85.1 gm
       net wet foil tray #2			 85.1 gm
       net dry foil tray			 79.2 gm
6-9 cm net tupperware:	116.5 - 44.3 gm	=	 72.2 gm
       net wet foil tray #4			 72.1 gm
       net dry foil tray			 66.9 gm

Taped GOES cooler; found one tiny trace of water in bottom

GOES transmitter model 120; no surge arrester

Cleaned site 3 KH2O

Large tube on top
Took photo to show spatial displacement

Before cleaning 150 mV
After cleaning 115 -> 150 mv

Test tip on rain gauge

Cleaned radiometer domes, which already looked clean

Site visit to station 3 on July 26

Arrived 9:56 am MST
Departed 11:14 am MST

Fixed electric fence grounding on prickly pear

Swapped USB disk

Mast down 10:46 am MST
Mast up   11:02 am MST

16Jul06 11:30 - 16:00

Radiometers Cleaned: 12:30

Confirmed Flux Serial Numbers, and coefficients in logger per
spreadsheet SteveS. provided:

Q7	e27035
pspin	e16714
pygin	26416
pspout	e17877
pygout	e29260
hft	993560 (had been swapped from original installed)
tsoil	97001
tp01	200235


Krypton	1391

16Jul06 11:30 - 16:00

Krypton Cleaned: 12:00
	voltage raised from 350mV to 700mV


s/n 1391

16Jul06 11:30 - 16:00

Rain Gauge: checked and had slight level adjustment....very minor.

Electric Fence Checked:
	Battery is at 13.1 now so moved PV charging it back onto the
	main station array.
	The fencer is working but the zap is weak....probably because
	this 'soil' has many rocks and not highly conductive plus very
	Finally saw a cow 'in the area' roughly 1-2 miles away!

GOES:	PVC elbows replaced cable feedthroughs to provide a small amount
	of ventillation.
	Checked SigStr: 11W; good
	With the wattmeter installed the nesdis quality parameters were
	good, but disconnected it dropped back to 38ish dbm: too low.

	Removed surge supressor from inline to antenna.  After waiting
	the results from nesdis were back up to 47ish: good.
	No spares at this point for the antenna surge arrestor, but will
	leave it off.  The antenna is close to the ground so hopefully
	won't take a hit.  The arrestors are a safety precaution we haven't
	used before.

Data Uploaded:
	Disk was at roughly 30% since 5jul.

Licor Cleaned: 12:00
	voltage raised from 350mV to 700mV

Rad Cleaned: 12:30

16Jul06 11:30 - 16:00

Purpose: TRIME, Gravimetric and soil sample

TRIME measurements:
	11.6% vol,  44 TDR level
	This was taken just north of the tripod, roughly 12m away from the
	installed soil sensors.  The spot was the only one nearby that
	didn't have so many rocks, and was able to insert the probes after
	hammering in the 'fake rods'.  There's some question whether the
	rods made solid contact in the soil.

Gravimetric:  No sample taken
	Attempted to collect sample, many times.  No luck.
	'Soil' either fell out of tube, couldn't insert it all the way, and
	finally after using Greg's sledge hammer technique 'yet again',
	i couldn't extract the brass rings (and of course meanwhile the
	'soil' fell out onced again).  It's possible that the tubes are now
	slightly out of round, and need fixing... :-(

	Recommendation: try taking a sample after a good rain storm, and
	consider taking the scale carefully into the field to perform
	the measurements immediately; placing the small divided samples
	into plastic baggies.

Tub Soil sample collected for later analysis.

HFT Logger Glitch 'fixed'
	Directly cabled the logger to viper box, bypassing the XBEE radios.
	I had to cludge rewire the logger box to do it.
	These boxes need to be rebuilt and improved anyway.

9Jul06 14:30-16:30

Purpose: HFT has been glitching at night

1) HFT Swapped
	New sensors received from Boulder last night.
	Disconnected, but left installed in soil: H013390
	Installed H993560

	Verified via rserial data consistency.

2) New Software installed and swapped data usbdisk

	38% full since 1Jul

3) Cleaned Radiometers, 14:40
	Note that they were very clean in appearance and did
	not have any of the splattered dirt that we've noticed
	elsewhere.

4) Electric Fence
	No zapping. (Red snapper here)
	Tried 'old spare' unit same problems.
	Battery voltage low: 12.3
	Setup crew had put one of the more discharged batteries here
	is my guess and didn't put it on a pv (same as other sites).
	I took one of the older panels and put it directly on this
	battery without a charger and hope that boosts it enough.
	Reinstalled original zapper.
	Still no light on the charger and the fence is dead to touch,
	but the pulser is making noise and I saw voltage pulsing on the
	terminals.  This unit appeared to work from the good, 13.5v 
	system battery as a test.
	BVoltage should rise enough to do some good by tomorrow.
	Basic problem is poor ground / conductivity / and rubber sole
	shoes.
	Saw 4 horses near the station.


5) Goes check
	We've had low sigstr for many days, but no data loss.
	Wattmeter connected and showed 10W forward 0 refl.
	ie good.
	Noticed in data later that while the meter was inline
	the reported SigStr was good but after removing it,
	the SigStr dropped back to mid-30's.....very strange.

	Perhaps a wierd connector problem on cable/antenna but
	i couldn't see anything unusual.
	Also note that this has one of the old surge arresters
	which had been a problem at 7...coincidence perhaps.

Net radiation was re-leveled at Site 3.

Site 3 (ENE)

The soil moisture probe and soil properties probe were turned to a vertical orientation. The soil heat flux probe was reseated as a test towards the elimiation of the erratic nighttime behavior of unknown origin.

2Jul06, 12:50-14:50 MST

Purpose: station down, shoot boom angle, install new xml

RMY Boom Direction:
Shot boom angle and put it into the rmy: 277.
Verified consistency with observed conditions.
Also put these numbers in entry 6

CSAT pointing towards 179

2Jul06, 12:50-14:50 MST

Purpose: station down, shoot boom angle, install new xml

Data System:
A USB failure caused the station to go down, not goes despite low sig-strength.
The USB indicated 'read-only' and the log file shows that it ran for awhile but died at 18Z on 1Jul06.
Most likely due to heat not the storms that occurred later.
Cruzer 4g-3 had been in the drive.

Several mount, boot, different usb attempts later finally got things working.
Also was able to upload the new xml.
When it worked, I installed the disks in the lower connector and maybe things had cooled and/or the 'reconnecting and fiddling' with the cables re-established conductivity perhaps.
IE. this station may go down for the same reason again.

GOES:
10W output just fine after restarting nidas.
Re-configured the arrangement a bit:
lowered antenna so it wouldn't wobble in the wind, and
secured the flimsey cabling inside the funky cooler box by cable tying the
surge arrestor to the body of the transmitter.
SE120 -  microStrip3
everything appears good.

RMY Boom Direction:
Shot boom angle and put it into the rmy: 277.
Verified consistency with observed conditions

CSAT pointing towards 179