Landing Bluff, Technical Inspection, Saturday 8th December 2001

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1. External examination OK, site photos taken
2. All 3 batteries at 13.9V (while under solar charge)
3. PCON ticking normally ( 1 second intervals), after pushing LED enable
4. GPS not functioning and found turned off
5. I removed the 440MB DSCC flash-card, to check
6. The Gateway laptop would not boot properly due to battery failure in the low temperature (-5 degs)
7. All cables and connectors internally OK
8. The DSCC was plugged in back at the hut and all the GPS and diagnostic data copied off it
9. R-files from DOY 347 2000 to DOY 115 2001 (25th April) were logged.
10. Phone was hibernated on DOY 131 2001 (11th May), last call made DOY 125 (5th May)
11. DSCC last logged PCON dump on DOY 168 2001 (17th June), Voltage 11.66V
12. I returned to the site with monitor, inverter, keyboard and Gateway as soon as they arrived
13. The DSCC was inserted and the override switch turned on.
14. The system would not boot (BIOS settings lost).
15. The BIOS settings were corrected as described in the documentation.
16. (Incidentally the 440MB card had to be setup manually, as well)
17. The system booted and ran PCAnywhere for satellite modem (as per first boot of the day)
18. Communications established with RSES and diagnostic data sent
19. GPS did not power up.
20. The DSCC system date and time was corrected (with time set for UT)
21. The DSCC was rebooted and PCA for sat modem run again with the correct date, but still no GPS power
22. GPS was turned on manually and commenced to log data correctly
23. DSCC override turned off awaiting reboot after alarm time (0400 UT) the next day. 24. Box closed up

Proposed actions when blizzard clears;
1. Check System.log to see if download occured on the morning of 9th December
2. If not, check PCON alarm settings
3. Itemise site and level the barometer
4. Attempt to power the GPS via PCON command

Monday 10th December 2001
1. System fully operational and called RSES, Canberra as scheduled.

Tuesday 11th December 2001
1. Deleted r-files from DSCC flashcard
2. Downloaded last r-files from GPS receiver, before hibernation
3. Stocktake, and detailed inspection + photos
4. Barometer levelled, it is 0.2m below the base of the choke-ring antenna

Wednesday 12th December 2001
1. External temperature probe adjusted to contact external box


LDBF Diagnostics plot

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