[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Mtg. Minutes--August 2005

[Lew Serna]

Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, August 
30, 2005, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room.  Attending were Lew 
Serna, Guy Stanzione, Bob Broilo, Jim Ruff, Brent Avery, Ramon 
Gutierrez, James Sullivan, Jon Thunborg, Mark McKinnon, and Charley Chavez.


BUDGET   Serna— final budget report shows the ES division quickly 
spending down their allotted budget.  A re-allotment was necessary to 
compensate for overspending in some groups.  Supervisors must be careful 
not to overspend this final allotment.  Last day for RFQ’s is August 26 
and “last day requisitions’ to ensure your PO gets charged to FY 2005 is 
September 16. The new fiscal year begins on October 1.  The North 
Liberty Tiger Team Trip travel has been specially funded.  Several open 
positions are approved and recruitment should proceed for the Track 
Crewman, Carpenters helper, Electrician’s helper, Mechanic/Machinist 
helper and Machinist.  The Servo vacancy is still not approved.  Ballast 
cars have not yet been purchased due to waiting for the prices to drop 
in the fall.  If the monies cannot be carried over we should be prepared 
to purchase at least one ballast car.  Current prices for ballast cars 
are around $16K.

VLBA TT Trips—The HN visit scheduled for FY 2005 was canceled due to the 
expense of the long SC trip in 2005.  The scheduled LA visit was 
completed with a several day extension.   Because of antenna structural 
troubles, a trip to SC will likely be scheduled annually for the next 
few years.  A special meeting to discuss a plan for future VLBA trips to 
VLBA Sites was called on June 28 since the current cycle is almost 
complete and scheduled trips are beginning to slip.

The North Liberty Trip has been specially funded and will occur on 
September 20-27, 2005.


SUMMARY OF MEETING;
It was the opinion of the group that the SC and HN maintenance visits 
are critical.  While, the MK and NL visits should still be a very high 
priority.  We should make a great effort to increase next years travel 
budget to accomplish at minimum these four site visits.

Since shipping the container to St Croix is extremely expensive, we 
propose to ship a container with all the parts needed to repair the 
antenna and with tools needed for future tiger team visits.  We would 
leave this container on site so that we only need to ship small boxes of 
tools and parts for most subsequent visits.  The St Croix maintenance 
visit should concentrate on repairing and painting the steel structure.

If funding is not available to support full maintenance visits at HN and 
MK, we propose to send a limited mechanical crew with a limited number 
of tools.  This allows us to save
on the container shipping cost.  However, if additional problems are 
found an additional trip with the shipping container would be required.

A desired schedule for VLBA TT visits in FY 2006 is to complete KP, MK 
and HN next year with a special 14 day mechanical visit to SC in the 
spring. Since we have delayed several tiger team visits, we now have 4 
visits scheduled for next fiscal year.  The scheduled sites are SC, HN, 
MK and KP.   We anticipate that next year’s budget will not be able to 
support this ambitious schedule.



AZ Bearings-- Parts from the bearings removed from antennas are needed 
for measuring and fitting of new parts and should be stored until they 
are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. There are Azimuth 
bearings on hand. One spare bearing should be maintained at all times. 
Antenna 14, 16 & 18’s bearing will be shipped to Rotek for possible 
refurbishment, at the rate of one per year, when the budget permits. Be 
prepared to send one bearing for refurbish in September should the end 
of year budget allow.  If possible we could ship all bearings to Rotek 
to save on shipping.  There is an 8-9 week lead time on a refurbished 
bearing delivery.  The bearing change in antenna 20 that was scheduled 
for September 2005 is canceled.  A new grease sampling shows that 
antenna 26 could be in worse shape than antenna 20.  Antenna 26’s 
bearing will be changed first and is scheduled to occur in FY2006.  An 
estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change 
can occur.

NEW PROJECTS:
ACU Modification-- A new ACU that replaces the ACU in its entirety is 
desirable.  The new ACU would hopefully improve the position loop 
response, improve reliability and replace the obsolete components in the 
current ACU.  A PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based upgrade would 
cost around $3K per antenna.  EVLA has funded the prototype and design 
work is ongoing. No funding commitments are made for retrofitting.

Control Building Stairways—After repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop 
the corrosion on the Control Building Stairways we will replace the 
stairways with an improved design conforming to ADA. Estimated cost to 
do this for both stairways is $12K.  In order to open the stairway to 
the public, modification to the stairways, to conform to ADA (American 
Disabilities Act) standards are necessary.  The first flight of stairs 
on the northwest staircase has been repaired and the stairway has been 
reopened to the public.  Further modification and repairs are required. 
  The south stairway kick plates are deteriorating and should be 
repaired soon.  Mark will check with Robyn for help with funding repairs.

LWDA (Long Wave Development Array)-- The University of New Mexico and 
the Naval Research Laboratory are leading a research project called the 
Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array, which is to be installed at the VLA 
site.  ES Division will provide cost manpower and equipment estimates to 
level the site, provide access to the site and install a fiber optic 
cable that will be connected to VLA’s west arm trunk at CW7.  It is 
possible that site work will begin within the next month.   A meeting 
with UNM will occur tomorrow (8/31/05) at 11 am.

Fire Station-   The Fire Chief, Tom Olney, Has acquired a newer Fire 
Truck for the Fire Brigade.  The truck will not fit inside the existing 
fire truck bay.  The fire truck should be kept indoors to prevent the 
freezing of pumps.  A request for a larger bay is being made by the Fire 
Chief.  It is estimated that modifications to the existing building to 
accommodate the fire truck would cost around $10K.  Electronics division 
and ES Division are expected to split the cost of providing a larger 
bay.  The ambulance can then be housed in the old fire truck bay.

GREASE SAMPLING— completed with the following results. July 14, 2005:
Antenna
26  A lot of big flakes.
10  A few big flakes.
20  Very little flakes.
22  A few small flakes.
12  Very small flakes.
  8  Very small flakes, few.
11  Few tiny flakes.
  3  Small shavings.
28  Very small flakes.
24  3 medium size shavings.
  5  Very few tiny flakes.
  4  Very few tiny flakes.
No shavings found in the following ants.
1,  7,  27,  19,  2,  6,  25.

190 MHZ Receiver System-- The second review of the 190 MHz Receiver 
system was held in the AOC on 25 July, 2005. Many problems have been 
overcome however, another review will be needed when the answers to the 
several remaining questions are ready.  For example it is not yet clear 
how seriously the P-band system is impacted. No tests have been done on 
4-band. A number of changes to the original design need to be tested. 
Several P-band feeds do not have the hollow tubes needed for routing the 
190 MHz cables. SAO will need to have a plan to handle this.  There are 
7 antennas that have solid rods on the dipoles; Antennas 2, 4, 13, 22, 
23, 24, and 27. The maximum support available from E/S Division for 
cherry picker support is 8 hrs per week. An NRAO employee who is 
knowledgeable in cherry picker operations or receiver installation must 
be present at the antenna at the appropriate times for the installation 
of the 190 MHz receiver. Safety and cherry picker training for SAO 
personnel may be involved.  A second review will be held in October.  If 
all goes well it is hoped to complete the installation in December.

EVLA STATUS
Correlator Room. The floor that the shielded room will sit on is being 
leveled.  Fabrication of the shielded room is scheduled to begin around 
October 10.  The shielded room takes about 6 weeks to manufacture and 
about 5 weeks to install. RFQ’s has been submitted for the fire 
suppression system.  The sprinkler system will have to be removed before 
the shielded room installation begins.

EVLA Antennas: The next antenna in the AAB will Antenna 12 and it will 
not undergo an EVLA overhaul.  However, several EVLA mechanical 
outfitting which will not affect its VLA operational ability can be 
accomplished.  S-band ring fabrication will begin soon.  The L- Band 
rings continue to be produced for assembly and lamination at a rate of 1 
every 6 weeks.  The first few C- band feeds are being machined in house 
but future C- band feeds will likely be farmed out.

Transporter Axles – The transporter axles are exhibiting several cracks 
which are being rubbed out to prevent propagation of the crack.  There 
is one spare axle available. These axles will eventually have to be 
replaced with axles made of a different material and design to increase 
their life.  They are currently lasting about 12 years and were last 
replaced in 1992.  There are 12 axles per transporter and each axle will 
cost around $3K to replace.

VLBA FRM Drives—Jim Ruff will propose a new drive system for the VLBA 
FRM’s.  It is believed that the drive amplifiers proposed for the new 
VLBA system will work with the VLA stepper motors.  This is an 
opportunity to replace the obsolete and troublesome VLA FRM amplifiers 
at $5K/antenna.  The FRM accounts for about 15% of Antenna failures.

VLBA Watch Spring Cable Wraps—The VLBA Pie Town watch spring cable wrap 
will be replaced with an EVLA type watch spring wrap at a cost of around 
$150.  It would be an improvement over the current VLBA watch spring 
wrap. The plan is to replace them during the TT maintenance visits.

SAFETY REPORT...  James Sullivan
  Accident Report:
There have been a total of nine (9) Accidents reported this year. There 
have been five (5) accidents attributed to the ES Division.

Inspections:
The following inspections have been completed
Emergency Exit signs
Emergency Lighting
Emergency eye wash and showers

The following inspections have not been completed but may be in process.
Ladder inspection	  (Started)
Personal Fall Protection (Started)
Vehicle inspection
First Aid Kits
Fire extinguishers

Training:
Monthly All Hands Safety Meeting:
The monthly all hands safety training is going well. I am getting some 
feed back from employees. The last meeting was held on August 24, 2005. 
There were 40 employees in attendees

Next Monthly All Hands Safety Meeting:
The next all hands safety meeting will be held on September 29th @ 
3:30pm in the VLA Cafe. The topic has not been determined.

NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) Inspection-- September 13. 
Inspectors will also provide training for 2 Fire Brigade Members and 2 
HVAC Techs on Sprinkler System testing and PM’s.

Safety Officer Status:
Jimmie Stuteville is just about up and running at the AOC and I will be 
staying at the VLA site. My duties include the VLA site, the ALMA ATF 
site, and I will be working with VLBA on some safety matters and 
inspection. I will still be going to the AOC/Socorro every so often for 
meetings and inspection.

Auto accident on Hwy 60-August 16th 2005
On August 16th at approximately 2:50 PM the site emergency services 
group was notified of an accident on Hwy 60 East of the VLA site, around 
mile marker 103. The following members of the EMS group were dispatched; 
Richard Murillo, Facio Gomez, Carl Oler, Paul Savedra and James 
Sullivan. Because of the nature of an auto accident the Fire brigade was 
also dispatched out. Members of the Fire Brigade that were dispatched 
out included Tom Olney, John Wall and Marlin Smith. The accident 
involved a one vehicle rollover with five passengers.  There were 
fatalities due to the rollover.

VLA Counterweights— The VLA Antennas are Dish Heavy by about 7,000 foot 
pounds.  Green Bank will surplus some of the GBT steel rail.  With the 
high cost of steel, it would be worthwhile to transport the rail to the 
VLA for correcting the counterweight problem.

OTHER:
End of Summer Party—The VLA End of Summer Party is scheduled to occur on 
September 15.  The usual cooks are requested. Supervisors are encouraged 
make their award nominations as soon as possible.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
VLBA Site Tech Workshops—The VLBA Site Tech Workshops will occur on the 
Week of September 11.  ES Division will participate in providing FRM 
Mechanics and Antenna Encoder training.

FY2005 Requisitions—The final date for FY 2005 RFQ’s was August 26.  The 
final date to guarantee that requisitions are charged to FY2005 is 
September 16.  Be sure to make requisitions you want charged to FY 2005 
by this date.

Retirement Seminar by Fidelity.
Topic “Keeping your Investment Strategy on Track”  at 9/14/05, 10:00 am 
in the Cafeteria.

Inventory – The warehouse will conduct their annual inventory beginning 
September 13 at 2:00 pm. The warehouse will be closed until around 
September 15.