[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Minutes-March Rev 1

[Lew Serna]

Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, March 
22, 2005, at 10 am, in the LL CB conference room.  Attending were Eric 
Carlowe, Ramon Gutierrez, Lew Serna, Pat Lewis, Mark McKinnon, Guy 
Stanzione, Bob Broilo, James Sullivan, Jim Ruff, Tom Frost and Jon 
Thunborg.

BUDGET   Serna— In an effort to compensate for a flat budget and 
eliminate the need for involuntary layoffs, a voluntary retirement for 
eligible employees has been initiated.  Eligible personnel in ES 
Division who are interested in the voluntary retirement should contact L 
Serna or Human Resources.  Efforts such as cutting the travel budget, 
postponing merit increases, reducing personnel through reorganization 
and attrition are also in effect.

We are still operating under the premise of having 80% of our "normal" 
(last years) budget.  Restrict spending to urgent purchases until the 
budget is known hopefully by April sometime. Projects such as ALMA and 
EVLA are fully funded.  Supervisors and employees are urged to find more 
efficient ways to accomplish their work.

VLBA Trips for 2005(targeted) — MK trip has been replaced with a SC trip 
due to urgent repairs required at SC.  MK maintenance visit will occur 
in year 2006; The HN visit scheduled for FY 2005 may be canceled due to 
the expense of a long SC trip.  The SC trip will occur from 
4/4/05-4/22/05; The LA should occur in the latter two weeks of July. The 
VLBA SC site antenna is in urgent need of structural repair.  Some 
repairs to quad legs, stairways, platforms and other structural 
components will be made. At the same time FRM balancing and 
troubleshooting will occur.  An attempt to isolate and pinpoint the 
problems will be made.  Cost is estimated at around $30K plus.  The SC 
bound container has been shipped (shipping cost=$11K).

AZ Bearings. Parts from the bearings removed from antennas should be 
stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. These 
parts are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts.  Antenna #14’s 
& #16’s bearing will be shipped to Rotek for possible refurbishment, at 
the rate of one per year when budget permits. Antennas 18, 20 and 26 
have bad bearings that will eventually need to be replaced.  A spare 
bearing should be maintained at all times. An estimated three weeks in 
the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Antenna #18 
should enter the AAB late April for outfitting and bearing change. 
Bearing change should be planned for sometime around May 23 or week 
before to avoid Tiger Team trips and Antenna Moves in June.  Try to 
prepare as far in advance as possible.  It is possible that visitors 
from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK will witness the separation. 
Antenna 20 bearing replacement will be scheduled for later in the summer 
this year. There are 3 spare bearings on hand.  AZ Bearing change 
meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 0900 CB Conference rm.

  NEW PROJECTS:
AAB ANTENNA POWER – With the new EVLA antenna loads the Transformer 
circuit and wiring has been exceeded.  A plan to increase the size of 
the Circuit breaker and wiring is in progress.

AZ bearing pocket mill- The AZ Bearing Pocket Mill is used to machine 
the antenna azimuth bearing pocket.  At best the mill will currently 
achieve an accuracy of around .008 inches or .009 inches of tolerance. 
The spec calls for less than a .012 inch tolerance.  The use of a 
different bearing on the mill would achieve a higher degree of accuracy 
for milling the pocket.   A target date for installing the pocket mill 
bearing is by the end of April. The mill will need to be tested prior to 
the next bearing change in May.


VLBA antenna panel adjustments—No conclusive results have been obtained 
at Pie Town consequently this project is ON HOLD.

ACU Modification. A new ACU 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.  A 
PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based upgrade would cost around $3K 
per antenna.  EVLA has funded the prototype and design work is in 
progress. No funding commitments are made for retrofitting.

Control Building Stairways. .  After repeated unsuccessful attempts to 
stop the corrosion on the Control Building Stairways we are forced to 
replace the stairways with an improved design conforming to ADA. 
Estimated cost to do this for both stairways is $12K.  A kick plate on 
one staircase has fallen off due to corrosion and the stairway has been 
closed to the public.  In order to open the stairway to the public, 
modification to the stairways, to conform to ADA (American Disabilities 
Act) standards are necessary.  Repairs to the bottom of the damaged 
stairway will be made soon, while the remaining repairs will be made at 
a later date. This work may require the Welders and Site Wye personnel.

EVLA STATUS


Transporter Generators- Two John Deere 70 KW generators were ordered to 
replace the existing 40 and 31 KW Detroit generators on the 
transporters.   The new generators should be able to carry both the 
transporter and antenna loads and are much quieter than the old Detroit 
generators.  It is desirable to provide an electrical plug for running 
auxiliary pumps during bearing changes at the same time that the 
generator work is being done.  Transporter generators have arrived and 
are currently being wired and installed on Transporter #1.  The old 
generator engines will be kept as spare engines for the auto shop.

ModComp relocation – is complete.  Removal of all equipment from old 
computer room should be finished by 4/01/05.

Correlator Room .. Work begins on the new correlator room beginning 
April 15.  A barricade should be set up in the room for the Guided Tour 
on April 2.

EVLA Antennas:  Antenna #16 is almost done with outfitting with only 
minor work remaining.  Antenna #13 is awaiting rack removal to install 
redesigned rack supports.  There is also some Cable Wrap work to be done 
on Ant #13

SAFETY REPORT...  James Sullivan
Accident/Incidents Report: Last year ended with 28 accidents total for 
NRAONM.  An improvement over the 41 accidents the year before.  This 
year’s goal is to cut accidents in half.  There have been 5 accidents so 
far with 2 accidents in the ES Division.
OTHER:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Wellness Committee Report to VLA employees at 12:30 on 3/31/05. The 
employee committee has proposed a wellness program for employees. 
Several initiatives are being considered for a health program which will 
be reported on at this meeting.
PEP’s
April 1- Supervisors begin soliciting Information about employee work 
performance from other supervisors and coworkers.
May 1- Due date for employees to return the self appraisal forms to 
supervisors.
June 1- Supervisor reviews completed performance appraisal forms with 
division head and receives approval. Supervisor begins scheduling and 
holding evaluation meetings with employees.
June 30- Due date for all evaluation meetings to be concluded and 
appraisal forms signed by the employee.
July 5— All of the original completed and signed appraisal forms must be 
forwarded to the appropriate HR office with a copy to employee.

Site Visit by Jim Ulvestad on Thursday
Thursday morning— Jim Ulvestad will visit the VLA on Thursday, March 24, 
2005  and will walk around visiting with people who want to meet with 
him.  Let L Serna know if you want Jim to stop by and visit with you.

LWDA- Long Wavelength Development Array- The Southwest Consortium 
engineers are wanting locate their prototype low-frequency station at 
the VLA site.  A site south of the AAB is being selected and the area 
will be 100 meters square.  Several hundred dipole type antenna will be 
installed at the site.  Fiber and power will be required.  ES division 
will likely prepare the site and install fiber and power cables to the 
site.

190 MHz VHF Observing System: The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 
(SAO) is proposing a 190 MHz observing system similar to what is used 
for the existing 74 MHz.
After an initial test period, if the proposed VHF observing system is 
approved, the SOA will build and deliver 28 dipole-receiver packages for 
deployment and testing. Installation on each antenna will require 
manpower by NRAO operations with SAO engineering and technical staff 
available to assist. Much noise interference from audio television 
transmissions is being seen at these frequencies.  Filters and 
integration may not work.  A decision on wheather the system will be 
installed or not is forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.

VLA Site Power—Total site load in the winter is around 1.4-1.5 
megawatts.  From this, the Control Building load around 325 KW and 
Antenna Load is around 625 KW.  Other site loads make up the remaining 
550 KW.   The EVLA project will increase both the Antenna and Control 
Building loads.  Current estimates on the final Control Building EVLA 
loads are around 700 KW and estimated EVLA Antenna total load is 980 KW. 
  Total estimated EVLA load would be 2.23 MW, an increase of around 49%. 
  If current EVLA estimates are correct, several major changes to the 
power system and operations will have to be made to accommodate the 
increase in Site Load.  It is possible that the Utility and Generator 
Transformer sizes will have to increase and that array operations under 
generator power could be limited.  Once all EVLA equipment is installed 
an actual load will be taken so we can make the necessary changes in the 
power system and in array operations.