[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Minutes for September

[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, Selfa Lucero, Jim Ruff, Tom Frost, Ramon 
Gutierrez, James Sullivan, Jon Thunborg, Lonnie Guin, Gene Cole and 
Charley Chavez.



BUDGET   Serna— The new fiscal year begins on October 1. Two ballast 
cars will be purchased through a special fund at a cost of $16.8k each. 
  The purchase of the ballast cars will eliminate the need run the high 
maintenance and costly dump trucks.  FY 2006 budget allocations will be 
close to the same as last year.   The next budget report will show an 
estimated allotment for FY2006 based upon last years allotment. 
Supervisors are urged to be parsimonious with their spending until 
actual budget allocations are known. Recruitment should proceed for the 
Track Crewman, Carpenters helper, Electrician’s helper, Mechanic/ 
Machinist helper and Machinist.  The Servo vacancy is still not 
approved.  EVLA chart of accounts has changed and can now include more 
detailed charging and reporting.  EVLA can now make charges to 
Electrical or HVAC work separately.  Also charges can be made to 
individual feed accounts. EVLA budget allocations will be made by mid 
October.

VLBA TT Trips— 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. The cost estimate for doing this is around $10K.  Shipping 
costs for the container round trip is around $12K.

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 container shipping cost.  However, 
if additional problems are found an additional trip with the shipping 
container could be warranted.

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.   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 was canceled.  A new grease sampling shows that 
antenna 26 could be in worse shape than antenna 20.  Antenna 26’s 
bearing will be changed next and is scheduled to occur in summer of 
FY2006.  An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a 
bearing change can occur.  Grease samples show that antennas 26, 10, 20, 
are good candidates for the next bearing changes.



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 the 
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 provided manpower and equipment estimates for 
leveling the site, providing access to the site and installing a fiber 
optic cable that will be connected to VLA’s west arm trunk at CW7.  An 
estimate was also provided for trenching and laying the conduit for an 
underground power line.  ES Division work will begin when upper 
management gives the word.

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.    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.  A bid package has been submitted and funds committed 
from 2005 budget money.

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.  New tests are underway. A second review is 
to be held sometime in October.

Transporter Axles – The transporter axles are exhibiting several cracks 
which are being rubbed out to prevent propagation of the cracks.  This 
is a temporary fix as more cracks will eventually appear. These axles 
should be replaced in the next 10 years 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. There is one 
spare axle available. A plan to purchase 3 axles per year to complete 
the replacement of all transporter axles in 8 years time was proposed.

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 select a replacement for the existing obsolete and 
troublesome VLA FRM amplifiers (translators), at around $5K/antenna. The 
FRM accounts for about 15% of Antenna failures.

VLBA Watch Spring Cable Wraps— The VLBA Pie Town watch spring cable wrap 
has been replaced with an EVLA type watch spring wrap at a cost of 
around $150.  It is an improvement over the current VLBA watch spring 
wraps. The Pie Town cable wrap will undergo a 6 month evaluation. Should 
it prove successful, and funding is available, the plan is to replace 
them during the TT maintenance visits. Since the cables will need to be 
threaded through the cable assembly without connectors the Pie Town 
techs are volunteering to prefabricate the assemblies for retrofitting. 
  One set of cables will be taken from each site when the assembly is 
installed and these cables could be used for the next installation etc..

VLA Counterweights— The VLA Antennas are Dish Heavy by about 7,000 foot 
pounds.  An EVLA antenna needs to be counterweight tested.  Green Bank 
will surplus some of the GBT steel rail.  If and when Green Bank 
surpluses their rail, with the high cost of steel, it would be 
worthwhile to transport the rail to the VLA for correcting the 
counterweight problem. Perhaps Mark could ask for the rail.

EVLA STATUS
Correlator Room-- The floor that the shielded room rests upon needs 
leveling.  A contractor will be in next Tuesday to begin leveling the 
floor.  Core drill samples will be taken sometime after the leveling is 
complete and before the shielded room installation begins. Traffic 
through the area will be blocked off at the operations door and the 
double doors. The Visitor tour path over the balcony will also be 
blocked off.  The assembly and installation of the shielded room is 
tentatively scheduled from October 24- December 15. The shielded room 
takes about 6 weeks to manufacture and about 5 weeks to install. RFQ’s 
have been submitted for the fire suppression system.  The sprinkler 
system will have to be removed before the shielded room installation begins.

EVLA Antennas: Antenna 12 is in the AAB and will not undergo an EVLA 
overhaul.  However, several EVLA mechanical outfitting which will not 
affect its VLA operational ability can be accomplished.  The Antenna 12 
overhaul is expected to be complete by the end of October.  Antenna 17 
will be the next antenna to take an EVLA overhaul and should be the next 
antenna in the AAB, pending satisfactory results from electronic 
performance tests being conducted on the existing EVLA antennas (#16 & 
#14).  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.  Six L Bands have been 
completed and one is being laminated.  Storage space for completed L 
Bands is being sought.  The “cold storage building” could be used to 
store L-Bands since they are made in two sections and will fit through 
the door (Upper section weighs about 500lbs, lower section weighs about 
200lbs).

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.

Incident Report: There have been a total of four (4) Incidents reported 
this year. There have been five (2) incidents attributed to the ES Division.

Inspections: The following inspection has been completed
Personal Fall Protection

The following inspections have not been completed but may be in process.
Ladder inspection
Vehicle inspection
First Aid Kits
Fire extinguishers

Safety Training:
Monthly All Hands Safety Meeting:
The monthly all hands safety training is going well. 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.

Fire Alarm Status:    The fire alarm has been repaired.

NFPA Inspection:  On 9-13-2005 Lobo Fire Protection conducted the NFPA 
25 inspection on site. I will meet with Lobo and go over the report 
sometime next week.

Environmental inspection:   There will be an environmental inspection 
conducted at the VLA site later this year or at the beginning of next 
year. I do not have the date as of yet.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

PAN’s—Personnel Action Notices for pay increases have not completed the 
approval process as yet.  It is expected that the PAN’s will arrive for 
distribution by October 7.

VISITORS--We expect visitors from Mexico and NRAO senior management to 
visit the VLA sometime around November 8 through the 10th.   The Mexican 
government has contributed close to $2 million towards the EVLA project.