[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Minutes for September

[Lew Serna]

sorry, meeting was held on September 27, 2005..

Lew Serna wrote:
> 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.
> 
> 
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