CABB Shutdown Diary
For information on what CABB is and what it will do for the ATCA, please see the CABB web pages
First fringes with the CABB system to CA06 were obtained around 8pm on Friday night, 6th March
Day 17: 11-Mar-2009
Today has continued the tidy up.
Work on CA03 and 4 has commenced with removing modules and installing racks
- CA01:
- Tidying up
- CA02:
- Tidying up
- CA03:
- Modules removed
- Sampler rack removed
- LO and CABB racks moved into place
- CA04:
- Modules removed
- CA05:
- Splice, splice, splice...
- Screened Room:
- Other:
- Computer restructure tidy up
Status:
Quote of the day:"If we don't tidy up now, it will never happen - Mark Leach
Day 16: 10-Mar-2009
Today has continued the finishing and tidying tasks on the antennas. There has been a major rearrangement of the computing hardware.
- CA01:
- Fibre splicing finished
- Coax cabling done
- CA02:
- Interim RF modules constructed
- CA05:
- Fibre splicing commenced
- Screened Room:
- Clock Distributer installed and tested
- Other:
- Site computer facilities rack repopulated and recabled
(Apologies that this exercise (unexpectedly) bought the web server down)
- Site computer facilities rack repopulated and recabled
Status: Still seems to be on schedule
[Pics later]
Day 15: 9-Mar-2009
Today has mostly been a day of lots of small, sundry jobs - tidying up and finishing off various things.
- CA01:
- Turret Junction box mounted
- Ongoing splicing
- CA02:
- RF & Conversion Cabling
- Turret Junction box mounted
- Fibre splicing work measured and tested - finished
- CA05:
- Fibres pulled through snake, fanned out and ready for splicing
- Screened Room:
- Clock Distributer mods
- Other:
- Brett has gone to meetings
Status: Still seems to be on schedule
Quote of the day:"They are all individuals" - Mike Hill (of antennas)
"I'm not!" - Scott Munting
Vis plots
Day 14: 8-Mar-2009
- CA01:
- Splicing largely completed
- Other:
- Testing correlation with new CABB CA03, 4 and 6
Status: Splicing on CA01 almost finished; CABB tests looking good
Antennas 3 and 4 tipped and observing
Day 13: 7-Mar-2009
Around eight people continued to work hard on Saturday
(Found my list.)
- CA01:
- Splicing continuing
- CA02:
- Splicing almost completed
- CA03:
- New C32 firmware testing
- CA05:
- Ran fibres through snake
- Other:
- CABB correlator tests continuing: imlementation of delay machinery to handl large delay offsets to CA06, problems with synthesisers identified and fixed
- LO rack replumbing
- Building second frequency clock distribution
- New C32 firmware testing
Status: CA06 is great! CA02 splicing is closer than CA01
Quote of the day:Q: How many RF engineers does it take to plumb a rack?
A: Four + an OHS rep - Mark Leach
First fringes from the ATCA with CABB after replacing the old conversion and LO systems, samplers and correlator
Fringes achieved between CA03, 4 and 6 at around 8pm. CA03 and 4 are still using the interim CABB system, but CA06 is all new
Day 12: 6-Mar-2009
- CA01:
- RF module installations
- Upgraded and modified the CABB rack power supply control
- CA02:
- Splicing happening
- Junction box cabling done
- CA05:
- Tested antenna drives after az motor rewire
- CA06:
- Fibre splicing completed and tested
- Installed temporary RF modules to get C-Band signal to CABB
- Tested antenna drives after (last week's) az motor rewire
- Screened Room:
- CABB rack powered up and working
- Other:
- Fringes between CA03 & 4 with new CABB system
- Modifying C32 firmware for CABB
- Manufactured and painted all CABB rack and modified turret junction rack brackets for installation next week
Status: Fringes with the CABB system - this is a major step.
Quote of the day:
Day 11: 5-Mar-2009
cd- CA01:
- Splicing progressing
- CA02:
- DC Power wiring
- CA05:
- CABB and LO racks installed and Sampler rack removed
- Finished az motor rewire
- CA06:
- Signal reference and digitisers powered up and locked up and more-or-less going
- CABB monitoring working back to monica
- Screened Room:
- CABB racks being powered up and problems chased
- Other:
- Monica mods to import CABB data
- RF cabling continuing
- Modifying C32 firmware for CABB
Status: Some setbacks today, but everything appears to have solutions.
Quote of the day: Evan's had an electronic, thermal incident - Mark Leach
Caption Comptition: The winner of last week's
caption competition is Norm Webster, who suggested
"Mauritius tomorrow! I can see it now!"
Please see Brett for your box of sampler rack bits.
For the next competition, who has a caption for this photo
Day 10: 4-Mar-2009
- CA01:
- RF & Comms cabling
- DC power wiring
- Splicing commenced
- CA02:
- Finished installing CABB & LO racks
- Pulling fibre through snake
- CA06:
- Retrofitted correct adapter mounting plate
- Calibrated and updated CABB rack power supply control
- Turret Junction Box powered up
- Screened Room:
- Reinstalling CABB gear in moved racks - and gradually powering it up
- Underfloor power wiring completed
- Tiles cut and installed
- Other:
- Turret junction box brackets and top CABB rack mounts fabricated
Status: Going well.
Day 9: 3-Mar-2009
- CA01:
- CABB & LO rack installed
- Fibres routed in preparation for splicing
- Turret junction box mods
- CA02:
- Sampler rack removed
- LO rack out
- (LO & CABB rack should be both installed tomorrow)
- Fibres routed in preparation for splicing
- Turret junction box mods
- CA05:
- L/S receiver warm
- az motor rewire proceding
- CA06:
- ?
- Screened Room:
- Delay racks out (late last night)
- CABB plinth installed
- CABB rack moved to new home
- Connected up mains to repositioned racks
- General tidying up
- Other:
- RF cabling, mods and tests continuing
- The AT clock is back in the Control Room (and other places)
Status: Going well, though we all know it's much easier to dismantle things than put them back together
Quote of the day: "I've just been watching" - Evan Davis
Quote of the day - 2: "I'm quite happy to argue" - Robin Wark
"You are not alone!" - bystander
hmmmm - I guess I can't argue about a quote against me - but the question remains, "Should 'Day 1' be this Monday or last Monday"? I'm happy to hear arguments (is the editor allowed to explain their gaffs?)
The Old Correlator is no longer
(Thanks to Jamie Stevens for the slideshow js)
Day 8: 2-Mar-2009
First day of the shutdown proper
Activites the day:
- CA01:
- Sampler rack dismantled and removed to the pedestal room
- CABB rack disconnected and prepared to be remounted on the turret
- LO rack ready to be fitted to the turret
- CA02:
- Dismantled cabling and wiring in preparation for removing sampler rack and moving LO rack
- CA05:
- Start warmup on L/S receiver
- Started the El motor rewire
- CA06:
- Completed splicing
- Power up and commissioning started
- Screened Room:
- Removal of old correlator racks
Status: Mostly on target
Quote of the day: "The AT clock in the control room won't work - it WILL come back" - Peter Mirtschin (Unsurprising, given the gutting that has happened in the screened room, it's only surprising that more hasn't stopped working)
Days 6 & 7: 28-Feb-2009 and 1-Mar-2009
And then we rested.
Very little shutdown activity happend on the weekend, VLBI continued
reinstalled turret junction box
Day 5: 26-Feb-2009
Splice, splice, splice, ... splice, splice, splice... After a solid week at it, the antenna 6 splicing is almost complete. It is hoped that it will be finished early on Monday.
We are still waiting for Mike's surprise
Other activities during the day:
- Reinstall turret junction box
- Meetings to consider this weeks events and modify shutdown planning in the light of what has happened this week
Day 4: 26-Feb-2009
CABB installation is still mostly about getting fibre splicing done
Other activities during the day:
- Turret junction box mods
- Firmware Tests
- Making up RF cables
- Painting mounts for CABB rack plinth
Status: The splicing is taking longer than we hoped, however, the whole reason for starting a week early is to find out how long it takes.
Quote of the day: "Beyond half way" - Scott Munting (On being asked how he was going: I suspect somewhat pessimistic, though it's obviously an issue.)
Day 3: 25-Feb-2009
CABB installation was mostly about splicing fibres today.
The job is going well, but there's still a long way to go.
Other activities during the day:
- Turret Junction Box mount has been modified to relocate the box
- CABB Rack top mounting bracket has been manufactured
- Receiver system mm conversion module has been modified
- Receiver to Rack RF cables have been routed and installed
- Planning wiring changes and modifying LO and Conversion rack bins
- CA06 Az motor rewire completed, but not tested
[they need to be able to drive the ant for this] - Installed a new isolation switch in the UPS
Status: Still about on target: Some jobs are a bit ahead, some are a little behind, but overall things are about where we expected them to be
Quote of the day: "You can get up now Norm" - Mark Leach
Day 2: 24-Feb-2009
CABB installation continued on CA06 today:
During the day:
- CABB rack is in place and installed
- Single mode fibres fanned out and ready to splice tomorrow
- LO module mods happening
- Commenced modifying mm conversion box
- Rack fan air speeds tested (and meets specs)
- Az motor rewire is on schedule
Status: This is about where we hoped to be at the end of day 2.
Quote of the day: "Yes Tuffy, this hole has to go here." - Tim Wilson
Caption Competition: A box of bits from the Sampler Rack for the best caption for this photo
Day 1: 23-Feb-2009
CABB installation has begun
Though the official start for the shutdown doesn't begin until next Monday, the observing through this week doesn't need antenna 6, so the work can begin.
During the day:
- Removed Sampler Rack
- Removed Turret Junction box
- CABB rack lifted and a test fitting done to calculate required work for supporting plate. Work needs to be done to move rack fan
- LO rack modified and relocated into new position
- Relocation of fibre cables commenced
- Started the Az motor rewire
Status: This is about where we hoped to be at the end of the first day.
Quote of the day: "No surprises yet!" - Mike Hill
Top of Page
If you find offence in anything on this page, please let me know: I'm trying to be fair to all and present a light, but up-to-date state of the nation!
Original: Robin Wark (23-Feb-2009)
Modified: Robin Wark ( 2-Mar-2009)