These updates were made on 23 April 2014 to all three 12m antennas and the 26m

From Ed Himwich to pcfs@ivscc on 13 Feb 2014:

To: All FS stations

From: Ed Himwich, Bob Campbell, Bob Eldering, Martin Leeuwinga,
     Michael Lindqvist, Richard Strand, Dan Smythe

RE: FS Procedures for Mark 5 Recorders

We would like to ask all stations that use Mark 5 recorders to make two
changes to their FS procedures. This request comes from both IVS for
geodetic operations and JIVE for EVN astronomical operations. We
recommend that any stations with Mark 5 recorders involved in other
operations also make these changes.

The changes are:

(1) In the "checkmk5" procedure, please change the procedure to use
   eight instances of the "mk5=get_stats?" command, one after another.
   Currently most stations have one instance of this command.

   The contents of the procedure should now typically be:

     scan_check
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=get_stats?
     mk5=status?


   This change will allow recording statistics for each disk in the
   active module to be collected after every scan (when not recording
   continuously). This will increase the number of visible log
   entries, but will enable better after-the-fact diagnosis of disk
   health. The additional statistics will help us to develop a
   new command, perhaps "disk_check", that will replace these commands
   and warn when a disk in a module is on the verge of failing. That
   command will have a more compact and easier to read format.

(2) In the "midob" procedures, please add the command "mk5=bank_set?".
   It is recommended that this be added just before the
   "sy=run setcl adapt &" command that is recommended at the end
   of the procedure.

   Adding this command will assist in understanding problems after-the-
   fact by making a record of which bank was being used for each scan.

Both the "checkmk5" and "midob" procedures are usually located in the
"station" procedure library. Some stations have more than one version of
the "station" procedure library for different applications. Please be
sure to updated all instances of these procedures at your station,
whether in different versions of the "station" library or other libraries.

Please contact Ed (Ed.Himwich@nasa.gov) if you have any questions about
these changes.
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