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Table of Contents
Starting and Monitoring IVS sessions
Make sure that the field system software is running in the pcfs VNC session so that econtrol can connect to it.
From ops4 in the operations room, start econtrol:
Applications -> AuScope [Hobart|Katherine|Yarragadee] -> econtrol
Click on the boxes next to “StatusMonitor“ and “Logging and Operator Input”. This should trigger the program to connect to pcfshb and you’ll see a status window and log window. If you don't see any information updating in the status window, type [ctrl]-[shift]-e to start the server process on the field system. You can send PCFS commands and comments from the bottom of the log window. Note you won’t see the log window update until the next scheduled command is sent.
Set up the log monitor to provide warnings and alarms:
(As a backup, pmSTALM can be used but it checks for fewer error conditions. This is described here.)
At least 5 min prior to to the scheduled start, start the schedule with e.g.
schedule=r4447hb
as usual. Note: do NOT specify a start line number. Then send a start message to IVS.
During the experiment, the following checks can be made. Please log them using the new Checklist GUI:
Please go through the checklist as often as you like but at least once every 2 hours. A description of the checklist parameters and what to look out for is available here:
It's best to only have the Katherine and Yarragadee VNC sessions running when running through the checklist and to rely on econtrol and the log monitor the rest of the time. You should use the VNC sessions to check that the autocorrelation spectra are ok though.
Other things to watch out for
Yarragadee stows due to USN transmissions
Wind stows
Recovering from power failures
Re-starting observations, or starting late
Common problems
Formatter to FS time offset
You might get a
ERROR sc -13 setcl: formatter to FS time difference 0.5 seconds or greater
to fix this do a:
sy=run setcl offset
Note this error is likely to reappear regularly.
Note also that the error message
?ERROR sc -18 setcl: program is already running, try "run setcl" instead.
has been seen recently when the command is issued from a terminal window. The problem has not been seen when the command is entered into the oprin window. If you do get this error when entering the command into the oprin window, please tell Jim.
FS time is out by several seconds
The origin of this problem is presently unknown but the FS time can get seriously out of step. To fix this, while not recording start the fmset program from an oper@pcfshb terminal and issue the ”+” and “-” commands, then quit from fmset (ESC). Restart fmset and the FS time should now be correct. You may need to resync the mark5B pps after this procedure.
clkoff reading is drifting or far from the maser-GPS offset
This usually is caused by the DBBC. First, go around the back of rack 14 and move the cable from the DOTMON output of the Mark5B to the “1 PPS Mon” output of the DBBC (left hand side, sixth SMA from the top). If the same offset is seen on the counter, then the problem in in the DBBC. A temporary fix can be achieved with pps_sync in DBBC Control but this did not reliably fix the problem on 13/10/10. Instead, try reconfiguring the DBBC with reconf - this will take ~two minutes in total and you will need to re-issue the dbbcifa=… commands, and resynch the mark5B with fmset.
PCFS log window reports problem with ReadPower.sh
This occurs when communication with the power sensor (a USB device) in the IF rack is lost. The power sensor is required for System Temperature (Tsys) measurements. The solution is to cycle power to the sensor by unplugging it's USB connection into the Field System PC and then plugging it back in again. If you are not at the site, and cannot contact anyone on-site to fix it, you can disable the Tsys measurements as follows:
On pcfshb:
pfmed pfmed: pf,station pfmed: ed,systemp12
An editor will start. Comment out the command by putting a double-quote at the start of the line. It should then look like this:
"sy=/usr2/oper/systemp12rcp.sh &
Now exit the editor, and
pfmed: exit
Lastly, please make a note in the log that Tsys measurements have been disabled.
It is possible to remotely reset the power sensor at both Yarragadee and Hobart. You should first follow the procedure outlined above, then kill any remaining systemp12rcp.sh or ReadPower.sh processes running on pcfs[hb|ke|yg] (use ps -ef | grep ReadPower to identify the process IDs). Become root with su and issue the command
/etc/init.d/AgilentU2000 restart
It will run a series of procedures to toggle the power and then try to re-establish communications. It may take two tries to get it fully working - when it is ok, you should get a blithely cheery message to this effect, and be wished good luck. When you receive this message, wait for a break in the recording and test the power sensor by running /home/oper/systemp12rcp.sh. All being well, there should be no timeouts although the measured power is likely to be nonsensical (there will be bogus values written into the data from the previous timeouts). If it fails with timeouts, persevere with the /etc/init.d/AgilentU2000 restart procedure. Once you have it working, repeat the pfmed process and remove the comment from the systemp12 procedure.
If econtrol gets closed during an observation
Recording continues as econtrol is a front-end viewer for the field system, so don't panic :)
When you restart econtrol from the menu it may be unable to load the telescope information (the drop-down menu boxes), and the terminal from which econtrol runs produces “Can't open interface” type errors. If this happens, in the econtrol window (the green one, not the terminal) press Control+shift+e, and then try to open one of the drop down boxes again - this time the icon in the bottom right corner should go from red through 'connecting' to green, the information will now load, and observing can continue as normal.
