Contents: Data notes, PMT attrition rate, "interesting" event burst,
miscellaneous notes, UPS/piller maintenance, and vacation plans.
Contest and amazing facts follow at the end.
RUNNING
Running plagued by stream of "No Q" from SM1 Stopmaster, sometimes even
stopping run. Fixed near end of shift after wiggling cables, swapping
stopmasters, and chanting over young goat. SM1 stopmaster now works but
does not flag lower W TOHMs. Attempting to repair spare. Data rate
warnings from this plus individual tank problems (below).
PMT SUPPLY
Nat, with Katy and Maria (under direction of techies) surveyed remaining
pmts, with May 1999 stop date in mind. Results:
Hams (E and W attico): 18 good spares, but only 14 bases.
Attrition rate: approximately nil.
EMI's (B,C,T; E,W lower; N,S): 12 good spares, "many" bases.
Attrition rate: approx. 20/year, highly variable.
Does not include five chans now out of TOHM (afterpulsing).
**** There may not be enough EMI's to last one year! ****
Proposed Solution: Replace N wall EMI's with Hams. Gives enough (?)
EMI's for May 2000. Additional year: If another year is desired, EMI
supply may require worst TOHM chans to be taken out of ACQ. Perhaps
20-30/year.
AN INTERESTING "BURST"
In first week SM 6 TOHM/LIP triggers jumped for several minutes, and
PHRASE signaled a burst. Based only on offline monitors, problem traced
to bipolar noise, which WFD clearly showed at about 50 MHz.
Interestingly enough, this corresponds to guardia RF transmissions,
later found to coincide with truck traffic through Hall B. Not a GC,
but a _very_ impressive demonstration of WFD and monitor capabilities.
SPECIFIC TANKS, CALIBRATIONS, ETC
>From Massimo, Nicola, Valeriano:
2T01-10: Flasher. Replaced.
3T06-1_: 50 mHz TOHM (afterpulses). Disconnected; not replaced.
2W07-1 : 50+ mHz TOHM (ditto). Replaced. Dual oil spills.
5T17-1_: 50+ mHz TOHM (ditto). Disconnected; not replaced.
2T12-1 : Temporary WFD overflow, which went away on its own.
Calibrations:
1st week: uVax 2. InterERP SM3 TDC overflow/No Q.
Wiggled the cables. Chanted. Then OK.
2nd week: uVAX 3. Went fine.
Scattered WFD zero suppression failure, 5 chans SM 2. Now OK.
Analysis jobs killed by AXPGS3 crash. Nicola recovered.
PHRASE SM2, periodic synch loss (no events). Stop/Reset/OK.
uVAX 1 display (monitor) has failed 3 times. Replaced again.
>From Nat, Maria, Katy:
Emily SM 1,2 displayed many no Q, random reads. Swapped
LeCroy CAMAC interface. Seems OK now.
UPS/PILLER MAINTENANCE
UPS and Piller (flywheel supplying power for few ms until batteries
come on) maintenance coming soon. Ioannis suggests first making
provision for LeCroy HV, fanouts and PHRASE crates, the most sensitive
to power cycling. Needs about 50 kW. Notes are in new web page (via
MACRO LNGS page) created by Katy, Maria, and Nicola.
VACATION PLANS
Erik, Ioannis, and Massimo are all in Greece next week. Erik, until
very lately, was in the military watching NATO bombs land in Kosovo.
Now he's still in uniform, but watching traffic jams instead.
Impressively, Erik has managed an internet link and can now send
shiftworkers mail explaining exactly what they need to do even at 3 AM.
Ioannis had "business" to take care of. Didn't want to ask why, or
what, on the grounds that we almost certainly didn't want to know.
Massimo went to San Torini to lie on the beach and drink Ouzo. And hope
the volcano stays quiet for another few weeks.
Nat, Katy, and Maria are having five glorious days in northern
Minnesota, at the MINOS Week-in-the-Woods. Weather has been great. So
far, the cold has done a great job keeping down the biting fly and
mosquito populations, and the frost (no, we are _not_ kidding) has been
largely confined to low-lying areas.
Present at LNGS: Massimio Orsini, Nicola Zaccheo, Valeriano Marrelli,
Ioannis Katsouvinidis, Lori Gray, Nat Longley; also Maria Grundmann and
Katy Garton (Colorado College).
Nat
CONTEST AND AMAZING FACTS
Contest: Two parts.
(1) Where does Nat live _right now_, and who employs him?
(2) What is the number of street addresses Nat and Karen have had
since
he finished his PhD in 1993?
Cose varie, including a Jesse the Body Bumber Sticker ("My Governor can
Kick Your Governor's Ass") will be awarded to the first correct entry.
Note that the award is a hint for (1), but I will of course need a city
as well.
Trivia: Jesse the Body has higher name recognition _in California_ than
the governor of California: 80% vs. about 70%. Of those who recognize
Jesse's name, 75% have a favorable or very favorable opinion. Can _you_
name the governor of California?
By the way, Jesse says he will _not_ run for the Presidency in 2000. At
least for now. Worried about his experience in international affairs?
Well, _every_ Italian, Greek, and German I spoke to at the LNGS knew
Jesse the Body. None knew the governor of California.
Nat