16 January, 2007
by Amanda Rodrigues AlvesWe are now starting the count down. The radio station is working fine so now we are concentrating fully on the AWS. We have two weeks to go and still we haven't deceided on the site for the unit because we need to go to Grunehogna to check if we have connection with our modem.
Today a helicopter went there with only two people, which made Thomas quite frustated because it seems they always leave our project for last. We are going there but only next saturday which delays all our testing, with a little bit more planning by the staff here we could have easily done the testing by now.
Anyway since that didn't happen, Thomas and First spent the hole day sorting out poles and brackets for mounting the AWS. The plan today was to try to put the feet of the unit in the ground and see how we could do it and how we could stableize it. If we mount the unit at Grunehogna we'll have only 8 hours to do it soit's important to test everything and mount evrything here before we go to the field.
Adam has been working on the modems and the logger, trying to write scripts that would make evrything run automatic in case there is a power failure or any other problem. He managed to get his computer to safe the file with the logged data today which is really good.
Yesterday I read the manual for the data logger and manage to get the schedule working so it logs automatic every hour but today it was a big waiting for me. I thought we were going out this morning to film the test mouting of the feet of the unit and was prepared and ready since 8:30am, now it is 7pm and we still haven gone. I think we'll do this test only tomorrow. But I guess filming is like this, a lot of waiting.
Right now Thomas and First are on the roof thrying to mount the antenna for our modem. Below are a few pictures of today.
16 January, 2007
by Adam HydeMy post today is slighly geeky. I haven't had enough coffee to break it down to a language thats easier to understand. My appologies, I will caffiene up and maybe edit it later.
Today I slept in quite late. I couldnt sleep last night so I watched a couple of movies and crashed about 4am. Then I got up and took some photos of the area around us through the windows.
I consequently slept in and felt stupid coming in late. Ah well, it happens. So I set to work setting up the processes for sharing data between the AWS and a machine that will be located at the base. Amanda had done some great problem solving with the logger and its running smoothly although we have to solve the com port issues, but for now we have settled on using an extra computer sited at the AWS. So I twiddled with SAMBA which is a networking protocol and if you know what you are doing you can transparently share files between Linux and Windows machines on the same network. Unfortunately I dont know what I am doing having never set up a SAMBA system before but it wasn't too tricky. In a couple of hours we had a working SAMBA nework and some scripts that automagically mount the loggers shared drive on the linux machine. Coolio. Next up I have to meet with the network tech here about how they would like me to set up our network.
I'm just hanging out to get outside....I think I will go sit on the roof for a bit....
Brrrr....too cold outside...who would have thought...hmmm...so, I thought maybe I might explain a few little bits of what makes our days here interesting. First up has to be the ever present static. I must get about 50 static shots per day, perhaps more. The air is so dry here that static charges build up quickly. You have to be really careful with your electronics as it can fry the equipment. One of the winter crew just fried their mouse the other day. We have a copper earth wire running around the bottom edge of every desk here, and before you sit down its a good idea to tag that wire with your hand. This means the charge discharges and you get a shock, but its better thant discharging that shock on your laptop. In storms the static build up is much worse and you can hear the cracks from several metres away when the charge discharges. If you are unlucky the shock is actually quite painful, but if you touch a wall quickly before you touch a door handle, or if you quicly rap the earth wire on desks the discharge normally doesnt hurt. But at least once a day you are sure to receive quite a whack somehow, somewhere, sometime...Apparently in winter during the big storms you can make small arcs of continuous static discharges between your hand and the wall.
Another small interesting part of our day is the 1K internet connection. Actually its faster than this, but they throttle it so that as much as possible is reserved for uploads by some of the science projects. Getting information can be tricky in this environment and it makes one realise how much Google augments your brain when you dont have access to it. You can actually check google on 1k if you turn the image downloads off on your browser and type search queries directly into the location bar. However the world is full of less enlightened people and I often pass offices where people are checking their email via webmail which chokes the connection...eieieiei....Another headache is that they have just started turning the net access off during the day, allowing access only between 2100 and midnight. Great. 1K split between about 50 people for 3 hours a day...not so hot... one way we sneak around this (shhh, dont tell anyone) is that they havent blocked certain protocols, and if we bend data around certain network corners and leap some gritty protocols, we can get a plain text version of what we need...
Also we haven't had enough water for showers and washing for almost 2 weeks...wooohooo! a small enclosed space, with 70 sweaty bods, and no clean clothes or showers...if the water situation continues aparently we get the priviledge of carrying our own toilet water...goodo....looking forward to it.
Also the timing of the day and 'night' is odd. Its 24/7 daylight at the moment. The sun goes lower during th evening but never falls anywhere near the horizon. So you have to make up your mind when you are tired. Its true. With 24/7 sun you can feel awake at anytime. Some strategise by pulling the blinds down in their room at about 20:00 and then they feel like its evening and can sleep at a reasonable hour. I just keep going till I feel tired. Last night that was 4am and even then I could have easily stayed up another hour at least.
These things don't really bug anyone...just thought you might want some info on the bits and pieces that fill in the gaps of our days.
Just did a little more after dinner setting up an ssh server on the windows machine to allow remote access. Goodo. I will next look to setting it all up in a full demo using the local network then with the modems.
Heres a shot of DJ Marlon (aka 'the nightwatchman' - one of the chopper crew) who did a late night mix of speed trance and jazz
