SSOC Tohban's Report for Week 40 ( 28-Sep to 3-Oct 1998) SSOC : Sawa, Hudson KSC : Takahashi, Hagino 0. Meeting Attendance Watanabe, Sawa, Yoshida, Sterling, McKenzie ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Solar Activity Solar activity was moderate or sometimes high last week. Yohkoh observed two M-class flares and several C-classs flares. On 30-Sep AR8340 produced an M2.8 flare. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Standard Operations 2.1 SXT Table Uploads The following SXT tables were uploaded last week. ----------------------------------------------------------------- JST Day UT Start Time Pass Table ID ================================================================= Monday 27-SEP-98 23:54 3 980927 P3 DARKCAL Tuesday 28-Sep-98 20:45 2 980928 P2 ARS1 DIF Wednesday 29-Sep-98 21:02 2 980929 P1 ARS2 NELIMB # Intended for pass 1, uploaded on pass 2 Wednesday 30-Sep-98 00:28 4 980929 P4 ARS1 STD Thursday 30-Sep-98 17:55 1 980930 P1 ARS2 NORI Friday 1-Oct-98 18:12 1 981001 P1 ARS2 TRACE Saturday 2-Oct-98 20:11 3 981002 P3 ARS2 NELIMB Sunday 3-Oct-98 18:45 2 981003 P2 ARS2 TRACE ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 STT timer setting STT timer was set during pass 4 (980929-0001) on 29-Sep (Tuesday JST). Because of Canopus eclipse, the timer stops on Thursday. The next timer setting should be on October 7, Wednesday. 2.3 SXT table mishandling mistake A table mishandling error occurred on Wednesday, 30-Sep, in which the KSC tohbans and the SXT chief observer had a misunderstanding. The table intended for pass #1 was uploaded on pass #2, in contradiction to the SXT table fax, but consistent with the command sheets. This has been discussed among all parties and the conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with the standard procedures. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Errors and Problems 3.1 BCS Errors A BCS error occurred on pass 980930-1547 (last pass) and recovered on pass 981001-1547 (first pass). BCS error occurred on pass 981002-1237 (Oct 3 1pass) and recovered on the same pass. 3.2 SXT Errors None ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Special Operations BCS CAL(stim cal,source cal) was done on pass 981002-1440 (Oct 3 4 pass) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. DSN Communications 5.1 DSN Schedule Passes were added/deleted as follows. ------------------------------------------------------------------- DSN Schedule Week Schedule Changes =================================================================== Preliminary 41 6 adds requested - one granted Final 41 No passes deleted Preliminary 42 No passes deleted Strawman 43 80+2 passes deleted ------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 Data Transmission from DSN 261 16 2326 corrupted Requested 24 Sep no response tape Requested 28 Sep no response tape Requested 02 Oct 260 76 2336 corrupted tape Requested 24 Sep no response Requested 29 Sep Closed/ same data(01-Oct) 265 46 1020 corrupted tape Requested 28 Sep corrupted tape Requested 02 Oct 266 46 1037 corrupted tape Requested 28 Sep corrupted tape Requested 02 Oct 267 46 0912 not received Requested 28 Sep Closed/ No data(02-Oct) 269 76 1212 corrupted tape Requested 01 Oct 269 74 2057 corrupted tape Requested 01 Oct 269 46 1853 not received Requested 02 Oct 270 76 1047 corrupted tape Requested 01 Oct 270 16 1911 corrupted tape Requested 02 Oct 270 66 0556 corrupted tape Requested 02 Oct 271 66 0755 corrupted tape Requested 02 Oct 272 76 1121 corrupted tape Requested 01 Oct 272 76 1303 corrupted tape Requested 01 Oct (Refer to /home/flare1/yohkoh/dsn_corrupt/98_40) 5.3 ADD_DSN The program ADD_DSN was improved to make it possible to have multiple additions requested. The idea now is to run this program on Friday, after the final schedule has been received and big gaps have been noticed. To deal with multiple requests, simply run ADD_DSN repeatedly; each time it will add one group of passes to the output (request) file. Adding groups gives DSN more flexibility. We ran this program on Tuesday on the Week 41 Preliminary schedule, generating the file sola_add.w41, which we ftp'd to Wallops. This seems to be preferable to waiting for the final schedule - our idea is that the schedulers can now have another iteration from us before making up the final. In this case, most of the passes in the 6 add groups (one dump requested per day) were the Madrid passes. ****** The result for the Week 41 ADD request was the following: Of the six requested time intervals, we received one additional pass. This was not a DSN contact but a Wallops contact - DSS-82 (see below). This is our first experience with this DSS number and we have reported its appearance to Kato_sensei. In spite of this almost complete failure to fill in the gap between KSC and Wallops for Week 41, we feel that the attempt should be made again. We have had no direct e-mail communication with the Wallops schedulers about this, so presumably the ftp file was properly received and dealt with there. 5.4 New Antenna at Wallops? The final schedule for week 41 showed a DSS-82 (first time?). It crashed the program DSN_CHECK, which we fixed. We also informed Kato and Yamada directly and by e-mail; Yamada sent e-mail to Chang (DSN) checking on the code for this site. 5.5 Misbehavior at DSS-66? There were three problem passes at Canberra on or about Sep. 23 (DOY 265, 266, 267). We sent e-mail asking if these were lost. One (DOY 266) contained a major flare of great interest. We sent e-mail to Dukes and Dillard and received some information via return e-mail. For DOY 265 and 266, there were nominal operations and they are trying to find the data. For DOY 267, the pass was cancelled by DSN (in favor of SOHO); they failed to report this cancellation to Wallops, and accordingly we did not hear about it. DSN acknowledged the error to Wallops and stated that this kind of error will not occur in the future. 5.6 Low (7-degree) pass at Wallops We have a 7-degree maximum elevation at Wallops on Oct. 6. This is OK - we checked the "keyhole map" of the Wallops horizon, which is in B-toh, and found that the azimuth range for the pass corresponded to a good view of the horizon. So this pass was not cancelled. 5.7 Gross problem with Strawman, week 43 The DSS-46 (Canberra) contacts were all mis-listed by Wallops. An e-mail query was sent Oct. 2. No cancellations were done based on the incorrect schedule. On Saturday a correct schedule was provided (strawman.w43.1), copied into "strawman.w43" to keep the software happy. We deleted 80 passes from this version. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. KSC Pass Conflicts and Schedule In week 41, 4 KSC passes were lost to Akebono, and 2 to Haruka. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Hikitsugi Items 7.1 Tohbans for week 41 (5-Oct - 11-Oct) SSOC : Yamaguchi_T, Yoshida KSC : Hagino, [Sasaki] 7.2 STT timer setting STT timer setting is due on Wednesday, October 6, following eclipse. 7.3 Holiday Schedule The holiday will be Sunday, October 11. 7.4 HXT calibration It will be done three times over the weekend (Friday pass 2 and Saturday pass 2,3). SXT chief observers should avoid table activity then if possible. 7.5 OP status. OP 981003-1445 (file position #10) is now running. We have prepared the OP for Tuesday, 981005-1136. It needs checking and tranferring. The Week 41 tohbans must prepare the command sheets (for the early Tuesday morning passes!). 7.6 Manual and Checksheet A new version of the English Tohban Manual was generated during week 98_36, along with a corresponding new Tohban Checksheet. The new (and all future) Tohbans are requested to note any changes or mistakes in the manual, and to notify A. Sterling of any changes. If the changes involve the DSN procedures or the ~yohkoh/wallops/README file, Hugh Hudson san should also be notified. Current Version Yohkoh Tohban Duties Manual rev. 4-Sep-98, A. Sterling README(Manual for Wallops/DSN Operation ver. 5.2 28-Sep-98 H. Hudson 7.7 Some Problems in OP_FIRST_GUESS In some cases, OP_FIRST_GUESS fails to pick up DSN passes. (See Section 8.4 and 8.5) Tohbans should check OPs and DSN schedules carefully. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Action Items 8.1 Further software development. Status CONTINUING. It would be greatly appreciated if the SSOC tohbans could recommend any software development that they think will save future tohbans time and which improves the reliability of their work. 8.2 Week-48-A/I-1 /Hudson/status AJAR. PRINT_OGALL still does not work well. Hudson will fix it next. 8.3 Week-37-98-AI??-1 / "Possible OP_FIRST_GUESS Problem." / ?? / status ?? --- Quote from W37-98 SSOC Report --- OP_FIRST_GUESS failed to pick up a couple of passes from the solass.w37 DSN schedule last week. Here is an example: . . 251 2159 2224 2238 2248 DSS-76 SOL R TKG PASS 8036 xxxxxx- xxx *---------- *WED 09 Sep *---------- 252 2342 0007 0020 0030 DSS-76 SOL R TKG PASS 8037 xxxxxx- xxx 252 0125 0150 0201 0211 DSS-76 SOL R TKG PASS 8038 xxxxxx- xxx 252 1852 1917 1929 1939 DSS-76 SOL R TKG PASS 8049 xxxxxx- xxx In this case, the missed pass was the one beginning at 0007. The problem seems to be that the DSN START time and the BOT times are for different DOY dates. We edited the solass.w37 file so that this line read: 251 2342 0007 0020 0030 DSS-76 SOL R TKG PASS 8037 xxxxxx- xxx OP_FIRST_GUESS then was able to pick up this pass. The other pass that OP_FIRST_GUESS missed had a similar form and was handled in the same way. We notified Jim Lemen of this problem. He hopes to look into this problem over the next couple of months. In the meantime, Tohbans will have to be on the lookout for this sort of problem. (Thanks go to Asizawa-san, who first noticed the missing pass even though he is "green" and was working alone at KSC.) We wonder if this problem has occurred in the past?? ---------------------------------------------------------------- 8.4 Week-38-98-AI??-1 / "Possible OP_FIRST_GUESS Problem 2." / ?? / status ?? Although the newest version of DSN final schedule is ./solarss.w39.1 , the OP_FIRST_GUESS uses ./solarss.w39 . This problem is not severe but better to be fixed. 8.5 Week-40-98 / Wallops file version number / Hudson/ OPEN Revised Wallops scheduling files now have extensions in their names. For example, the revised strawman.w43 is called strawman.w43.1. Some of our software gets confused and needs to be patched. === END ===