H23K (AEC)

Station Notes

Adopted by the AEC
The top of the hill where the hut is located can get very windy.
Heavy accumulation of rime ice/snow on the hut and equipment has been noted in winter. Be cautious when walking near the microwave tower facility when there is heavy accumulation of rime.
Vegetation may need to be cleared during station visit for solar charging
Site may be future candidate for radio shot to DOT yard north of the Yukon River

Service Plan

Site Access

Road, Dalton Highway, ~8miles south of Yukon River crossing
In the winter the dirt road up to the site will be covered in deep snow. Come prepared for cold weather with snow shoes, sleds, scoop shovels and wind layers. Bring an orange traffic cone or two because the truck can't pull all the way off the road due to snow plow berm.

Site Contact

No site contact

Site Visits

2019_09_15 Removal (Adopted by AEC)

STATION CODE: TA.H23K

STATION LOCALE DESCRIPTION: Yukon River, AK, USA

STATION REMOVAL LOG DATE: 20190915

STATION/SENSOR DOWN TIME (UTC): N/A

REMOVAL DESCRIPTION: Site was adopted by AEC and has not been removed.

ACTIONS TAKEN: VSAT modem and router replaced with AEC equipment.

LAT/LONG OF SENSOR HOLE: N/A

Top of Casing to hole bottom (indicate if sand present or evacuated): N/A

Bottom of wellcap to grade level: N/A

SENSOR ORIENTATION MEASUREMENTS:

Measured with Octans Unit: N/A

Measured with rods on pin: N/A

Casing/wellcap marked with reference orientation: N/A

SENSOR ORIENTATION: N/A

COMMENTS:

The actual visit was on 9/16/2019, this is when AEC started the acquisition.

The purpose of this visit was to inspect the site and register a new VSAT modem so that we can take over data acquisition from TA.

The inspection details have been incorporated into the main station page. The VSAT modem swap went smoothly.

REMOVED:

VSAT modem

DAMAGE:

N/A

LEFT AT SITE: N/A

VISITORS:

Nate Murphy

Mike West

NEXT VISIT: N/A

SITE STATUS: N/A

HOLE STATUS: N/A

2019_03_07 Service (R. Bierma, J. Theis)
USArray Station Service Report
Form V1.0

STATION CODE:
TA.H23K

STATION Locale Description:
Yukon Crossing, AK

STATION SERVICE LOG DATE:
20190307

STATION/SENSOR DOWN TIME (UTC):
~2330-2345

SERVICE DESCRIPTION:
Revive station
Swap Mikrotik router
Troubleshoot Vaisala

UPON ARRIVAL:
The hut, grizzly cooler, vsat dish, adjacent radio tower and surrounding trees were covered by a dense layer of rime snow, almost akin to cauliflower. The upper two solar panels on each system were exposed.
The Vaisala weather station was completely missing and the cable end was damaged.

ACTIONS TAKEN:
Initial voltages:
Genasun Sys 1: 12.8 Vb1, 12.5 Vb2, 1.62 Apv, B2Ld12
Morningstar Sys 0: 12.6V, 0.9A charging, timer off

Solar panels dug out and scraped clear. VSAT reflector and feedhorn cleared of snow.
PV charging values both doubled once panels were cleared.
The old compromised Mikrotik router was removed and replaced with a new Mikrotik. The most recent firewall standard config file was pre-loaded, along with the VSAT static IP information.
New Vaisala WXT536 and cable were installed to replace the missing instrument and broken cable. The QEP firmware was updated via the Baler interface. The mount was unbolted so ice could be beaten out of the pipe.
Baler memory stick swapped.
Willard check and Baler status page confirmed that everything returned to normal.

EQUIPMENT REMOVED:
WXT520: bc 5018189, sn M4730611
Instrument disappeared from mount. It's location is unknown, although it could just be buried under 3 feet of snow next to the hut.

EQUIPMENT INSTALLED:

WXT536: bc 5019009, sn P3330104

COMMENTS:

The VSAT came back as soon as snow was cleared from the dish. The system light returned after a couple minutes.
The Sys0 VSAT power system Morningstar had the yellow "half-empty" light illuminated when we closed up the box. It was sitting at 12.2 V with VSAT load draw.
Snowshoeing in this year was much easier than last year. There were thick ice layers in this snowpack to support weight and it was also a couple feet shallower. As with most winter trips to this station, the weather deteriorated, getting cloudy/foggy with a cold north breeze up off the river.

VISITOR:
Ryan Bierma
Jason Theis

ON NEXT VISIT:
Move Morningstar to Grizzly cooler. Bring (2) 15' b/r pieces of AUF twin 12AWG.
Switch LFP ribbon cables.
Swap in a new Hut Antenna Mount (current is an early gen model)
Consider moving GPS antenna outside onto hut antenna mount, if possible.

CHANGES AFFECT INSTRUMENT RESPONSE:
n/a
2018_03_20 Service (R. Bierma, J. Theis)
2017_09_21 Service (R. Bierma, J. Theis)
2017_03_01 Service (R. Bierma, J. Theis)
2016_04_06 Service (H. Buurman)
2016_03_07 Service (H. Buurman)
2016_02_11 Service (H. Buurman, M. Couch, D. Bloomquist)
2015_10_23 Service (B. Pierce, B. Busby, H. Buurman)
2015_10_02 Service (B. Pierce, H. Buurman)
2015_05_21 Install (J. Miner, E. Clark, B. White)