01mar17:hf test
05mar17
Background:
- Problems during previous test 14Feb17:
- rf switches at tx.
- they were causing all of the power levels to jump around.
They were removed noon on 14feb17.
- tx 4
- tripped once then came back up and ran the rest of the day
- tx 2:
- output power jumped by 3db a few times.
- When the jumps occurred, we also saw the broad band
outputs jumped.
What we did:
- mesh was at 8MHz position. used 8 MHz rcp , freq=8.175 MHz.
- telescope position start: az 285 then moved to az=348,
chza=0,grza=11
- ch only. 430 transmitter was used. ch -> echotek (5.5,9.5)
and ch -> usrp.
- Interim correlator not used to monitor arcing..
- The interim correlator monitored the arcing using the ch
receiver. It also had the 430 tx sample in the spectra.
- 09:22 430 tx brought up.
- 09:42 start to bring up hf txs.
- 10:15 50KW each tx. stay here for about .5 hours
- sampled tx power much noisier than before . Jumps around by
> 1db.
- 10:54 70KW each tx.
- 11:14 disable hf tx, move az 285 to 348.
- 11:18 back up to 70KW.. leave drive levels unchanged till
14:00
- tx4 output unstable moving around be .5 to 1db
- 13:xx started measuring tx monitor port outputs with
scope
- order: tx2,1,3 skip4, 5,6
- 14:22 tx4 broad band replaced
- 14:xx measure tx monitor ports for tx4 (after new broad band
installed).
- 14:37 start auto toggle 2 sec on 4 sec off. 50KW per tx
- 14:39 stop auto toggle. raise tx power to 60 to 70 KW
- 14:41 auto toggle back on 2sec on , 4 sec off
- 15:09 auto toggle off, 430 tx off
- 15:11 adjust tx 4 up to 65 KW then sit at CW till 15:30
- go under bowl to check out any arcing
- tx 4 still wandering around (even with different broad
band).
- 15:30 hf off.
Plots of output
and drive power:
The plots show the data we took
while the hf was on (.ps) (.pdf)
- The page has 3 frames:
- each color is a different transmitter (1 through 6).
- top frame: rf power (in dbm) measured at the output of
the rf coupler.
- middle frame: the same output power, but displayed in KWatts
- bottom frame:
- The synthesizer drive amplitude used
- The dashed green line shows when the rf was on
- the red line at the bottom is the total power from the
carriage house 430 receiver (polA 425-435 MHz). When we have
arcing, there are jumps in this power (rfi can also make
jumps).
- 10. to 11.0 bring power up to 70KW
- 11.5 to 14 : 2nd frame. blue trace tx 4 is jumping around and
output power is declining.
- 14.0 to 14.3 tx 4 broad band replaced
- 14.6 to 15.1 auto toggle 2sec on , 4 sec off
- 15.1 to 15.5 sitting at fixed output power. tx4
still jumps around.
- 15.5 hf off
The monitor
ports for the 6 tx were recorded with the textronix scope and then
plotted. The data showed:
- tx3 and tx4 have a phase shift relative to the other 4 tx.
- This shift was visible back in 2015 using the 5 mhz system.
- The shift shows up in the IP ANODE output (the shift may be
occurring in the network connecting broad band output to the IPA
input.
- Dana guessed that the switches that disabled the unused
filters in the network were not getting terminated properly.
- The phase for rcp,lcp was computing using the forward power
outputs. this includes these phase shifts. If there is an
attempt to correct this phase shift, the phases for the
polarizations will need to be remeasured.
clp movie during hf test
The 430 clp data from the carriage was
processed and a movies were made. They showed how often
arcing appeared.
links
to the movies:
Setup:
- ch at za=0, looking through the heated volume
- 10ms ipp, 440 usec rf pulse data taken for entire run.
- echotek:
- ch, 3 to 10 MHz were covered (upshifted)
- usrp:
- ch, 25 mhz about 430 mhz.
- When processing the data
- the rfi removal algorithm was not used (didn't want to clip
the enhanced plasma line).
- Each frame of the movie was a 10 second integration.
Movie results:
- 20:14 -> fof2 above 8.175 MHz. saw strong enhanced plasma
line.
- a ham repeater was operating around 440.25 for part of
the time.
- Images of the plasma line
- in both the usrp and the echotek data there is an image of
the plasma line shifted by +/- 8.175MHz,. It is only there
when the heater is on.
Summary:
- tx4 output was wandering around
- The broadband for tx4 was replaced. it looks like the
wandering continued, so the problem may not be the broadband.
- The monitor ports for the 6 tx were recorded and plotted. tx3
and tx4 showed a phase shift (relative to the other tx) at the
IPA anode output.
- We continued to see images of the plasma line offset by the
heater frequency. It is only seen when the heater is on.]
- We had extremely strong enhanced plasma lines at 8.175 MHz.
processing: x101/170223/hf_17023.pro
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