[IGSMAIL-005] Reply to IGS Mail No 4
Ruth
Ruth
Tue May 26 15:01:42 PDT 1992
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IGS Electronic Mail 26-MAY-1992 15:01:42 Message Number 5
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THIS FILE CONTAINS 4 MESSAGES
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>From: Ruth Neilan
Subject: Reply to IGS Mail No 4
----------------------
Dear IGS E-mailers:
I would like to respond to Yehuda's list of complaints
in IGSMail #4 with a few remarks:
1) The IGS e-mail box is certainly a good method to
exchange pertinent information about site changes and
we should use it as much as possible in the upcoming
months. I commend the University of Bern for
implementing this mailbox and especially thank Tim
Springer for keeping track of all the messages and re-
mailings. .
2) Concerning the first move of the antenna at
Canberra on DOY 034 1992, I was also not informed
of this immediately. This resulted in two actions
which directly benefit the IGS. I was also upset that
we had not been informed of the move prior to the
action, and then the late notification. Comunciation
between the Geodyanmics groups and NASA's Deep
Space Network concerning the activities of the GPS
recievers have therefore been improved due to the
subsequent action which I took. I am very sorry for
the resulting miscommunication and hope to improve
the flow of information even more in the future.
In the same fax which I sent to a number of people, I
wrote that we had brought up both Santiago and
McMurdo GPS receivers, thus improving the GPS
coverage in the Southern Hemisphere -- to date I have
no feedback concerning these sites -- am I to assume
that the data from these sites are therefore of
resonable quality? In this community I do find it
tiresome that many of us tend to focus on the
problems and negative aspects without appropriate
overall feedback.
3) This first relocation of the antenna in Canberra
was to a spot on the station operations building that
was very unsuitable for TOPEX GPS ground tracking. I
was able (thru an effort I am not sure that you may
appreciate!) to obtain relocation of the antenna to a
permanent, low mulitpath monument (not a tower)
through specifying TOPEX requirements. This was not
inexpensive. AUSLIG has additionally agreed to
perform the survey and ties will be made available
when complete. Thanks are due to Brian Murphy for
his willingness to assist on this task. I did advised
Yehuda that the relocation to the permanent location
occured on DOY 132.
4) I have forwarded the IGS message #4 to the
appropriate people within JPL with your concerns over
the Rogue data format and request that they
investigate and respond.
5) The Rogue receiver was having problems during the
DoD tests of Anti-Spoofing. I was under the
impression the Courtney Duncan had communciated the
status to you concerning these anomalies. I will dig
up his mail message and forward it also -- this was a
bug that has been addressed in the latest receiver
software (V 7.0).
6) Hartebeesthoek connections will be delayed until
the dedicated line is implemented between CNES and
HART, now rescheduled from May 1 to June1. At that
time we expect 24 hour retreival time, but now it is
via sneaker-net. Tahiti is also telephone retrieval and
I willverify the current status of data availibility
tommorrow (today is a holiday and I am composing
this from my home).
7) Boards with the April 8, 1992 release of version
7.0 of the Rogue software has been sent to all all 24
Rogue sites (will verify Mini-Rogue's ). This is
intended to be installed as soon as possible so that all
sites are consisten during the IGS campaign. Steve
DiNardo has requested FAX confirmation of upgrade
day and status at the various stations which will be
communicated as quickly as possible. McMurdo may
not be upgraded for the IGS due to the Antarctic
winter, however, we may airdrop the boards sometime
in June for possible installation by McMurdo station
personnell.
As a final note, I would like to point out that there
has recently been a reorganization within JPL with
the end result that a better group effort for GPS
network and experiments may be realized. Particularly
keeping on top of many of the problems and
communication issues that Yehuda has pointed out
should improve. Currently, the group is still
intransition, however, I expect to see much progress
in the future. Please do not hesitate to advise me of
any problems you may encounter, and I will try to help
resolve as many issues as possible.
Are there any other concerns or comments that people
have with the overall IGS effort -- not just station
specific or directed at JPL -- it would be nice to get
some additional feedback/status information from as
many IGS participants as possible.
Best Regards,
Ruth Neilan
PS I should add that I will be on travel, and thus
unreachable from May 27 through June 15.
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>From: Loic Boloh
Subject: Hartebeesthoek and Tahiti data
------------------------------
The Hartebeesthoek and Tahiti GPS stations are operated under the authority
of Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (French Space Agency) in Toulouse,
France where the CNES GPS Network Operational Center is located.
(1) Hartebeesthoek
This Rogue receiver is operated since Dec. 1990. The receiver is run conti-
nuously 24 hrs. The data are available thru the operational center in Toulouse.
Right now there is a delay of 3/4 weeks since we are getting the data files
by mail. Starting June 22 we'll have a direct data link between Hartebeesthoek
and Toulouse and the data should be available with a 24/48 hour delay.
(2) Tahiti
This Rogue receiver is operated since Dec. 1991. The receiver is run conti-
nuously 24 hrs. The data are available thru the operational center in Toulouse.
Right now there is a delay of 3/4 weeks since we are getting the data files
by mail. A dedicated link has been installed between Tahiti and Toulouse;
since transmissions cost quite a lot of money we are not using it in a routine
mode. We'll be using it for the IGS campaign starting June 21.
For both stations the data files are available thru span in STD compressed
format (rogue format) along with met surface data files in ascii.
It would be nice if somebody could tell me where I could get the software
(running on VAX VMS) to convert this format into rinex compressed or
uncompressed format.
All requests for data must be made by email and / or fax to:
Loic Boloh or Herve Burger
Email: gpscnes at cnesta.span.cnes.fr
Fax: + 33 61 28 15 36
Post: Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
ET/EO/SC
18, avenue edouard belin
31055 Toulouse cedex - France
Regards,
Loic Boloh
CNES
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>From: Werner Gurtner
Subject: Metsahove Station
-----------------
Metsahovi Station
-----------------
We downloaded Metsahovi data from NGS Gracie for a couple of days.
That's what there is:
- Rogue Receiver
- Site name found in the files: METSAHOVI :
or: METSAHOVI ROGUE :
(colon is part of the name)
A proper name has to be defined by the Mesahovi people!!
- Sampling Rate was 2 minutes
They are working on procedures for smaller rates
- Antenna height to be found in the raw file: 20.779 m
- Eccentricities between mobile VLBI marker and GPS antenna
(bottom of choke ring):
dX = 1918.1594 dY = 547.9853 dZ = -1324.6772
(according to a message I got from Miranda Chin, that's a copy
of the pages that will be published in the next bulletin)
This implies: Antenna height has to be set to zero.
The message from Miranda also contained elements from the VLBI
marker to the bottom of the tower and from the bottom of the
tower to the bottom of the choke ring. As the latter obviously
not only consists of a height component (which is different from
the antenna height found in the file) but also of eccentricities
in the horizontal direction, I prefered to go directly from the
VLBI marker to the bottom of the choke rings and to use an antenna
height of zero.
The eccentricity has been measured using GPS (on one side of the
baseline was an Ashtech, on the other side was the Rogue, which may
be somewhat questionable.
Matera:
------
In the latest GPS Bulletin we found the local ties of Matera
to be incorrect. The colleagues of Matera now prepared a new report.
I take the liberty to put here the correct values:
Eccentricities from fixed SLR 7939 to the GPS marker:
dX = -15.173 dY = -24.827 dZ = 24.965
Antenna height from the GPS marker to the bottom of choke ring:
0.135 m
***************************************************************************
As local ties obviously are the most demanding quantities in geodesy
(the use of artificial satellites, modern electronics, and sophisticated
software for precise geodesy seems to be a minor issue) I urge everybody
in charge of these things or dealing with such data to use extreme
care and to relay any important information immediately to the user
community.
This information has to contain at least:
- Eccentricity elements from the site reference (SLR, VLBI) to
the GPS marker in geocentric dX,dY,dZ, properly oriented, i.e.
parallel to WGS-84 axes
- Instrument and antenna type
- Antenna height from the GPS marker to the antenna reference point
* Rogue antenna: Bottom of chokerings
* Ashtech: bottom of antenna mount,
(approximately 64 mm below top of ground plane)
* Trimble: Bottom of preamp (SST: about 63 mm below top of ground
plane)
I hope that this information will be made available for the (moved)
Canberra site and also the Orroral site as soon as possible.
There is also the problem of numbering of the GPS markers. The colleagues
at Paris usually adopt numbers according to some numbering scheme to
the GPS markers as well as other relevant markers on the sites.
These numbers then appear in the ITRF lists issued by IERS.
There are still many markers of IGS sites to be numbered or the
numbers to be distributed to the users.
Bern, May 26, 1992 Werner Gurtner
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>From: Yehuda Bock
Subject: PGGA & Global tracking data
---------------------------
!!! This message has also been send by Yehuda Bock himself so it might be !!!
!!! the second time you receive this. We will contact Yehuda Bock to avoid !!!
!!! this in the future. !!!
Port Harcourt,
P G G A & G L O B A L T R A C K I N G D A T A (IGS CORE STATIONS)
GPS WEEK #644 May 10, 1992 - May 16, 1992 Day 131 - Day 137
Day Number
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
3 3 3 3 3 3 3
SITE_NAME CODE RECEIVER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-------- ---- --------
JPL Mesa (PGGA), CA, USA jpl1 ROGUE SNR-8 X B B B B B B
Pinyon 1 (PGGA), CA, USA pin1 ROGUE SNR-8 X B B B B B B
Scripps 1 (PGGA), CA, USA sio1 ROGUE SNR-8 B B R R R R
Algonquin, Canada algo ROGUE SNR-8 B B B B B B
Canberra DSN, Australia ds41 ROGUE SNR-8 X
Canberra DSN, Australia ds42 ROGUE SNR-8 X X X X X X
Fairbanks, AK, USA fair ROGUE SNR-8 X B B B B X B
Fortaleza, Brazil ???? ????
Goldstone DSN, California ds10 ROGUE SNR-8 X X X X X X X
Hartebeesthoek, S. Africa hart ROGUE SNR-8 (?)
Herstmonceux, UK hers Mini-Rogue B B B B B B
Hobart (Tasmania) Australia tas1 MINIMAC 2816AT B B B B B B B
Kokee Park, HI, USA kokr ROGUE SNR-8 X B B B X X B
Kootwijk Obs., Netherlands kosg ROGUE SNR-8 B R B B R B B
Madrid DSN, Spain ds60 ROGUE SNR-8 X X X X X X X
Matera, Italy mate ROGUE SNR-8 (?) B B B B R B B
McMurdo, Antarctica mcmu ROGUE SNR-8 X X X X X X X
Metsahovi, Finland mets Ashtech LXII
Mojave, CA, USA moj1 MINIMAC 2816AT B B B B B B B
Ny Alesund, Norway nall ROGUE SNR-8 X X X X X
Onsala, Sweden onsa ROGUE SNR-8 B B B B B B B
Orroral, Australia ???? Ashtech P-12
Penticton, Canada drao ROGUE SNR-8 X B B B X X B
Port Harcourt, Nigeria ???? ????
Richmond, FL, USA ric1 MINIMAC 2816AT B B B B B B B
Santiago, Chile sant ROGUE SNR-8 X X X X X X X
Tahiti pama ROGUE SNR-8 (?)
Tai-Shi, Taiwan taiw Mini-Rogue B B B B B B B
Townsville, Australia town TRIMBLE 4000 SST B B B B B B B
Tromso, Norway trom ROGUE SNR-8 B B B B B B B
Tsukuba-Kashima, Japan tsu1 MINIMAC 2816AT B B B B B B B
Usuda, Japan usud ROGUE SNR-8 B B R R R R
Wellington, New Zealand well TRIMBLE 4000 SST B B B B B B B
Westford, MA, USA wes1 MINIMAC 2816AT B B B B B B B
Wettzell, Germany wtz1 ROGUE SNR-8 B B B B B B
Yarragadee, Australia yar1 ROGUE SNR-8 X B B B B B B
Yellowknife, Canada yell ROGUE SNR-8 B B B B B B B
B = RINEX and raw files on line; R = Raw files on line; X = RINEX files on line
1. The following data is copied from JPL in RINEX format only:
DS10, DS41, DS60, NALL, MCMU, SANT, STJO, HART
2. The latest Canberra mark is now DS42 (replaced old DS40 & DS41 mark).
This is a permanent mark.
3. Fortaleza and Port Harcourt not in operation.
4. Ashtech P-code at Orroral since day 136
5. Rogue receivers at JPL1, SIO1, PIN1, KOKR, FAIR, DRAO are
now running version 7.0 of Rogue firmware
6. Rogue SNR-8 receiver running at SIO1 since day 116, please update
earlier Bulletins that erroneously listed Ashtech P-12
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