[IGSMAIL-5573]: IRKT still alive!!!

[Boudewijn Ambrosius]

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IGS Electronic Mail      07 Mar 12:58:24 PST 2007      Message Number 5573
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Author: Boudewijn Ambrosius

Dear colleagues,

To my great surprise and happiness I found out a few days ago
that the IRKT station is still alive. I thought the station was
dead because I did not receive any data through the usual channels
since day 144 of last year (2006). I did not have any clue who to
contact at that time since all the people I knew in Irkutsk had 
moved or were unreacheable.

A few days ago I received an e-mail from Kirill Palarmartchouck
(now working at Oxford University, UK) who worked at VS NIIFTRI
several years ago, offering help to streamline the data transfer
from IRKT. In the past this was a cumbersome process because the
data had to be transferred by hand from the receiver to a PC and
then sent via VNIIFTRI in Mendeleevo to Delft and then to IGS.
Apparently the transfer from VNIIFTRI broke down in 2006 and I
assumed the receiver (an old Turborogue-8000) had failed. However,
as it turned out, the receiver was and is still operational and
Kirill sent me all the data since day 145, 2006. In the mean
time the data transfer processes have been improved (automated)
and since day 64, 2007, I am receiving the data on a daily basis 
again.

Therefore, I am happy to announce that I will resume the regular
upload of IRKT data as off today. I will also upload the backlog
of old data later today (almost one year of data). In the (near)
future we will further streamline the process by enabling direct
upload from VS NIIFTRI in Irkutsk to IGS, in order to minimize the
data latency.

I am very grateful for the mediation of Kirill (he is no longer
formally connected to VS NIIFTRI) and I hope the data from IRKT
still represent a valuable contribution to IGS. Knowing now that
VS NIIFTRI is still committed to maintain the GPS infrastructure
in Irkutsk, we (TU Delft) will reconsider the option to replace 
the old SNR-8000 receiver at IRKT with a more modern type with 
enhanced capabilities.

Best regards,

Boudewijn