Any VME Experts Out Here?

Well, we're about 70 days from our Return To Flight, and I've been asked to assist with getting another computer system up and running again.
Geez, guys....I'm a RADIO guy, remember?
I just spent a week getting the Antenna Control Unit for our 6' fully steerable dish up and running, but we still have to check out and calibrate the telemetry receivers, and the rest of the RF system we use for the Telemetry and Command links we provide our customer.
The ACU had a myriad of problems, all of which were caused by leaving it out in the dome for two years with the air conditioning turned off. It's about the same things as storing your desktop PC out in your garden shed, and expecting it to come up and run!
I had to pull all the boards and clean the connectors where they plug into the backplane, and clean all the other connectors. I found RUST on a lot of the exposed metal parts, and had to clean that. Then I found the fan on the heatsink attached to the little Pentium 233MMX was was shot, so I brought in a fan from my "stock" here at home. It was thicker than the OEM fan, so I had to drill and tap the heatsink for longer screws. I was attaching it back on the CPU when POP! The fifteen year old plastic gave out.
RATS!
Luckily I found a better unit up at Alltronics in Santa Clara, and had them here in a few days. They're a great place to find obscure parts for projects, and are VERY reasonably priced. I highly recommend them!

ANYWAY.....I was asked to help get our VME computers running again after one of our Technicians replaced the CMOS batteries on the motherboards, rendering them "unbootable". I trust the Tech that did it. He's an extremely talented guy, and in the seven years I've known him, I think he's maybe made one mistake.
His soldering job was impeccable, and we're both scratching our heads on this one.
The manuals that came with the system are useless for hardware repair, as they were written for programmers working with the system, and for any hardware problems you have, their solution is "Return To Vendor".
Great, except the company that originally made these systems, VMIC (VME Microsystems International), was bought by GE/FANUC, who deny ever hearing of these things. Their "Customer Service" is absolutely deplorable, and they hung up on one of our people yesterday.
These are basically 200MHz Pentium P54C, Intel Triton "FX" single-board computers with AMI BIOS and a Cirrus VGA chip in a Eurocard package running Windows NT. The scant information in the manual states that they're "A/T Compatible", and that they are, indeed, standard PC components.
And we're going NUTS trying to get them to boot after a simple CMOS battery change.

Like I said, any VME experts out there?


*****UPDATE*****

Well, it turns out the CPU boards are OK. I tried them in the "test" rack we have, and they ALL powered up just fine.
I had to reset the system clock, and redetect the hard-drives, but they're OK now.
Turns out there's a "gotcha" in the external hardware connected to the racks the VMEs are located in, and *I* didn't know about it, and the other guy had forgotten about it.
That kind of thing happens when you've been shut down for two years, or get tossed into it.
So thanks, everybody, for the suggestions and comments.
Were 62 days away from Return To Flight, and counting. We're going out for Sea Trials at the end of July, and the first launch will be towards the end of September.

2011 Old Fort MacArthur Days Pictures

We didn't get to Old Fort MacArthur Days last year because we forgot, (DOH!), but we set aside the time for it this year. It's always fun to go and see the reenactors, and talk to them. It's rather strange to see a Roman Centurion talking to a Viet Nam USGI, and hearing them talk about their computer problems! I think I learned more about smoothbore vs rifled muskets this year than I knew before, and had an absolute blast talking to the guy that owns the M29 Weasel you'll see in the pictures. He'd always wanted one, and was at a Military Vehicles Collectors meet a few years ago where he saw one for sale. It turns out he couldn't afford the fully restored one, so he bought FOUR that were in various states of disrepair, and built the one good one you see here. The Browning M1919 air-cooled 30cal on it is set up to "fire" propane, and he said it works very well. And he said the neighborhood kids just go nuts when he fires up the Weasel, and brings it out.
The other interesting thing we saw was the guy in the red jacket playing this very strange, hand-cranked stringed instrument. I'd never seen or heard anything quite like it, and it turns out it's a Hurdy Gurdy, also called a "Wheel Fiddle". Look for the guy in the red jacket holding it in his lap.
This year I took some pictures of the displays inside the tunnels that honeycomb the hills under and around Battery Osgood-Farley. Sorry for the dark shadow in the middle of the ones I used with my flash. I forgot to take off the sunshade on the lens, and the built-in flash will cast a shadow if it's on.
If you're ever in the Los Angeles/San Pedro area, drop in at the Fort MacArthur Military Museum. It's a very interesting place, and one of the last remaining examples of a Coastal Defense Installation around.
Unfortunately we missed the "Live Fire" this year of the artillery. We got there a bit later than I wanted to, and were over on the other side of the park when they started. We could hear them firing (boy, could we), and could see the smoke, but weren't able to make our way over there in time.

Enjoy the pictures!

R.I.P. Sarah Jane Smith

Back in an earlier life, I was a huge "Doctor Who" fan. Particularly The Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker. I tremendously enjoyed watching the escapades of the Doctor and his "companions" like Leela, Romana, and of course, K9, but my all time favorite was his companion Sarah Jane Smith.
Man, did I have a crush on her, or what!
And when she guest-starred in the "School Reunion" episode with The Tenth Doctor, it all came roaring back to me.
Sarah Jane had aged very gracefully, better than I had, and her acting was as good as I remembered it.
So anyway, as I stopped by the Wikipedia site today at lunch time, I noticed the featured article was about the episode called "Doomsday", which was the one where the Tenth Doctor said goodbye to his current companion, Rose Tyler. As I poked around the various Doctor Who episodes, I decided to check out Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played Sarah Jane, and was saddened (bummed, really) to see she had passed away on April 19th of this year.
God Bless, Sarah Jane. Doctor Who was a better series because of you, and I'll certainly miss you.

Radio Daze

Well, I finished putting my satellite station back together today. I could have had it up yesterday, but there were some improvements I wanted to do, mainly weatherproofing things.
Don't laugh.....we DO get "Real Weather" out here in SoCal! Granted it's nothing like Northern Illinois where I grew up, but it does rain here in the winter (a LOT lately!), and we get get pretty soggy in the morning from the moisture the Marine Layer brings in. Saturday morning I went into San Pedro for the monthly breakfast my club has, and it was really socked in driving over the bridges into and out of Terminal Island, where I work.
I made some enclosures for the preamps and diplexer I use on the 2 Meter / 70cm side of the radio, and another rain shield for the elevation rotor. They're just Rubbermaid plastic boxes, but it will keep direct rain and dew off these items and their connections, hopefully prolonging their usable time on Earth!

"It Takes A Long Time To Control The People"

This is an absolutely DISGUSTING video to watch.

I'd embed it, but Brietbart doesn't have that option.

And on Independence Day, no less!

H/T to The Market Ticker

Happy Independance Day!

Let's hope we can get our country turned around soon, and restore it to what it should be.

Field Day Pictures

We had a great time (again!) this year at the Angels Gate Cultural Center, a.k.a "The Upper Reservation at Fort MacArthur". The weather was great, we had plenty of food, nobody got injured, and we made a lot of contacts.
I had 50 "in the log", but when I cross-checked it, I had 5 duplicates, for a final count of 45, and a final valid score of 144 points..
I've never had 'dupes' at Field Day, and since they were all by the same guy, I'll write it off to his grabbing every contact he heard!
I think we easily could have made 65~70 contacts, but the HO-68 satellite wasn't operational this year, and since we made almost half our contacts on that one last year, it was sorely missed.
Enjoy the pictures!

Over For Another Year

And we had a great time, as usual.
I don't have the final tally yet, but the 20 meter CW station made around1000 contacts, the 20 meter phone station made about 1200, the 15 meter phone station made 380, and the satellite station (my son and I) made 49 this year.
We actually have 53 callsigns, but couldn't make the complete exchange with them, so we can't count them.
If HO-68 had been working this year, I think we could have made at least 70 contacts, maybe more.
I'll post some pix after I finish unloading the Jeep, and download them from my camera.

Field Day Update

As of Saturday night when we shut down for the day, we had 35 contacts in the log, which is as many as we had in total last year..
I'm going to try and get back Sunday morning by 8am, and with luck we'll make 5~10 more. Last year we made about 15 on Sunday morning, and if we get that many again, we'll have around 50 in the log.

Geert Wilders Acquitted

Mr. Wilders has been a controversial figure since about 2007. After much legal wrangling, and having the judges in his first trial removed, he was finally acquitted of all charges.
Read all about it here, on the Wikipedia.
Better read it quickly, as Wikipedia has a way of revising history.....

Analog Electronics Loses Two Giants

I've always been more of a "analog" guy than a "digital" guy. It's probably because of when I grew up, and the fact that radio is really an analog mode.
On June 12th, Jim Williams passed away. I didn't know Jim, but he was one of the founding fathers of modern analog circuit design. He wrote many, many applications notes for Linear Technology (I'll bet I read most of them), many articles for EDN magazine, and published numerous books.
This morning I heard that another giant among analog engineers had passed away, Bob Pease.
I met Bob several times at conferences, and while I can't say he was a friend of mine, I always found him very charming, with an amazing sense of humor and wit. His column, or one of his "Pease Porridge" specials, was the first thing I turned to when my new Electronic Design arrived in the mail, and if they didn't run it that month, it really bummed me out.
Bob was driving his beloved 1969 VW Beetle, and was killed in a car crash coming home from the memorial for Jim Williams.
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen!
The world is a far better place for having had men like you in it, and you will both be sorely missed.
My deepest sympathy and condolences go out to your families.