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==== APO 3.5-m Users Committee Meeting, 11/05/2024 ====

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Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Michael Hayden (OU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Eric Bellm (UW), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Misty Bentz (GSU), Ben Williams (UW) 


=== User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===

  * Seattle - nothing to report
  * FGCU - no report
  * NAPG - no report
  * Oklahoma - nothing to report
  * NMSU - nothing to report
  * BYU - nothing to report
  * JHU - nothing to report
  * Georgia State - nothing to report
  * Colorado - no report
  * Washington - nothing to report
  * UVa - nothing to report
  * Wyoming - nothing to report

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=== Telescope and Instruments Report === 

The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.

// 3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 10/02/2024 – 11/04/2024 //

1) Overview

The winter weather pattern started to appear in late October, with the first temperatures below freezing occurring in the last few days of October.  The first snow of the season is forecast to start during the day on November 3 and continue through midday on November 4. During the month of October we had one astronomer group visit and no class visits.

On October 28 a large water leak on the main water line was discovered.  After a few hours of digging, the leak was repaired and water was restored to the site. However, during the digging process the phone/T1 cable was damaged (all the utility lines run in the same trench, water, phone lines, air lines and in the area of the water leak sewer as well).  The damaged cable is awaiting repair by Lumen.  Without the T1 line, APO is solely reliant on the radio link for communications to site. Thus if the radio link goes down, TUI would not be usable for communications to site, and instead all communications would have to be done via text/cell phone.  We are pushing every day on Lumen to get the repair done as soon as possible.

There was an issue with restoring computer backups on October 1 - Nancy sent an email about this on October 15.
 
2) Operations

3.5m Telescope: Telescope position errors in azimuth direction reversals were reduced/eliminated by expanding the error range allowed for motion.  Errors are being monitored, telescope is moving well (and as expected).
 
0.5m Telescope:   Telescope is working well.
 
KOSMOS: nothing to report.
 
ARCTIC: nothing to report
 
Agile: The camera failure has been fixed and it was returned to APO.  Installation and testing will take place in the next few weeks.
 
ARCES: Instrument is performing nominally.  IOL measurements have held steady and are still very good.
  
DIS:  Instrument is currently up and usable.  Vacuum servicing is not planned for Q4.
 
NICFPS: Instrument is performing nominally.
 
TripleSpec: Instrument is performing nominally.
 
APOLLO: instrument computer (houston) was replaced with a spare (which had to be reconfigured, as it wasn’t an exact match spare) after experiencing a cooling failure, which caused the loss of the motherboard. The failed computer has had some components replaced and is now ready to be tested to see if it is a viable spare. We have had three successful ranging runs since the system was restored to operations.

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=== Additional site, telescope and instrument discussion === 

APO received a few inches of snow in the last couple of days and they are expecting another storm at the end of this week. There was a water line leak last week and the T1 cable was damaged during the digging process in repairing the water leak. The T1 connectivity has been restored as of yesterday. The telescope is working well.

We did not receive any user feedback concerning the recent computer issue. Anyone with questions or concerns is encouraged to contact Nancy.

UC reps were asked to remind their users that Agile is expected to be available for Q1 but anyone who proposes to use it must also request a backup instrument.

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=== 2024 Q4 3.5m scheduling ===

We have some unassigned time in Q4 (Nov 23B and 28B (short), and a fair bit in December). Users should look at the schedule and follow the usual channels for requesting this time (i.e. email Russet, Amanda, Ben, Nancy and their institutional scheduler when submitting requests, and provide a proposal cover page if you don't already have a program scheduled for the current quarter).

UC reps: Please remind your users to respond to their set-up emails at least 24 hrs in advance of their scheduled observing time.

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=== 2025 Q1 3.5m scheduling ===

The Q1 allocations going out this afternoon and proposals will be due on November 25. Agile will be back in Q1 and people can request it (but see above re: needing a backup instrument). DIS will be offered in shared-risk mode only during Q1 as there are no plans to service it in Q4. UC reps: please notify your users that we are beginning to plan for the decommissioning of DIS. Anyone with questions or concerns should notify their Users Committee representative as we will be discussing this at future UC meetings.

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=== 2024 Q4 0.5 scheduling ===

The Q4 ARCSAT scheduled is posted. There is time available in the last week of December (but with no requests for filter changes).

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=== Website Modernization Effort ===

Comments are coming in and the team continues to address the issues that users have brought up. We are working on a test server to do a simulation of flipping the switch to the new site.

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=== Upcoming ARC BoG Meeting === 

The ARC Board of Governors meeting is in several days. Thanks to those who have provided science highlights; Nancy can still accept them through the end of the day.

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=== ACTION ITEMS === 

Open action items from previous meetings:
  * Nancy: get ROM costs for new KOSMOS grisms. Sarah reported that she has a finalized quote from one vendor. The grism design turns out to be a little complicated, but also, costs have gone up, so these are more expensive than we expected (ballpark $20k apiece). Therefore, we need to explore potential funding sources. We have reached an impasse in terms of prioritizing the desired grism; Nancy will amass all previous emails with grism requests and send to UC reps to query users about whether there is broad interest in a particular grism. This could help identify funding sources, either individually or collaboratively. STATUS: OPEN.
  * Nancy: Ensure that a short description of the impact of satellites be posted on the APO website somewhere and updated every 6 months or so. Nancy received examples of this issue from Anne Verbiscer and will get something added to the current (and new) web site. STATUS: OPEN. 

Open action items from this meeting: 

  * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q4 schedule and request OPEN/DD time if they can make a good case for it.
  * UC reps: remind your users that they can propose to use Agile in Q1 2025 (but must include a backup instrument).
  * UC reps: alert your users to the fact that plans are being formulated for decommissioning DIS.

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=== All Other Business ===

None.

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=== Next meeting ===

The next meeting will be on December 3 at 10:30 MST.

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