Lightning Woes

Hi!

I'm again into another evening shift at work. Tonight my supervisor and I are quite uptight because of the dark clouds that signify a heavy downpour is about to come. Also, we heard some sounds of thunder and of course, preceding it were lightnings. We both didn't like the idea of it because three years ago, when I am still new ANSS, we experienced a major trouble ( trouble -is the term we use for equipment malfunctioning) due to lightning.

One of our antennas was struck and following it was the deafening sound of alarm by the Dictaphone recorder.

A Dictaphone recorder is a voice logging system (VLS) that records voice communications between air traffic controllers and aircraft pilots. Our recorder is one of the old models, one that still uses magnetic tapes as a recording media. The supplier even said that this type is already phased-out and replacement parts are not available presently.

Back to our trouble three years ago. We cannot explain how the lightning affected our recorder since it doesn't have an antenna. Yes, it is connected to the transmitters and receivers but only to the audio circuits and not to the RF (radio frequency - the signal that carries voice over the air) circuits so we really cannot comprehend what was its connection with the lightning strike.
Both of our recorders are affected, to our dismay. We always had redundancy in our systems, meaning all equipments have a standby unit in case the main unit malfunctions. The purpose is to avoid disruption in air traffic control. We had to issue NOTAM or notice to all airmen that our recording equipment is out.

We spent a half day of troubleshooting before we finally found the cause and fixed the problem.
The lightning damaged one IC (integrated circuit) of the power supply board and a transistor in the alarm board. We had to replace these components to restore the recorder. Imagine what we all went through just because of an innocent natural phenomenon. And it again happened the next year after that. But at the second time around, it was easier because we had already pinpointed the component that was to be replaced. Same symptoms, same trouble, same remedy :)

That explains why we are on guard tonight. Even if we can anticipate what can go wrong, we will never know what lightning will strike next.....

:-) So long folks!

another day as an ANSS

Hi people! :)

As I am still starting to post on this blog, let me give you an idea of what I will be sharing with you.

One of my interests include travelling so definitely, I would share some places I've been to and the experiences I had during my trips. Well, my travels are within my beloved Philippines (hope not to your disappointment) but I am dreaming of travelling the world ( hopefully one day soon).

By profession I'm an electronics engineer so I would also share with you some electronics theories and my own experiences as air navigation system specialist.

To start...

Today, or tonight- because I am on an evening shift, the computer in our equipment room just turned completely off and we can't turn it on no mattter how hard I press the switch. We also didn't know what happened or the time it shut down or who used it last.

It's a deadset ( deadset - a term we use to any electronic gadget not turning on, just like d-e-a-d) In deadset cases, the usual problem is the power supply. I tried inpecting the power source, the AVR but it is working. I measured the voltage at the wall socket, it is 220 volts.
Out of desperation and because I do not want to open the CPU, I just unplug all the power cords from the CPU to the AVR and replug it again. I pressed the switch, voila! to no avail ( uh! ). I tried doing the process three or four times and thankfully, the computer turned on in my last attempt.

I cannot explain what happened. Maybe the computer just needs some rest as it is always on 24/7 even if there are times no one is using it. Maybe, there are some loose connections on the wires. Or maybe, it is just playing games on me. Whatever...It happens sometimes with equipments and electronic gadget. For now, I relish the joy of having the computer alive and kicking once again. Troubleshooting for the real cause could wait..

So long peeps!

Hello! :)

Hello people! :)
Every wonderful thing that happens to us needs to be shared to spread the joy..
Every heartache, failure, disappointment has with it a lesson to be learned and thus, need to be shared too.
Today, I'll try to share everything I need to share...

Welcome to my life. Welcome to my world! :)