on site: SteveO and Ling Jan 4, 2011
1> The primary purpose of this visit was to fix/replace the Qsoil sensor. We briefly disconnected the wrong sensor when trying to figure out which cable was Qsoil. As I started to unbury it from the mote end, the PIC enclosure pulled out of the ground, leaving the sensor and its cable still in place. I exposed the cable connector, cleaned both ends, and reconnected the PIC. Readings were then 22.6%, rather than 615% when we first looked at data. Thus this was a simple connector problem -- the original sensor was never disturbed and the PIC didn't require new calibration coefficients. I wrapped a bit of tape around the connector before reburying. I'm really sorry if this was my fault during installation, though I noticed this cable was separate from the others, so perhaps someone else had replaced this sensor earlier? Also, I think the connector was slightly deformed. (3:57-4:07pm)
2> clean up the radiometers (4:09-4:15pm) Notice that the sensors are generally dirtier than other sites; recommend to clean up the sensor every visit.
3> take soil samples (4:07-4:15pm), marked as 1:0-3cm and 1:3-6cm (3-6cm sample may not be perfect,since a piece of brick was in the sample tube -- explaining why taking this core took a bit of effort! I would still use this measurement as typical of the "soil".) Soil was damp and sticky.
4> shoot the boom , measuring 80 degrees from the back so that it should be 80+180=260. I simply tried to center mast in the parts of the sonic "claws" that I could see (partially blocked by cables from the sonic electronics box). (4:25pm)