We looked at the MC_F spectrum because Rob and Yoichi said that it had gone 'all crazy'. It
seemed fine as we looked at it (even with only one boost stage on) so we looked for things
that might be marginal and make it go nuts.
At the error point (Q mon on the demod board and TEST IN1) of the MC Servo board we saw the
old 3.7 MHz signal (comes from the 33 MHz RFAM getting demodulated by the 29.5 MHz MC LO)
and thought that this might cause some worries. So we installed Jenne's passive elliptic
low pass which has a 3.7 MHz zero.
This wiped out the 3.7 MHz noise but we were not able to re-create the extra frequency noise
so its unlikely to have fixed the main problem. However, we leave it in because its good. If
there is a need to revert it, we have left hanging on the side of the rack the old cable which
was a SMA->TNC making a direct, unfiltered connection between the MC Demod board and the MC
servo board.
More before and after results from Jenne tomorrow, but for now here is a calibrated MC_F spectrum
using the new MC_F-Reference.xml template file.
We also noticed that we could make some small effects on the MCF spec by adjusting the PMC gain so
there's probably more hay to be made there using a lead brick and a gain slider. More in Jenne's
entry. |