398 



BENTHIC LABORATORY 



Fig. 156. Benthic labora- 

 tory plug -in monitor jack 

 of patch panel 



Fig. 



157. Plug -in jack 

 number 59 



Fig. 158. Benthic labora- 

 tory manipulator hand ap- 

 proaching monitor switch 



Fig. 159. Benthic labora- 

 tory manipulator engaged 

 in monitor switch 



The major difficulty which was encountered in working with the patch panel was that of 

 releasing a patch-cord plug handle once the plug was engaged in its socket. It was somewhat 

 ironic that it at times appeared to be impossible to release the patch cord without pulling the 

 plug from its socket, even though several times during the operation the plug nearly fell off 

 the hand while maneuvering it outside of the socket. It is apparent that a more satisfactory 

 method of engaging objects to be maneuvered is required. 



The capability of monitoring the circuits in benthic is a powerful tool in the benthic lab 

 operation. Using this patch panel it was possible to determine the total effect of oil immersion, 

 temperature, and pressure on the tuning of three of the receivers and to retune the oscillators 

 in the surface-operating equipment to match the final receiver frequencies. It became appar- 

 ent that it would be desirable to have even more system voltages and waveforms brought out 

 to the patch panel. In particular, if the voltages of the TV cameras had been available, it would 

 have been possible to determine the cause of the malfunction of camera 2. Also, if all receiver 

 outputs were brought out, a complete system alignment could be carried out. 



The first major effort at card replacement in benthic was undertaken on Sept. 23, in an 

 attempt to rectify difficulties encountered with the analog -to -digital converter digital trans- 

 mission link (see Chapter 21). On the previous day, measurements taken in Sealab had indi- 

 cated an abnormality in data channels 7, 8, and 10. At 10 a.m. on Sept. 23, the manipulator 

 was engaged in the diode matrix card which was located at the extreme bottom of module 3 



