Shannon Radar Down Again

mickger844posts

The Shannon radar has been down now for nearly 24 hrs. I thought that radar was upgraded last year to stop it going down like this. With all the rain coming in over the next 3 or 4 days it really will be missed if it stays down. Hope they can get their act together and get it up and running. :mad:

Discodog

I agree & at least they should advise the public as to how long it will be out of action.

Aiel

I knwo they did say after they upgraded it that they would still be fine tuning it for awhile.However its still not good enough in my opinion.Rain still magically appears in Galway Bay,Clare and Kerry when the radar before that didnt show any rain moving in towards the coast at all.And before anyone says it im talking about a big weather system amount of rain,not a shower which im aware can "magically appear":).
They do good work though most of the time,that radar just needs further adjusting i think.

Discodog

Still down so it appears to be more than a glitch. Typical that we have weeks of settled weather, when we don't need the radar so much, & it fails just as rain is piling in.

mickger844posts

Discodog wrote: »

Still down so it appears to be more than a glitch. Typical that we have weeks of settled weather, when we don't need the radar so much, & it fails just as rain is piling in.

Very frustrating stuff. I tweeted them and also sent them an email so hopefully they will come back with some explanation why its been down for so long.

mickger844posts

Just had an email from Met Eireann and its not good news. Basically the radar was due for a service on the 1st and only due to be down for 1 hour. While working on the Shannon radar , the radar failed to operate under normal conditions so remained down. This is the latest news from the email;

Shannon radar has continued to give trouble. Selex-Gematronik are continually updated on the issues and we are currently awaiting further instructions which should be delivered to-morrow. In the meantime the radar will remain off-air until further notice. Estimated time of return are only speculative at this time.

So nobody knows when it will be back up again.

mickger844posts

dexter647 wrote: »

It's back:):)

Hopefully it will stay back as this is the latest email i got forwarded a few mins ago from Met Eireann

Shannon radar has continued to give trouble. Selex-Gematronik are continually updated on the issues. The radar was operating under restricted conditions, i.e. using Short pulse format only compared to normal Long pulse and Short pulse. But here the radar again tripped out.

Discodog

It's not back - just in case some folks rush for the Champagne.

Maybe this explains why some of the "readings" have been so wrong. I hope that ME haven't paid the bill yet.

pauldry

yeah this is on their website

04 February 2011 - Shannon Radar Interruption in Service
While carrying out essential maintenance on the Shannon radar Tuesday afternoon, the radar failed to operate under normal conditions. The manufacturers are continually updated on the issues but in the meantime the radar will remain off-air until further notice. Estimated times of return are only speculative at this time. Met Eireann apologises for this interruption in service

Surely not good enough considering all the work they carried out last year. Its only at times like these that people check radars most

mickger844posts

pauldry wrote: »

yeah this is on their website

04 February 2011 - Shannon Radar Interruption in Service
While carrying out essential maintenance on the Shannon radar Tuesday afternoon, the radar failed to operate under normal conditions. The manufacturers are continually updated on the issues but in the meantime the radar will remain off-air until further notice. Estimated times of return are only speculative at this time. Met Eireann apologises for this interruption in service

Surely not good enough considering all the work they carried out last year. Its only at times like these that people check radars most

A disgrace really when you think of the so called upgrade they did in order to avoid outages like this. Updated message on their website now says it will be next week at the earliest the radar will be back :mad:

snaps

Doesnt really matter if its down as it only affects the west of the country. Imagine if the Dublin radar went down!?!

Su Campu

To be fair to ME, it's not their fault if the new radar's faulty. An outside agency installed it so they are responsible. It also may have suffered wind damage, we don't know. But of course there are people who will use any opportunity to have a go at ME.

It is an important radar though, more so than Dublin as at least the UKMO radars will cover the east, so the sooner the better we get it back.

Discodog

Su Campu wrote: »

To be fair to ME, it's not their fault if the new radar's faulty. An outside agency installed it so they are responsible. It also may have suffered wind damage, we don't know. But of course there are people who will use any opportunity to have a go at ME.

ME chose the company & presumably closely supervised the work. Of course they are responsible. Now if they have done the job properly then there will be serious penalty clauses & guarantees.

Joe Public

I hope no one decides to swap out a few parts with the radar in Dublin. It appears the radar equipment in Shannon doesn't like the combination of wind and rain so maybe they should sell it to some calmer/dryer country and get a new one like whatever they use on the west coast of Scotland. I'm talking rubbish but it's what the Shannon radar seems like.

DOCARCH

Back up now for the last couple of hours on ME site.

Su Campu

Discodog wrote: »

ME chose the company & presumably closely supervised the work. Of course they are responsible. Now if they have done the job properly then there will be serious penalty clauses & guarantees.

Hmm, so if you say leave your car in for a service and something goes wrong with it after, are you responsible? I don't know how closely you think ME were supervising the work - the other guys are the experts and (should) know what they're doing.

Discodog

Su Campu wrote: »

Hmm, so if you say leave your car in for a service and something goes wrong with it after, are you responsible? I don't know how closely you think ME were supervising the work - the other guys are the experts and (should) know what they're doing.

Yes I may be responsible if I chose a Mickey Mouse garage.

I can't imagine a defence or ATC radar being down so often or for so long.

thetonynator

Discodog wrote: »

Yes I may be responsible if I chose a Mickey Mouse garage.

I can't imagine a defence or ATC radar being down so often or for so long.

Well i'm sure that planes possibly crashing into each other is a little bit more important than knowing when the rain is going to start isn't it? Not really a fair comparison.

Su Campu

Discodog wrote: »

Yes I may be responsible if I chose a Mickey Mouse garage.

I can't imagine a defence or ATC radar being down so often or for so long.

I wouldn't exactly call Selex-Gematronik a Mickey mouse company, many of the national met services and military of the world have chosen them.

Discodog

I would of thought that the Met radar at Shannon is very important or is it not used for aviation forecasts. Rainfall prediction is also extremely important - try asking any of the hundreds who had their homes flooded. Then there are the businesses, farmers etc.

I don't know how good Selex-Gematronik are, or any other radar company. What I do know is that I & the rest of the population, are ME's customers & we are paying the bill.

thetonynator

Discodog wrote: »

I would of thought that the Met radar at Shannon is very important or is it not used for aviation forecasts. Rainfall prediction is also extremely important - try asking any of the hundreds who had their homes flooded. Then there are the businesses, farmers etc.

I don't know how good Selex-Gematronik are, or any other radar company. What I do know is that I & the rest of the population, are ME's customers & we are paying the bill.

But generally rainfall amounts will not be very well told on the radar, and it really only gives an hours warning. People are going to know anyway if there will be enough rain for a flood, the radar isn't rely relied on for that reason. I dont know about the aviation side of things though.

Sponge Bob

Like I often said, install another 2 Radars in Dooncarton and Mt Gabriel and we wouldn't care.

bogman

Looks like its back or at least I think it is

Discodog

thetonynator wrote: »

But generally rainfall amounts will not be very well told on the radar, and it really only gives an hours warning. People are going to know anyway if there will be enough rain for a flood, the radar isn't rely relied on for that reason. I dont know about the aviation side of things though.

The radar can give a far longer warning & it is, or should be, real rather than a prediction. It's the only bit of ME that I can rely on because I can see the rainfall & the direction that it is travelling in.

Today at lunchtime the ME new 5 day graphic was showing heavy rain over Galway - it was dry & sunny.

octo

mickger844posts wrote: »

A disgrace really when you think of the so called upgrade they did in order to avoid outages like this. Updated message on their website now says it will be next week at the earliest the radar will be back :mad:

So, Met Eireann staff provide you with an email, detailing the problem, and you turn around then and lash them out of it like this?

mickger844posts

octo wrote: »

So, Met Eireann staff provide you with an email, detailing the problem, and you turn around then and lash them out of it like this?

When i emailed them the radar had been down for 48 hrs with no mention of a reason why on their website. It was only after i emailed them that they decided to post a message on their website letting the public know what was going on.
The radar was down for 5 days, this after it was upgraded last year to avoid this sort of outage. Whoever is to blame this sort of outage is not good enough. Just because i get a reply to an email from Met Eireann its not going to change my views on whats right and wrong.

octo

mickger844posts wrote: »

When i emailed them the radar had been down for 48 hrs with no mention of a reason why on their website. It was only after i emailed them that they decided to post a message on their website letting the public know what was going on.
The radar was down for 5 days, this after it was upgraded last year to avoid this sort of outage. Whoever is to blame this sort of outage is not good enough. Just because i get a reply to an email from Met Eireann its not going to change my views on whats right and wrong.

I don't think it's ethical to post the details of private emails on a public forum.

mickger844posts

octo wrote: »

I don't think it's ethical to post the details of private emails on a public forum.

Met Eireann posted what i posted more or less on their website so i dont know why you think its so unethical People had the right to know whats going on. It was hardly state secrets that i posted

Discodog

octo wrote: »

I don't think it's ethical to post the details of private emails on a public forum.

As we own ME & pay the wages it is very ethical. Now, in case anyone from ME reads this, how much was the upgrade & what conditions were attached to the contract ?.

Just noticed that it was down again between 3pm & 4.30pm today.

Su Campu

Discodog wrote: »

As we own ME & pay the wages it is very ethical. Now, in case anyone from ME reads this, how much was the upgrade & what conditions were attached to the contract ?.

Just noticed that it was down again between 3pm & 4.30pm today.

Two offers were received for the tender. Not sure what the price tag was.
http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC135999

On 6th October 2010 the same company was awarded the contract for Dublin radar

http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=OCT175855

Discodog

I bet that Dublin doesn't go down