10/01

Fall Greetings. Winter is coming soon to central Illinois; temperatures have been near freezing already.
	WINTERIZATION FOLLOW-UP: Please return the green questionnaire about your raingage winterization to us as soon as you complete the procedure. Your winterization information is added to a database table which we use for data screening. If you have precipitation type "S" (snow), "M" (mixed), or "U" (unknown) and your gage is not winterized the precipitation record from that sample will be invalidated.
	REMINDER: On the LAST Sunday in October (the 28th) we turn clocks back one hour. We don’t want you to be too early getting to your sites!  Always enter your LOCAL TIME on the FORF. BUCKET SAMPLE WEIGHT: Please weigh ALL sample buckets and record the weight in Block 6 on the FORF even if no precipitation occurred.
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11/01

Happy Thanksgiving! As you may have noticed both Christmas Day and New Years’ Day fall on a Tuesday. As you make your holiday plans, you may want to decide how best to change your NTN sample on those days. Here are some suggestions:
Change the sample on Monday or Wednesday to avoid the holiday. Remember to keep the sampling period (sample time on to sample time off) no greater than 8 days (194 hrs.) to ensure that these samples will qualify for the annual summary report. Every sample is important. Reduce your time commitment by omitting field chemistry measurements for Christmas and New Years’ Day, but complete all the other steps. Find a substitute that you can train to correctly remove the sample bucket and raingage chart, make notes of any contamination or equipment problems, start the next sample by installing the new bucket and raingage chart, and store the bucket which was removed in a clean, secure area until you are able to process it.
Please call us at 800-952-7353 if you have any questions. http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/cal
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12/01

Battery Backup Frequently Asked Questions WHY IS THE DC BACKUP BATTERY ON MY COLLECTOR BAD AFTER 1 or 2 YEARS?- The NADP collector motor unit was a design compromise. The DC battery back-up system in the collector is really meant more as a large "shock absorber" for the integrated circuits in the motor unit than as a good battery charger. The DC backup system attaches directly to the logic board in the box. This means that a line shock in the AC system can be absorbed by the battery and save the logic board itself. As a result of this design, the collector overcharges the battery slightly. WHAT TYPE OF BATTERY SHOULD I BUY? A CHEAP one! This is NOT an application for an expensive deep cycle marine battery. Normal power outages are less than a few hours. The collector can run on ~ 1 amp per hour, so even a 24 hour outage with constant rain or snow should only take about 24 amps of power. This means that a small implement battery (for a riding mower, a snow blower, etc) or the smallest car battery you can find (the $30 kind) should perform well. WHAT IS THE CAL RECOMMENDATION? YEARLY battery changes.	Seasons Greetings from the CAL!
Mailer Inventory: We are updating our mailer inventory records, and we need your help. Please complete the attached Mailer Inventory memo ASAP. Record the number of mailers you now have at your site. Don’t count the one you just sent or the one in the mail we are sending back to you; just count the ones you now have available for use. Return the completed memo via fax (217) 333-0249 or in your next mailer ASAP.
Thanks for your help.                                                                                      http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/cal
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Web page was updated 01/20/2010