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Excessive failures experienced with the remote data collection hardware continue to be an area of concern. Failures fall into two categories; unit failures requiring manufacturer repair and unit failures that could be repaired or corrected in the field. In FY 86-87, thirty DCP's were returned to the manufacturer for repair. This represents 18% of the DCP's operated by the state. The majority of these involved the voltage control oscillator, frequency oscillator, or analog-to-digital chip. Nearly twice as many units failed but were made operable in the field. These intermittent failures were generally related to scrambling of operating software due to lightning strikes or other forms of static electricity, deficiency in the on-site power supply, moisture in the antenna/antenna cable, or vandalism. It is hoped that the majority of component failures have surfaced and been repaired. Steps are being taken to alleviate the intermittent failures. Advanced grounding tech- niques are being evaluated to curtail problems associated with scrambling of operating software due to power surges. A case study on this problem showed that in a six-week period in the Arkansas River basin (Division 2), a total of twelve DCP's and shaft encoders developed the effects of scrambled operating programming requiring a station visit and reprogramming. The problem was apparently exasperated by numerous electrical storms occurring in the basin during this period, The cost of these failures is conservatively estimated to be between $30,000 to $40,000. This includes repair costs, travel costs, and staff time to visit these stations and repair or exchange malfunctioning hardware, and the cost to edit invalid or lost data. Failures in the Direct Readout Ground Station occurred six times during FY 86-87. These were generally related to power surges or power failures. Except for one occurrence which happened on a weekend, the failures had insig- nificant impact. The clock on the VAX 11/750 central computer continues to lose 20 to 25 seconds per week. This does not raise a critical problem but does require that the clock be reset every two to three days. The exact time is found by contacting the National Bureau of Standards facility located in Boulder, Colorado. Clocks in the DCP's are calibrated in the same fashion, However, those clocks are more stable, losing no more than 10 to 20 seconds annua 11 y. Poor qua1i~y phone l~nes in several areas of the state are responsible for problems 1n access1ng the system's central computer remotely. Simple log-on becomes quite difficult. Future plans by Mountain Bell to improve these lines will resolve the problem. Communications with NOAA-NESDIS, other GOES DCS users, and the Colorado user community is essential. NOAA-NESDIS coordinates the activities of two national GOES DCS user groups, the Technical Working Group and the Direct Readout Ground Station Working Group. Meetings are held quarterly to discuss GOES DCS operations, future system improvements, system utility, and to facil- itate communications between users. These meetings have proven to be bene- ficial. The Project Manager attends two of the four meetings annually. Within the state of Colorado, a consortium of governmental agencies (federal, state, and municipal) have formed a committee to coordinate activities within the state related to hydrology-meteorology. The Hydromet Committee has been instrumental in promoting real-time data collection in Colorado. -16-