USGS Open-File Report 99-361: McVCO Handbook 1999

McVCO Handbook 1999

By P.J. McChesney

Summary

McVCO is a microcontroller-based frequency generator that replaces the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) used in the analog telemetry of seismic data. It accepts low-level signals from a seismometer and produces a frequency modulated subcarrier suitable for radio or telephone links to a data collection site.

McVCO was designed for the purpose of improving the analog telemetry of signals within the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (PNSN). Its development received support from the University of Washington Geophysics Program, and both the Volcano Hazards and Earthquake Hazards programs of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

This handbook covers operation of McVCO, provides a technical reference for those who require a closer look at how McVCO works, and covers a collection of topics that need explicit treatment or that spring from deployment of the instrument.

First posted January 21, 2000

Report PDF (440 kB)

For additional information, contact:
Earthquake Science Center, Menlo Park
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road, MS 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025-3591
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/contactus/menloloc.php

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Suggested citation:

McChesney, P. J., 1999, McVCO Handbook 1999: U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-361, 51 pp., https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1999/0361/.