ENR CTIO Blanco 4-m 2017-01-25

About 20 minutes before the hand-over I tried to connect with the polycon. I had the correct IP, but I was not able to connect. I continued trying, assuming that this is only a temporary failure. After a few minutes passed, I started to get worried and I decided to call them. However, I forgot the phone #, and I tried to find it on the NOAO Observing webpages, but could not find it. At that time we got closer and closer to handover, and I got really worried. I called the guards to ask for the phone number, but nobody picked up. Then I decided to call Alfredo. He called the 4m. The 4m called me, and then we tried to establish the polycon connection. At that time, the telescope was not taking data anymore. After a few tries we finally could connect. Things were hectic, and first I could not use the SISPI webpage. After a few minutes we finally had everything running, and then we started the observations. We lost about 10 minutes of time.

This was partly my mistake, I should have made sure beforehand that I have more than one means of communication with the 4m. However, it also would be good if the 4m telescope operator does also take a pro-active role when the remote observer does not get in contact within at least 15 minutes of handover. Also, the different means of communication should be on the white board (polycon IP, phone #, skype)