Dear subscribers to the test and interested watchers,

silence from my side does not imply that nothing is happening. In the meantime
the three gases have been manufactured by Messer Griesheim. Seven flasks of each
gas have been shipped to Ty Coplen. Ty has analysed them and will give his full
report to ISOGEOCHEM. The samples  turned out to be statistically identical
(with one exception). Thus I asked MG to start shipment of the flasks to the
participants. Ty will include some handling advice in his report.
 
Upon receipt of the gases I ask you to complete your measurements within a
period of 6 weeks. Assuming that the gases will have reached their destinations
on the 14th of June, I trust that all results will appear on my desk until the
end of July (please use the form included with the shipment, one form per
instrument).

Some moral:
The hydrogen test is meant to be a blind test, i.e. results should not be
compared among laboratories prior to reporting. We want to learn something about
instrumental versus sample preparation effects, in particular regarding the
scale contraction and standardization to VSMOW/SLAP. I therefore ask every
participating lab to do its best to ensure that the mass specs function
appropriately, but, please, do not cross check results with other labs prior to
reporting. Following receipt of all results I will prepare a report for
ISOGEOCHEM listing the results according to the type of mass spec used. The labs
will remain anonymous.

Good luck!		Willi