Please see the HDF format, quality flag and data caveats information in:
https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/dmsp/documents/ssies/

The HDF and Plot file names were changed from the originals provided by University of Texas @ Dallas.  Some file name change examples: 
DMSP plot file f16_rl123662115_v2.jpg  was changed to dmsp-f16_ssies_3-rl_20123662115_v2.jpg
DMSP HDF file rl120010104_v2.f16 was changed to dmsp-f16_ssies_3-rl_20120010104_v2.hdf 

The SPDF is considering also making cdf files from the hdfs, so they can easily be incorporated into the CDAWeb system.

TJK August 8, 2019