Observatories
Each AuScope VLBI observatory is equipped with a 12.1m diameter antenna designed and constructed by COBHAM Satcom, Patriot Products division. The characteristics are: 0.3 mm of surface precision (RMS), fast slewing rates (5 deg/s in azimuth and 1.25 deg/s in elevation), and acceleration (1.3 deg/s/s).
All three sites will be equipped with dual polarization S and X-band feeds from COBHAM with room temperature receivers, developed at UTAS by Prof. Peter McCulloch. The receiver systems cover 2.2 to 2.4 GHz at S-band and 8.1 to 9.1 GHz at X-band. System Equivalent Flux Densities (SEFDs) are 3500 Jy at S- and X-band. Data digitisation and formatting is managed by the Digital Base Band Converter (DBBC) system from HAT-Lab, and data are recorded using the Conduant Mark5B+ system. Each site is equipped with VCH-1005A Hydrogen maser time and frequency standards from Vremya-ch.
People
Jamie McCallum
VLBI Array Manager
Lucia McCallum
VLBI Scientist/UTAS Lecturer
Guifré Molera Calvés
VLBI Specialist/UTAS Lecturer
Brett Reid
Observatory Manager
Warren Hankey
Data Transfer Logistics
Eric Baynes
Electronics Technician