19/3/2004				MEDICINA STATION REPORT
 
1) A refurbishment of the Medicina antenna was done in summer 2003:
  - A complete substitution of the old cables mounted on the
    antenna. A new cable wrap and a new distribution of the cables
    network.
  - A completely new mechanical structure was installed in the
    secondary focus cabin in order to allow the allocation of many
    receivers at the same time as part of a long term plan to achieve
    a fully frequency agility of the telescope.
  - The mounting of the new servo system for the Medicina
    antenna. This uses modern components and digital electronics.  A
    higher degree of reliability and less maintenance interventions
    are expected. The software developed for pointing and tracking of
    the antenna has been adapted to the new system.

2) We have now available, a complete set of 4 modules with 8x120GB
   hard disks and 4 modules with 8x250GB.  20 more enclosures are
   available at the station ready to be filled with disks. The
   purchase of more disks has been financed by the Institute.

3) FS version installed: 9.6.9

4) IRA and the regional government where Bologna is located are
   discussing an agreement under which the government will pay for the
   installation and connection of a fiber optic link at 1Gb/s between
   Medicina station and Bologna city.

5) A new 5cm receiver is ready to be used for VLBI purposes. This will
   avoid the sharing with Noto of the previous twin receiver. 

6) On request of the European VLBI Network Technical Operation Group,
   a dedicated software was developed to keep under control the
   recording tracks of the MK5 systems.The program is called CHCHK. 


A. Orfei