************************************************************************** EVN TOG Meeting November 2004 Robledo Report 1. Future hardware upgrades. Mark5 Upgrade Plan at Robledo has been delayed until February 2005 and therefore we will not be able to support Mark5 observations for incoming EVN observing session. The Mark5 plan includes following upgrades: a. PC Field System computer (PCFS) will be upgraded from 90 MHz pentium PC to 1.5 GHz PC. The screen will be replaced by a slide-out drawer containing the keyboard, LCD video and mouse. b. The Equipment Activity Controller (EAC) will be upgraded from a Sun UltraSPARC 1 to a Sun Blade 2000 workstation. c. Installation of GPS receiver and Frequency counter for Formatter-to-GPS time delta measurements.. d. Installation of two Mk5A units. These units will be later replaced by Mk5B units. Mark5 installation has been completed at Goldstone (GDSCC). Pre-acceptant tests were successful. A fringe test will be conducted shortly. 2. Software status. PCFS software currently in use contains Station Software version st-13.2.5 and Field System version 9.4.17. Currently a software package developed at CDSCC to perform remote spectroscopy observations is being installed. 3. Future software upgrades. Included in the Mark5 Upgrade Plan a new PCFS software release will be delivered. Field System software will be upgraded to 9.6.9 version. 4. Plans for new receivers. The Q-band (7mm) receiver installation at one of our beam wave guided antennas (DSS55) has been delayed until spring 2005. 5. Calibration issues at DSN. a. Subreflector configuration. Following recommendation from last EVN TOG meeting, subreflector has been configured in autofocus mode for recent GLOBAL and EVN observations (sessions #2 and #3 2004). b. Calibration signal. Current EAC software is still not able to control the calibration signal (noise diodes) during the observations. In order to provide system temperature monitoring the calibration signal was configured and controlled manually (at preob) from the DTT Maintenance Terminal (DMT). c. Pointing and Efficiency. Using the Pointing and Efficiency Tool (PET) developed at Robledo the DSS63 (70m) L-band pointing model was improved and the subreflector position was optimized for that same band before EVN session#2 2004. Unfortunately after the session it was found a problem in the antenna controller (ACS) that affected pointing causing very large offsets (larger than half power beamwidth). Problem has been already solved. Socorro and JIVE correlators reported very low fringes amplitude that could be mainly attributed to this problem. Before EVN session#3 2004 DSS63 (70m) K-band pointing model was also improved. 6. Robledo support to EVN observations. For EVN session#2 2004 Robledo participated in two observations: a. GB049B (L-LCP): strong L-band RFI (1660-1670 MHz) present. Problems in the antenna controller (ACS) caused very large pointing errors and Socorro correlator found very week fringes amplitude. For this observation an extra effort was done to provide System Temperature monitoring; for this purpose the calibration signal was configured and controlled manually (at preob) from the DTT Maintenance Terminal (DMT). Subreflector was configured in autofocus mode. b. EB028B (L-LCP): strong L-band RFI (1660-1670 MHz) present. Problems in the antenna controller (ACS) caused very large pointing errors. Besides JIVE correlator suspects about L-band polarization purity, it will be investigated. For this observation an extra effort was done to provide System Temperature monitoring; for this purpose the calibration signal was configured and controlled manually (at preob) from the DTT Maintenance Terminal (DMT). Subreflector was configured in autofocus mode. For EVN session#3 2004 Robledo participated in one observation: c. EI006A (K-Dual Pol): no time was allowed in the schedule for tape change. As a result first sources on tape#2 could not be recorded and following sources were recorded at wrong tape position (refer to Moll's report for details). Please for incoming observations allow enough time for tape change (at least 10min), many thanks!. For K-band calibration signal is automatically controlled from RAC60 computer. System temperature monitoring is provided in the observation log (tsys1 values). Subreflector was configured in autofocus mode. 7. DSN points of contact. DSN/ Robledo: Cristina Garcia Miro, Radio Astronomy Engineer, INSA, e-mail: cgmiro@mdscc.nasa.gov (Please note that e-mail address has changed!, previous one continues working anyway). Esther Moll, Radio Astronomy Department, INSA, e-mail: emoll@mdscc.nasa.gov (Please note that e-mail address has changed! previous one continues working). NASA/ JPL/ DSN: Dr. Peter T. Poon, Telecommunications and Mission Systems Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, e-mail: Peter.T.Poon@jpl.nasa.gov Pamela R. Wolken, Customer Service Representative of EVN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, e-mail: PWolken@jftl.jpl.nasa.gov George Martinez, Network Operations Project Engineer of EVN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, e-mail: Gmartinez@jftl.jpl.nasa.gov Best regards, Esther Moll & Cristina Garcia Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex -MDSCC- Robledo Tracking Station Tel +34-91-867-7130 Fax +34-91-867-7185