Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), Spain Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN) Centro Astronómico de YEBES http://www.oan.es/ vlbitech@oan.es Report to the EVN Board of Directors South Africa, May 25th 2005 New 40-m radiotelescope Construction of the 40-m radiotelescope is very advanced. The main elements are in place, and others (like the Nasmyth and other mirrors, and 22 GHz and holography receivers, and an autocorrelator) are in the lab. Formal dedication of the facility happened by HRH the Prince and Princess of Asturias on April 26th 2005. The EVN CBD chair and the JIVE director attended the opening, together with other members of the EVN community. First-light is expected by the end of 2005. VLBI observations should start soon later. A study is being conducted to adapt AIPS routines to handle the Nasmyth optics configuration (such as the new 40-m Yebes telescope, or the 30-m IRAM telescope on Pico Veleta) so that full polarization observations can be processed transparently by the EVN users. All works are scheduled to be ready by the time of the first-light, at the end of 2005. Find a recent picture at: http://www.oan.es/ign/home/astronomia/instalaciones/telescopios/40m/images/40mfinal.jpg A new weather station has been installed in the observatory to aid the observations with the 40m dish. In the same mast the GPS antenna has been installed. The GPS receiver has being moved to the 40m radiotelescope tower. The connection to the GPS antenna is done through an optical fiber. The maser will be moved within one month, together with the VLBI equipment (DAR and Mark5). By this summer a new hydrogen source for the maser will be installed, and the maser cavity will be retuned. That will allow the maser to run for some years. VLBI with the 14-m radiotelescope The telescope suffered a severe failure of the main control computer (an old HP1000 not maintained by the manufacturer anymore) in december 1993. Attempts to repair it have found unsuccessful due to lack of parts. The telescope therefore has not participated in any VLBI observations since then. The VLBI equipment is however in place, and in complete working order: VLBA4 DAR (14 BBCs), MK5A recorder, 11 Tb on disks at the station, etc. All equipment is ready to be moved to the 40-m premises in order to start VLBI observations with the first-light receiver by the end of 2005. RADIONET The observatory engineers are involved in the AMSTAR joint research activity, designing wide bandwidth amplifiers (4-8 GHz and 4-12 GHz) for radioastronomy. Works are scheduled to be concluded by the end of 2005. OAN also hosted the 7th EVN Symposium in Toledo (Spain), on October 12-15 2004, under the umbrella of RADIONET. All information in the web http://www.oan.es/evn2004/ SKA IGN particapates in the SKA Design Study project (SKADS), in particular the DS4 package to study and design possible passive radiator elements for the SKA stations, together with the integration of low-noise uncooled amplifiers. IGN is member of the European SKA Consortium, ESKAC. EXPReS We are investigating different options to connect the Yebes site (in particular the new 40-m radiotelescope) to GÉANT. In this context, CNIG-IGN participates in the e-VLBI EXPReS proposal to the EC FP6. Paco Colomer is coordinator of SA2 ?Network provisioning?.