PRECISION MEASUREMENT OF VHF GAIN AND POINTING ACCURACY OF THE NRL 150-FOOT PARABOLIC ANTENNA.
Abstract
Radio astronomy techniques were employed by accurately determine the gain, pointing error, and temperature of the CBA, NRL 150-foot parabolic antenna system. A frequency of 146 Mhz was chosen for measurements corresponding to one of the few 4-Mhz wide channels in the mid-VHF spectrum free from commercial transmitters. The power gain at this frequency was measured as 34.9 db corresponding to an efficiency of 63% and evidenced a high performance antenna system for its class. This result also corroborated predictions of photogrammetric studies and other calibration checks on the dish. The pointing error was found to be 0.08 degrees which was well within the tolerance specified by the beam width at this frequency. Antenna temperature measurements corresponded closely to the expected sky-brightness temperature leading to the conclusion that broadband, man-made, RFI (broadband interference) did not significantly contribute to the continuum background noise. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 13, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0612147
Entities
People
- P. F. Nicholson
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory