ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
CALLISTO status report #20
To: Arnold O. Benz P. K. Manoharan D. Nandagopal R. Venkatasubramani A. J. Selvanayagam R. Ramesh V. C. Kathiravan Alexander Altyntsev Sergey Lesovoi Andrey Maslov Jorge Paez Marco Barantes Alejandro Lara Gaudencio Paz Martinez Kyungsuk Cho SuChang Bong Frédéric Clette Christophe Marqué Hanumant Sawant Ericson Lopez Girish Kumar Beeharry Rajasekhara Gauribidanur Usnikh Sukhbaatar S. Demberel D. Batmunkh ETHZ, Switzerland NCRA Ooty, India benzΩastro.phys.ethz.ch manoΩwm.ncra.tifr.res.in dngΩmailhost.tifr.res.in rvsΩmailhost.tifr.res.in selvanΩmailhost.tifr.res.in rameshΩiiap.res.in kathirΩiiap.res.in altyntsevΩiszf.irk.ru lesovoiΩiszf.irk.ru mac88Ωyandex.ru jpaezpΩcariari.ucr.ac.cr mnbarrantesΩgmail.com alaraΩgeofisica.unam.mx gaupazΩyahoo.es kschoΩkasi.re.kr scbongΩkasi.re.kr frederic.cletteΩoma.be cmarqueΩoma.be sawantΩdas.inpe.br ericsonlΩgmail.com gkbΩuom.ac.mu rajagbdΩgmail.com sukhbaatar_uΩyahoo.com demberelΩrcag.ac.mn batmunkhΩrcag.ac.mn
IIA Gauribidanur, Bangalore, India SSRT Badary/Irkutsk Russian Federation CINESPA, Costa Rica UNAM, Mexico KASI, Daejeon, South Korea ROB, Bruxelles Belgium INPE Brazil Ecuador MRT Bras d'Eau, Poste de Flacq, Mauritius RCAG in Khurel Togoot near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Cc: Andreas James Peter Messmer P. Gallagher N. Gopalswamy David Webb B. Thompson H. Haubold From: Christian Monstein
ETHZ TXCORP, USA Dublin, Ireland NASA/GSFC, USA Editor IHY newsletter NASA/GSFC, USA UN Office, Vienna
jamesΩphys.ethz.ch messmerΩtxcorp.com peter.gallagherΩtcd.ie gopalsΩssedmail.gsfc.nasa.gov david.webbΩhanscom.af.mil Barbara.J.ThompsonΩnasa.gov hans.hauboldΩunvienna.org
ETHZ
monsteinΩastro.phys.ethz.ch
Remark: replace Ω with @ in the email addresses above.
Callisto status report #20
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ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
Actual status of present host sites:
A new Callisto spectrometer was recently handed over and set into operation at MRT station, the remote observatory of the UoM (University of Mauyritius). This, to study metric and decimetric radio events of the active sun. Welcome Mauritius to our Callisto network!
Figure 1: Broad band logarithmic periodic antenna at MRT observatory in Mauritius. The antenna was built out of standard aluminum profiles in the local workshop. Frequency range goes from 20 MHz up to 860 MHz in fixed vertical position. Vertical tubes on both sides are made of PVC to mechanically support long, heavy dipoles.
Callisto status report #20
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ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
Figure 2: Technician of MRT sitting in front of the running Callisto spectrometer. Callisto is on the left side of the table (below ‘Toblerone’ chocolate), power supplies just behind and monitor with keyboard and PC on the right.
Figure 3: ‘First light’ radio burst observed at MRT station of UoM. An average background spectrum has been subtracted. X-axis shows time expressed in UT, y-axis shows frequency in MHz and z-axis denotes to the stored digital value of the ADC (without any calibration). The frequency resolution is about 4 MHz and time resolution is 250 msec (4 sweeps per second). Callisto status report #20 Page: 3/7
ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
Figure 4: Spectral overview at MRT location taken with self built broad-band log-per antenna. The signal is amplified by a low noise amplifier with about 20 dB of gain and < 2 dB noise figure. Plot shows 13’120 channels between 45MHz and 870 MHz with a separation of 62.5 KHz. Integration time is roughly 1 msec in full sensitivity of Callisto. This location is perfect for meter and decameter wave observation.
Callisto status report #20
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ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
Another new Callisto spectrometer was recently handed over and set into operation in Khurel Togoot near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia , the remote observatory of RCAG (Research Centre for Astronomy and Geophysics). This, to study metric and decimetric radio events of the active sun. Welcome Mongolia to our Callisto network!
Figure 5: Broad band logarithmic periodic antenna at RCAG observatory in Mongolia. The antenna is a commercial Chinese product designed for DBV-T. Frequency range goes from 174 MHz up to about 1300 MHz in fixed vertical elevated position. On top the lattice tower a massive lightning protection conductor.
Callisto status report #20
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ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
Figure 6: Runnig Callisto spectrometer in the office at Khurel Togoot observatory . Callisto is between PC and monitor, power supplies are directly behind the PC.
Figure 7: Spectral overview at RCAG location taken with DVB-T antenna. The signal is amplified by a low noise amplifier with about 30 dB of gain and < 3 dB noise figure. Plot shows 13’120 channels between 45MHz and 870 MHz with a separation of 62.5 KHz. Integration time is roughly 1 msec in full sensitivity of Callisto. This location is not perfect for radio observation. There must be much better location in Gobi desert.
Callisto status report #20
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ETHZ
Zürich, 6/24/2009
AOB: Brazil, Ecuador, Ireland and Australia are still in planning phase. We expect that these locations can be set into operation in late summer of 2009. The main problem is always the lack budget to cover traveling and accommodation cost of an engineer. Callisto of Humain station (ROB) was sent back for repair and it is already operational again. Another defect Callisto (due to heavy lightning strokes) from Gauribidanur is on the way to be repaired. A few software errors were found in automatic scheduler, now it is usable (download from our website). Some new PC’s do not allow starting Callisto application. In this case kill callisto.exe using task-manager and then press right mouse and set compatibility mode of callisto.exe to Win9x. Callisto runs very well with this newly available and cheap (<500$) Netbook PC, e.g. Acer Aspire one. The operating manual is available in an updated version from our website. We still have some problems with our web-interface ‘DiRaC’ due to lack of man power at our institute. But we are optimistic to get a work around until fall 2009.
Next planned updates of the application software are: - Spectral overview as a special mode in scheduler to do automatic radio monitoring - Automatic calibration for large systems with antenna area of > 10 λ² - More data on Info panel: Focus code, Measurement mode, percentage of free disk space If you have ideas for improvement of the application software, please let us know. General information about Callisto: http://www.astro.phys.ethz.ch/instrument/callisto/callisto_nf.html Software and related products about Callisto: http://www.astro.phys.ethz.ch/instrument/callisto/ecallisto/applidocs.htm Access to data achive and DiRaC: http://www.astro.phys.ethz.ch/rapp/rapp_home_nf.html
Callisto status report #20
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