[evlatests] Lunar PDif tests -- Q-band results
Rick Perley
rperley at nrao.edu
Fri Oct 5 12:18:13 EDT 2012
We continue to try establish the basic behavior of the 'PDif' gain
monitoring mechanism at various bands. Previous tests have used Cyg A
and Tau A as 'standard sources'. These work fine at lower frequency
bands, but do not provide enough of a power increment at K, Ka and Q
bands to establish if, and by how much, the PDif compression occurs.
Bob Hayward suggested that we look at the moon, an large blackbody
emitter that will provide lots of power at high frequencies. We did a
trial run on Thursday morning, using all 8 (cassegrain) frequency
bands. The results for Q-band are given here. Other bands will follow
as time allows.
The tests were done in 8-bit mode. The appropriate procedures were
followed to ensure proper power levels were set.
Q-Band:
AC frequency = 48 GHz. BD frequency = 42 GHz.
The increment in system temperature appears to be about 140K, which
doubles to triples the system power. More than enough to establish the
magnitude of the PDif compression.
EA08 gives zero PDif (nothing but noise) on all four IFs.
EA10B gives integer zero PDif.
Otherwise, all functioning antennas provided good PDif data. The
following table gives the observed 'PDif Compression':
PDif(Moon)/PDif(coldsky):
Antenna A B C D
----------------------------------------------------
01 93 91 98 87
02 100 92 87 92
03 95 94 90 98
04 98 91 88 93
05 102 91 83 88
06 96 92 88 95
07 98 97 88 84
08 zero PDif
09 out
10 94 XX 91 81
11 93 89 92 92
12 99 94 93 100
13 99 95 90 90
14 101 87 100 98
15 86 93 88 85
16 96 91 94 96
17 91 93 81 83
18 98 91 90 93
19 95 78 98 93
20 80 81 92 94
21 95 92 96 91
22 101 94 91 89
23 97 95 93 97
24 88 89 94 90
25 96 97 98 92
26 100 93 96 93
27 91 93 88 93
28 97 95 87 90
------------------------------------------------------------
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