SSSM in China
14.09.05

The proposed Chinese site for the SKA was visited by members of the Site Spectrum Monitoring team from ASTRON, Rob Millenaar and Bou Schipper, during the summer of 2005. The measurements were carried out at the Dawodang site, a large Karst depression in Guizhou Province, some 170 km by road, south from the Province’s capital, Guiyang.

At the site a brick building has been constructed to provide shelter for the measurement equipment and for the people working and living at the site. In the picture the building can be seen overlooking a small depression neighbouring the Dawodang depression, which is off to the right.

The equipment travelled by airplane from Amsterdam to Shanghai, onwards to Guiyang by train and finally by truck to the site. After unpacking, the equipment was assembled and tested within a day and survey data was taken already during the first night. The measurements proceeded smoothly and care was taken to prevent the pollution of the data by self made radio frequency interference (RFI). This was done by turning off devices that could potentially affect the data quality in the scheduled frequency range. The spectrum from 50MHz to 24GHz was monitored in automatic fashion; data was checked and archived during a roughly 4 week period. This process was interrupted once, when a brief, but fierce thunderstorm travelled accross the site, causing the destruction of a low noise amplifier (lna). The lna could be replaced by a spare and the measurements could continue without much time loss

One of the antenna masts in use by the SSSM team at the Dawodang site. Two of these masts hold the four antennas and two frontend boxes that cover the frequency range from 50MHz to 24GHz.

The Chinese spectrum monitoring team was present at the site and many discussions were held, dealing with such topics as the way surveys like this one should be done, how the equipment should be constructed and how the data should be processed. These discussions were very fruitful. The work at the site was carried out under the scrutiny of the local population of the area. The people were found to be much interested and helpful and many heartwarming encounters took place. Also the local and Provincial authoroties were very interested and visited the site more than once.

The ASTRON SSSM team wishes to express their thanks to the Chinese hosts for all the help and support for getting the equipment in and out of the country and for providing the team members with a productive working environment.

Sitting on the edge of the Dawodang depression after a strenuous hike, from left to right: Mr. Bou Schipper, Mr. Bo Peng, who leads the Chinese SKA efforts and Mr. Rob Millenaar, the SSSM project manager.

<- Back to previous page