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System upgrades

During the last few month, all Bure antennas were equipped with dual polarization receivers operating in the 2mm band from 129GHz to 174GHz (see also the contribution by Roberto Neri in the IRAM Newsletter No. 70). At the same time, the 1.3mm receivers were upgraded with new triplers that now allow to observe up to a frequency of 267GHz.

These upgrades came along with a complete exchange of the computer system on Plateau de Bure (real-time system, antenna control computers, ...) where the former HPUX and OS9 systems were replaced by 64-bit CPUs operated under LINUX. This hardware upgrade also required major modifications of the corresponding antenna control and data acquisition software in the real-time system. After some initial debugging, regular observing was resumed in December.

The new 2mm receivers and the extended tuning range of the 1mm band were successfully tested and commissioned during the Christmas period, the new frequency windows are offered to the community in the following Call for proposals.



Clemens Thum 2008-02-15