Funds approved

So ... the funds for the hardware have been approved ... all we have to do now is to negotiate the logistics with DEAT.

Off to a meeting with DEAT on Thurs ... will keep you all up to speed ...

On a personal note ... I have been given permission to go down this year ... am really looking forward to being back on the ice ... Will be different to the last time though ... apparently things are quite different on the voyages now. But with Lötter as team leader ... who knows????

Application off to NRF

So ... the application for emergency funding is on its way with enthusiastic support from DEAT and so now we wait for the bean counters to see if they have enough spare beans for us.

The only main possible hiccup at the moment is the requirement for another four mounting points to be drilled in the rock. Two for the outer two antenna poles and two for the reflector tensioners.

DEAT will be putting in a special request for drilling equipment with the treasury and so more beans need to be counted.

If the drilling cannot be done this year, I guess we will have to mount 14 of the 16 antennas and come up with a clever way to keep the corner reflector under tension.

Any comments ...

Cheers
Linds

Calling Dirk

Anyone know how to get hold of Dirk?

From Pieter

Hi

I know how it feels to loose a Ae array. (One thing one learns at SANAE is that their are things mightier than man)

Intrestingly a Wire Log Periodic array (single mast with only wires) was proposed after the first Ae failure - the main objections was 1) that the Ae pattern will differ from those of the other radars and 2) that the wires will pose a thread to birds in flight.

I'm happy that the Interferometer was implimented with the TFTD and that the array was thus verified to be suitable for SANAE IV conditions. The best of luck for the money raising and well done to the HMO team

I'm available for the takeover - if you need personnel to buil the Ae at home or at SANAE!

Regards,

Pieter S36

Oh ... the winds of change

So Llewellyn joins the distinguished group of SHARE cassies to witness a catastrophic antenna failure. We hope the ordeal has not distressed him too much.

So the story goes that a severe storm (wind +/- 180km/h) caused a guy on the second most easterly antenna to fail. The problem was that that antenna was upwind. A game of dominoes ensued and when the blizzard cleared the destruction was apparent.

We are now in negotiations to secure funding to replace the damaged antennas ... never the easiest of tasks, but we are confident. If all goes well we will be replacing the log-periodic antenna design with a newer Twin-Folded-Terminated-Dipole wire antenna suspended from a set of poles. The design is close to what was used to construct the inteferometer antennas a few years ago.

We are going with the tried Blackstone radar design.

So this takeover looks to be a fun filled affair, but with Lötter as team leader ... how can we fail.

Till later
Linds

Who's who .... details

Got a message from Barend asking for a bit more detail about the newer/older members of the team ... this is what I have

• Pieter Swanevelder - S36


• Barend Bezuidenhout - S37


• Fanus (Hercules) Olivier - S38


• Jan Wiid - S39


• Dirk Uys - S40


• Garron Fish - S41


• Naas Janse van Rensburg - S42


• Pieter Wolmarans - S43


• Chris van der Merwe - S44


• Lötter Kock - S45


• Dewald Voigt & Zamikhaya Magogotya - S46


• Llewellyn Kriedemann - S47


• Keith Browne - S48

Have a look at http://sanap.org.za/ and look at the teams link for more info.

Linds

P.S. Post to the blog ... I'm sure others what to know what you have to say

SHARE update

So ... the SHARE engineers community continues to grow ... some of the fathers (grandfathers) of the radar are still active in the SuperDARN community, others have moved on to greener pastures.

Well, here we have a place to keep those of you interested updated with SHARE developments, as well as a place to 'chew the fat' with current and past engineers.

So ... who's who in the zoo?

Well the three current engineers are Zama (returning) Llewellyn (current) and Kieth (training) and of course ... the rest of you should know each other :)

Current projects are

• upgrading of the old ROS
• the integration of digital receivers into the radar system at SANAE
• development of a glider beacon for calibrating the radar beams/interferometer etc

In the pipeline are Stereo radar functionality and transmitter box re-engineering.

I am keen that all of you should be able to post to the blog so pop a mail to me so that i can set the right permissions.

Cheers for now
Linds