MERLIN development
During the summer maintenance period, major modifications were made
to the Knockin and Darnhall telescopes to bring them to the same
stage in the 'frequency flexibility' development programme to which
the Pickmere telescope had been brought during the summer of 1995.
This entailed the removal of the innermost ring of panels from the
surface of each telescope and the installation of an almost completely
new and much larger secondary focus cabin. Each secondary focus cabin
now houses a carousel on which it is possible to mount several receivers,
any one of which will be computer selectable at any one time, once the
necessary computer control has been implemented. The next stage of the
engineering work, the installation of a 'cable turner' for the new
carousel and a part of its drive control mechanism, has also been carried
out in the Darnhall telescope focus box.
In addition to the above, new telescope control computers and their
associated interfaces were installed at Defford and Pickmere and the
opportunity was taken to continue with the implementation of a new
correlator on-line computer and microprocessor system and its
associated hardware and software.
wlm@ast.cam.ac.uk