NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY
                         Green Bank, WV


MEMORANDUM                                      December 23, 1997

TO:       R. Fisher, R. Lacasse, R. Norrod, M. McKinnon, C. Niday,
          T. Weadon
FROM:     R. Lacasse
SUBJ:     Minutes of Interference Protection Group 12/23/97 Meeting

     In attendance:      Fisher, Lacasse, and Niday, Weadon


RFI Call-outs

     None.


Status of Spectrum Analyzer

     Should be shipped very soon.


Report on Fisher's Trip to Australia

     The purpose of the trip was to attend a conference on a large,
next generation telescope.  The design goal is a 1 square kilometer
surface good to 20GHz.  Representatives from Australia, Canada,
England, France, Holland, and India, the SETI organization, and the
U.S. attended.  

     The interference environment is of interest to the potential
builders of this antenna.  Consequently,  the experience and
expertise of the Green Bank IPG is of interest as well.  At some
point, the IPG could provide some sort of support for building an
interference  monitoring station.


Budget Items

     Requested items for next year total $37K.  This includes $15K
to upgrade the (yet to be built) monitoring station and ready it
for installation on the GBT.  The NRAO budget is expected to be
"flat" in 1998; the impact on the IPG budget request is unknown,
and probably will not be clear for a few months.  



Workstation/PC Shielded Enclosure

     The enclosure is complete, but untested.  A cart will be
required for it as it weighs about 100 pounds.



Spectral Processor GUI

     Work on a GUI for operating the Spectral Processor from the
Anechoic Chamber is nearing completion.  End to end tests of the
system should be possible next month.


Status of IPG Recommendations on Tested Equipment

     Weadon reported that some work has been done in electronics as
a result of tests conducted by the IPG.  This includes
modifications to the Feed Defroster, Switching Signal Distributor,
and Weather Station.  Work on other electronics items was
consciously deferred.  

     The laser group needs recommendations from the IPG to further
improve the 1500MHz oscillator.  

**** Action item for Lacasse and Niday: Forward recommendations to
     Weadon.

**** Action item for Weadon:  Discuss above recommendations with
     Parker.

**** Action item for Lacasse and Niday: test the GBT feed arm servo
     system before February.


Next Meeting

     Second Tuesday in January, at 0800.