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Fairbanks, AK

Instrument

Dartmouth Programmable Frequency Receiver (PFR)

This receiving system consists of a loop antenna of approximately 10 square meters.  The antenna response is a dipole, with the null in the horizontal plane oriented such as to eliminate the largest source of local interference. A low-noise preamplifier at the antenna has frequency response 100 kHz to above 5 MHz, and transmits these signals through a 50-ohm coaxial cable to the observatory as little as a few hundred feet or as much as a mile away, depending on the station.

The PFR is a superheterodyne receiver tunable to 0-5 MHz using IF frequency of 10.7 MHz and crystal filter with bandwidth 7.5 kHz. The local oscillator is controlled directly by a PC running DOS. In the standard mode, frequency is stepped from 30 kHz to 5 MHz in 10-kHz steps, repeating the 498-frequency sequence each 2 seconds. Other programs are used on occasion, including faster frequency switching.  In the standard mode, data are collected 20-24 hrs/day, archived on disk in the PC at the station, backed up onto CD-ROM monthly by a local operator, and mailed to Dartmouth (except at Arviat and Taloyoak, where data are backed up annually onto tape by visiting personnel from SED Inc.)

For more information, see: Weatherwax, A.T., Ground-based observations of auroral radio emissions, Ph.D. thesis, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., 1994.