We built complete, custom microwave receivers for several, but they
didn't tell us the customer's names. They used a LNA at the feedhorn
and fed the output to our equipment. We were rarely told who the
customer was, unless it was a turnkey package or a rush order when they
would tag something to give it the highest priority.
So the first IF gain stage receiver at the dish after the cryogenic LNA?
What a strange place you worked.
The only production slots in our factory that did not have a customer
name on them were the ones being built on spec to avoid line stalls.
I can't see NRAO subcontracting out microwave receivers without going to
the suppliers to acceptance test them (and I certainly can't imagine
them paying extra for quick delivery - less for slow delivery maybe).
The VLA would want sets of 30 which would be a bit of a give-away.
What I described was for those motors, before a computer was
available.
For a price that was nothing like justifiable for the task. The old
synchronous clock motors were good enough. The mechanical gears caused
periodic errors that were way bigger than systematic mains drift.
But the fact remains mains drift was noticeable on a cold winters night.
Regards,
Martin Brown
