M4.0 observation of Callisto in Mexico

May be first light of Callisto spectrometer at UNAM in Mexico City. It shows the radio burst connected with an M4.0 flare of December 25th 2011.
Due to high level of local interference the data array was filtered in IDL with Lee-Filter.
zz = LeeFilt(z,1)

NOAA-event-list:
2460       1811   1816      1820  G15  5   XRA  1-8A      M4.0    1.1E-02      
2460       1814   1819      1911  HOL  3   FLA  S22W26    1N      ERU       1387
2460 +     1814   1815      1816  SAG  G   RBR  8800      390               1387
2460 +     1814   1815      1816  SAG  G   RBR  610       360               1387
2460       1814   1815      1815  SAG  G   RBR  15400     360               1387
2460 +     1814   1815      1815  SAG  G   RBR  4995      150               1387
2460 +     1814   ////      1847  SAG  C   RSP  025-180   VI/2              1387
2460 +     1814   1815      1815  SAG  G   RBR  1415      130               1387
2460       1814   1815      1815  SAG  G   RBR  2695      120               1387
2460       1815   1815      1819  HOL  3   FLA  S21W31    SF      DSD       1380
2460 +     1815   1815      1824  SAG  G   RBR  245       12000             1387
2460 +     1815   1815      1820  SAG  G   RBR  410       2400              1387
2460       1817   ////      1857  PAL  C   RSP  025-180   IV/3              1387
2460 +     1820   ////      1831  SAG  U   RSP  025-062   II/2    1019      1387

Callisto at SCO, Hurbanovo Slovakia

A new Callisto system has been successfully set into operation during the weekend from December 16th until December 19th. The location it at SCO in Hurbanovo, Slovakia. Antenna is a CLP-5130 from Create and the pre-amplifier is MiniCircuits ZX60-33LN-S+

Callisto at the University of Pune/India operational

Installation of a new Callisto at Pune University in India between 23th and 25th of November 2011 during a Solar Radio Workshop dedicated to Callisto and e-Callisto network. During the workshop two other groups from Ahmedabad/India and Sri Lanka learned how to install and configure a Callisto system. S. Ananthakrishnan (Pune) and Rajamal Jain (Ahmedabad) studying the new log-per on the roof of the institute of electronic science. The preamplifier is close to the top of the antenna to get full sensitivity. The antenna, a special design covering 100 MHz - 1000 MHz is pointing to an average position of the sun during transit.
And we already got a first light on Nov. 23th at 08:47 UTC. It shows the first harmonic of a low frequency type II solar radio burst.

Callisto operational in Simpheropol, Crimea

Antenna used for e-CALLISTO is a synphased array of 16 elements (4x4) with total size of 3.5x3.5 meter. Every Yagi consists of 7 dipoles. The frequency range is 250-350 MHz, the beam pattern is of the order of 11^o. Aerial is set on a parallactic mount with an electric drive for tracking the sun from 5 UT up to 13 UT.

The antenna is connected with a CALLISTO spectrometer (placed in a laboratory room) through out a preamplifier ZX60-33LN+ having a gain of 20 dB (placed in antenna box) and through 40 meters of coaxial cable (total losses 4 dB). The sensitivity of the equipment is good enough for the observation of quite sun level.

A construction of new antenna with bigger frequency range is planned in future.

Photo: courtesy: Aleksandr Volvach, Radio Astronomy of Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Ukraine.

Callisto Helwan University Cairo, Egypt

Installation of a large log-per at Space Weather Monitoring Center at Helwan University south of Cairo, Egypt.
The antenna covers 20 MHz up to about 175 MHz. A MiniCircuits preamplifier is just below the antenna enclosed in a metal box.

S-Band spectrometer based on Callisto

Below 1 GHz local interference (rfi) is too high to get acceptable data quality. Therefore I decided to go higher in frequency into S-band. A cheap WiFi antenna is pointing to the meridian position of the sun and the rf-signal is down-converted by a heterodyne converter (eBay) into the base band of Callisto. With this configuration it should even be possible to measure quiet sun flux...

Input reflection coefficient Callisto

s11 over the whole frequency range of Callisto is always < 10dB. Philips specifications guarantees 8dB. So this instrument is o.k. in terms of input reflection.