Gene:

This is my recommendation for the MEX bistatic radar operation tomorrow
(Friday) morning. It will be very similar to what we did last Sunday.

If 63 is on point 10 minutes early, we could catch the egress occultation --
at least on S-Band.  Both transmitters go off at the end of the BSR, so you
won't have to wait for the spacecraft to return to Earth point.

The detailed processing at Stanford shows a surface echo present for more
than 20 minutes in X-LCP rather than just the 5-6 we saw in real-time Sunday.
There may be something present in X-RCP and S-LCP; haven't finished squeezing
yet.  Only one that looks empty so far is S-RCP, and that was the least
likely.  So the experiment is working; we just have weak echoes.

I'll plan to be near the phone in the lab at Stanford (650-723-0296) --
planning the experiment for day 098.

Thanks,
Dick

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2006/097
-----

15:35  Begin Pre-cal at DSS 63
       FGAIN = 60 dB (all channels)
       FRO_X = 0; FRO_S = 0 (changes later)
       Start 4-channel 25 kHz recordings after Step 4
       Stop 25 kHz recording after Step 18

17:25  Begin 4-channel 25 kHz recordings (SCHAN 3)
       S-Tx should be on, but spacecraft is in occultation
       X-Tx is probably off

17:33  Occultation egress

17:35  Begin of track (or earlier)

17:38  X-Tx ON (if not already); TLM OFF, so P/No approx 67 dB

17:50  FRO_X = -23000 Hz (SCHAN 4)
       FRO_S =  -7000 Hz (SCHAN 3 and 4)

18:06  Begin Slew #1

18:10  FRO_X = -44000 Hz (SCHAN 3)

18:15  Begin Mini-Cal #1

18:30  End Mini-Cal #1 (end of Step 5)

18:35  End Slew #1 (113 deg off Earth point)

18:51  Begin 4-channel 100 kHz recordings (SCHAN 4)

19:06  Maximum echoes (LCP > RCP, but both very weak)

19:21  End 100 kHz recordings (SCHAN 4)

19:36  Begin Slew #2 (back to Earth point)
       S-Tx and X-Tx both turned off; so no more signals from MEX

19:40  Begin Mini-Cal #2

19:55  End Mini-Cal #2 (end of Step 5)

20:00  End of track
       Begin Post-Cal

21:00  End of activity (if not sooner)
       Stop 25 kHz recordings