Gene, Danny: This is my recommendation for the MEX bistatic radar operation Sunday morning. For this experiment, the spacecraft attitude is fixed; so there will be a surface echo for no more than 10 minutes. LCP will be stronger than RCP; but both may be so weak we will have trouble seeing them in real time. Since Earth-Mars distance is large and continues to increase, it is time to change the X-RCP FGAIN setting. FGAIN = 60 dB on all channels makes sense. We need to use a FRO for both S- and X-Band; on X-Band these will be different for 25 and 100 kHz and they will be entered at different times. Dick - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2006/092 ----- 14:05 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 16:05 Begin of track (DL = ??; TX may be off) 16:10 Begin 4-channel 25 kHz recordings (SCHAN 3) 16:17 Occultation ingress 16:29 Periapsis (spacecraft in occultation) 16:33 Occultation egress (DL = X+S; X-Band TLM ON) 16:40 X-Band TLM OFF 16:45 FRO_X = -26000 Hz (SCHAN 4) FRO_S = -7000 Hz (SCHAN 3 and 4) 17:00 Begin Slew #1 17:05 FRO_X = -46000 Hz (SCHAN 3) 17:10 Begin Mini-Cal #1 17:25 End Mini-Cal #1 (end of Step 5) 17:29 End Slew #1 17:45 Begin 4-channel 100 kHz recordings (SCHAN 4) 18:00 Maximum echoes (LCP > RCP, but both very weak) 18:15 End 100 kHz recordings (SCHAN 4) 18:30 Begin Slew #2 (back to Earth point) 18:35 Begin Mini-Cal #2 18:50 End Mini-Cal #2 (end of Step 5) 18:55 FRO_x = 0 (SCHAN 3 and 4) FRO_s = 0 (SCHAN 3 and 4) 19:00 End Slew #2 DL = X+S 19:05 Begin Post-Cal (10 minutes early) 20:15 End of activity (if not sooner) Stop 25 kHz recordings