HIGH LOWV LMar 7144L(31st)-5r (31d)Apr / 782" (23rd) 16.8 (21st)

NEW SLETTER Total Precipitation:

.03"

From the World's Premier Centimeter Wave Radio Synthesis Telescopes

AROUND THE VLAWelcome aboard Joe Paez, Guard; JayApachito, Frank McCutcheon, and CarlosSoto, Painters; Carl Cano and Wade Dixon,Track Crew; and Richard Torres, AutoMechanic Helper.

Carl Oler completed a Dozer Operator Icourse at NMIMT.

Martin Lopez, Godin Otero, Tom Olney,and Marlin Smith (not pictured) were

presented with Star Awards

An "All Hands Presentation" took place atthe VLA on April 25. Jim Ulvestad, SocorroOperations Assistant Director, relayedinformation on subjects ranging from theDirector search and AUI contract topersonnel changes and budget information.Mark McKinnon presented Star Awards tothe Transporter Crew for devising a timelyand less expensive repair to the Transporter,and to Godin Otero for developing a newmethod for making manhole installationeasier and more effective. Wayne Koski,Co-chair of the Employee Committee spokeof the efforts and purpose of the EmployeeCommittee.

NOTES FROM THEA.D.On behalf of NRAO management, I'd like tothank all the employees at the AOC and theVLA site who participated in one or more ofthe public tours held monthly from Januarythrough April. Our visitors have been very

grateful for the personalized tours, and I'mpleased that we were able to show the VLA tomore than 2000 members of the generalpublic. During the summer months, theNRAO summer students will conduct tours onthe weekends. We currently are evaluatingthe results of the winter and spring tours inorder to determine whether to resume them,perhaps every 3 or 4 months, starting thisautumn.

The NRAO AUI Visiting Committee met inSocorro in April, and was very impressed withthe activities throughout NRAO in the lastyear. They told the NRAO Director that 2001was a "banner year" for NRAO. In May, theNRAO Users Committee meets in GreenBank. As stated on the Director's web site,"The Users Committee is made up of usersand potential users of NRAO facilities fromthroughout the scientific community. Itadvises the Director and the Observatory staffon all aspects of Observatoryactivjties thataffect the users of the telescopes." To manyof us, the Users Committee is a key barometerabout how well we are serving our customersin maintenance of current operations,implementation of new capabilities, andgeneral user services. For those who wouldlike details about the specific items of mostinterest to our observers, the Users Committeereports for the last five years can be found onthe web at http://www.nrao.edu/administration/directors office/externalcommittees.shtml.

In May, significant pieces of the first ALMATest Antenna will arrive at the VLA site. Thiswill be a very important event, on top of theusual bustle of summer activity at the VLA.The antenna arriving this year will be undercontract from the U.S. part of the ALMAproject; a prototype contracted by theEuropean part of the project is expected toarrive in 2003. Ultimately, the productionALMA antennas will operate at frequencies ashigh as 900 GHz, about 10 times higher thanthe VLBA antennas and nearly 20 times

higher than a VLA antenna! Please welcomethe contractors who are putting the antennatogether, as well as the members of the ALMAAntenna Evaluation Group who will bearriving to test the antenna performance.

J. Ulvestad

THE SMALL RADIOTELESCOPE HASARRIVED!The new baby antenna that recently appearedbehind the Visitor Center is our newestexhibit! Three senior design students fromNew Mexico Tech, Brian Rajala, GeraldBivens, and Sam Field, took on the project lastfall. They built the telescope from a kit andspent a considerable amount of time tweakingthe software to make it understandable by thegeneral public. By using a touchscreenvisitors will be able to point the antennatoward the Sun, Cygnus A or Cassiopeia A.The computer and touchscreen will be located F

inside the back door of the center so visitorscan watch the telescope as it tracks.

The Small Radio Telescope behindthe Visitor Center

Screens devised by the students will providean explanation of what the telescope is doingand "seeing." Thanks to all those who helpedon the project, and especially to Clint Janes foroverseeing the students' work.

R. Harrison

Win $$$A contest is being held to name each of thetwo VLA antenna transporters. Artwork anddesign ideas for a logo are also welcome.The transporters have carried names in pastyears but the names were removed a fewyears ago (reason unknown)., Transporter#1 was named "Hein's Trainr" after HeinHvatum, Associate Director for NRAO in the1970's. Transporter #2 was hamed "CamTrack" after the first VLA Assistant Director(1980) Cam Wade: Contest winners cah winup to $100 ($50 dollars ,per transporter).

The Contest rules are as follows: Any activeNRAO employee may enter and entries canbe a logo or a name but cannot be a the nameof an employee past or present. Entry shouldbe sent to Patty Lindsey, ES--Divisi0n, atVLA and must be received by June 15, 2002..All entries will be reviewed by a panel ofemployees and selections will be nmade bythe end of June.

L. Serna

CALIFORNIA.SUNSHINEOn April 4, 2002, the Owens Valley VLBAAntenna was removed from service becauseof frequent 'azimuth current motor sumsgreater than 30 amps" errors. After acomplete check of the drive.electronics, theSite Techs (Jim Brown and Bill Robins).found that the antenna had tight, spots inrotation.

Oh April 5, 2002, Phillip Sanchez and JohhWall left for Owens Valley in the Volvotruck. The truck was loaded" with all thetools and parts required to repair any'elementof the azimuth drive system. "Phillip andJohn werejoined by Steve Tenorio and JonThunborg who had flown in via Las Vegas.After an inspection of the azimuth rail anddrive wheel bearings, the gearbox wasdisassembled and inspected. The sun gearsand thrust bearings had excessive wear. Aspare gearbox was disassembled and most ofits parts were placed in the Az# 1 gearbox.Az gearbox.#2 was also disassembled andinspected.

SThe sun gears in Az#1 gearbox were wornSon the counter clockwise rotation side whilethe sun gears in Az#2 gearbox were worn onthe clockwise side. This uneven weir is

Sprobably due to the 30% servo preload usedto reduce backlash. During maintenancevisits to other sites, we will inspect thegearboxes. Ifthese gearboxes show identical

wear patterns, we should be able to extend the.life of the gears by reversing the direction ofthe preload or swapping the gears from onegearbox to. another. After several days ofservice, the Owens. Valley motor currentslooked typical and the "periodic currentfluctuation had disappeared.

J. Thunborg

EMPLOYEECOMMITTEEThe first employee.committee meeting of theyear was held recently. This was also the firstopportunity for our new AD, Jim Ulvestad, toaddress the committee members. The focus ofthe discussion was a clarification of theoverall role of the employee committee. Theemployee committee exists as a liaisonbetween the AD and the employees. Oneexample of a key role the employee committeehas played in the past is in communicating thedesire of AOC employees to have a modified'9-80' work schedule, another is theinstallation of the water coolers that have beeninstalled on each floor of the AOC.

If you have any suggestions :that mightimprove our work environment that you'd liketo convey to management, please don'thesitate to contact a committee member.Peggy Perley still serves on the committee buthas' stepped down. as chairperson, and hasbeen replaced by the dual 'chairperson ship' ofMarie Glendenning and Wayne Koski. Therest of.the committee members are LaurelArmijo, Claire Chandler, Charlie Chavez, BillHancock, Patty Lindsey, Peggy Perley,.Melcolm Peralta, Paul Savedra, Tom Baldwin,Sheila Reasner, Boyd Waters, and BrentWilloughby.

B. Willoughby

SPECIAL VISITORSOn Wednesday April 10, fifteen (possibly)future scientists visited the Very Large Array.They sat on the floor of the AntennaAssembly Building and pondered the heightof Antenna 16. Then they went outside andstood next to the Transporter, noting that itswheels were taller than many of them. On theobservation deck they observed the jackrabbits. Oh, and the antennas in the array.The highlight of the day was lunch at thepicnic tables. Throughout their tour theyconferred with distinguished VLA employees,namely Lonnie "Dad" Guin, Melcolm"Grandpa" Peralta, "Uncle" Ramon Molina,Jimmy "Grandpa" Sanchez, and Patty"Grammie" Lindsey. The one they all called"Grandma" is known as "Mom" to MichaelTorres

Jimmy Sancnez witn theMagdalena HeadStart class

We hope to see the Magdalena HeadStart makea visit to-the VLA an annual event!

R. Harrison

MAY SKIESMercury will be at its greatest elongation on the4 th but will be gone from our viewi by mid'month. I hope you get a chance to see theplanetary alignment 'of Mercury, Venus, Mars,Saturn and Jupiter before Mercury departs, asyou'll have to wait until 2044 to see it again!.

The moon will be in its last quarter on the 4th,'new on the 12 t", first quarter on the 19

th and fullagain on the 26th.. Once again it will stair steppast the planets as it progresses from new tofull. -

Spring is here and Summer is on the way. I'vealways associated the upside down Big Dipperwith summer. Next time you have a chance,look at the star that forms the bend in thehandle. See if you notice anything "different"about this star. I'll explain more in nextmonth's column.

While the pointer stars of the dipper lead us tothe "North Star" the handle actually performs asimilar task. If you follow the arc of the handleit will lead you to a bright orange giant starnamed "Arcturus" in the constellation Bootes--The Herdsman. Arcturus is Greek for "BearKeeper" and the bear, in this case, is UrsaMajor or The Big Dipper! It is the 4th brightest-star you can see from Earth and is 18 timeslarger than our sun. It is also a very neighborly37 light years away.

Continuing on south, we come to the 1 4th

brightest star Spica, in the constellation Virgo--The Virgin. Spica, which means "Ear ofWheat," is 7.4 times the diameter of our Sunand 262 light years away. Actually, Spica is adouble star whose luminosity will vary slightlyas the two stars orbit about and eclipse eachother. Happy stargazing!

J. Spargo