Green Bank Machinist Roger Dickenson carefully guides the drill to place small holes into a gold electroplated phase shifter for a receiver. Almost every one of the components that went into the Very Large Array’s upgraded receivers could not be commercially purchased. This is true also for some bands of ALMA and all Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) receivers. Instead, the components were developed, measured and manufactured by the combined talents of the Central Development Lab, of which this machine shop is a critical part.
Computer-controlled Milling
Green Bank Machinist Roger Dickinson places the drill head of his milling machine exactly where he needs it, and then will tell the computer above him to use that as a guidepost for a set of precision holes on this phase guide.
Old Control Room of the VLA
Nostalgic photo telescope operator Linda Sowinski and the computers that once ran the Very Large Array in central New Mexico. A 25-meter antenna of the VLA is framed in the window.
Elevation Gear Overhaul
Inside the Antenna Assembly Building at the Very Large Array (VLA) in central New Mexico, technicians inspect the giant elevation gear of an antenna.
Humble Beginnings
The NRAO set up its Green Bank Observatory offices in an old farm house owned by the Beard family. It was later nicknamed ‘The Nutbin” — not for reasons one may think, but because the gutters collected falling nuts from that tree behind it. The Nutbin was also a laboratory, and these first telescopes on site sent their radio wave data directly to the astronomers working inside the Nutbin. From left to right, the telescopes are a feed horn sticking out of the window, a 12-foot, and a 20-foot. These were used to test radio interference and atmospheric conditions.
Engineering in Green Bank
Green Bank Engineer Ike Johnson sketches some new ideas for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT).