Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Radio Telescope [PAGE 8]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

Location Five miles southeast of Danville, Illinois; 35 miles east of Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. Cost $ 8 7 1 , 6 5 0 , including $741,000 from Office of Naval Research, $25,900 from National Science Foundation, $104,750 from University funds. Director Professor George C. McVittie, head, University of Illinois, Department of Astronomy. Designer Professor George W . Swenson, Jr., Department of Astronomy and Department of Electrical Engineering, project engineer, with contributions from Professors John D. Dyson and Yuen T. Lo, Department of Electrical Engineering. Consulting engineers Hanson, Collins, and Rice, Springfield, Illinois. Contractors Chism and Miller, Inc., Springfield, Illinois, jointly with W . B. Clements Company, W e l l ington, Illinois. Telescope reflector 600 feet long, 4 0 0 feet wide, created by shaping a natural ravine into a parabolic cylinder. Earth surface is covered with sheets of asphalt liner to prevent erosion. Reflecting surface consists of wire mesh screen lying on asphalt liner; screen reflects incoming signals onto 276 antennas placed along the focal line. This line Is 153 feet above lowest part of surface. Antennas are fastened to underside of wooden truss carried on four wooden towers. Truss is 4 2 5 feet long. Radio receiver Operates megacycles. on frequency of 611

O p e r a t i o n By mechanical rotation of the antennas, beam can be directed to any point from 10 to 7 0 degrees above south horizon point; for east-west movement the telescope depends on the rotation of the earth.