Abstract
Abstract. This paper gives an inside view of the first 20 years of operation of the Kiruna–Sodankylä–Tromsø (KST) part of EISCAT as experienced and remembered by myself. The paper is subdivided into an Introduction and 14 additional sections. Sections 2 to 7 describe the organisation, staffing and responsibilities of the sites, with particular emphasis on the transmitter-related work at Tromsø and the commuting of staff and equipment between the sites. The headquarters operation is treated in Sect. 8. The UHF radar system is treated in Sect. 9. Section 10 is a review of the VHF system, including a summary of transmitter and antenna problems not available elsewhere in easily accessed media. Section 11 treats the computer system and the proprietary control languages EROS, TARLAN and CORLAN. Section 12 describes the signal processing hardware, with special emphasis on the Alker correlator, its idiosyncrasies and the gradual unlocking of its capabilities through UNIPROG, the GEN system and the G2 system, culminating in the ability to run alternating code experiments routinely. Section 13 presents the time and frequency keeping, a non-trivial task in the early 1980s. Finally, Sect. 14 discusses the UHF spectrum problem and relates how the UHF system had to be constantly upgraded in order to be able to co-exist with the emerging mobile phone networks until the final closure of UHF reception at Kiruna and Sodankylä in 2012. The paper ends with some personal reflections (Sect. 15).
Highlights
EISCAT, the European Incoherent SCATter radar system, is a multi-site incoherent scatter radar (ISR) system, originally planned for studies of the auroral ionosphere and located in the auroral zone in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden
In Finland and Sweden, recruitment and employment of the site staff were to be subcontracted to the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO) and the Kiruna Geophysical Institute (KGI, later IRF) under a “matrix organisation” arrangement: site staff would belong to the line organisations of the local host institutions but work full time for EISCAT under direct control and supervision by headquarters and be charged with operating and maintaining the radar equipment at their respective sites, effectively forming the operational branch of EISCAT
Until Finland and Sweden joined the EU on 1 January 1995, and free mobility of goods throughout the EU was established, transport of goods between the three host countries was strictly controlled. This put an extra burden on the staff when preparing for a trip because all instruments, test equipment, tools and spare parts transported between the sites were considered merchandise and had to be declared; even the data tapes recorded in Tromsø and Sodankylä that had to be physically transported to Kiruna for processing at HQ were regarded as a sellable commodity! Every border passage involved a stop for customs control, at which the driver was expected to hand in a set of customs declarations prepared before the trip and containing a detailed classification and evaluation of the goods transported
Summary
EISCAT, the European Incoherent SCATter radar system, is a multi-site incoherent scatter radar (ISR) system, originally planned for studies of the auroral ionosphere and located in the auroral zone in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden. It is clear that the EISCAT system was established at the best possible time, when there was a brief window of opportunity where all the technical prerequisites for wideband incoherent scatter studies of the ionosphere were on hand at the same time. In the early 1970s, blocks of unused and partially unallocated VHF and UHF spectrum in the frequency ranges optimal for ionospheric incoherent scatter observations and wide enough to receive the full scatter spectrum (10–15 MHz) were still available in the Nordic countries.
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