Building 243 Chamber
The Building 243 anechoic chamber is 22 feet by 12.5 feet in cross section and the room length is 24 feet while the range length is 15 feet. The chamber surfaces are lined with pyramidal microwave absorber. Its characteristics are such that the range is normally used above X-band. The chamber was specifically designed for testing of low gain horns.
The transmit antenna is mounted (elevated) with polarization rotation-only at the control room end of the chamber. The range is equipped with a wide-band, tunable, phase-locked loop amplitude and phase receiver. The positioner control and display allow operator control of the elevation, azimuth and polarization of the test antenna as well as the polarization of the transmit antenna. The transmit power is also controllable via the data acquisition software.
The equipment in the Building 243 anechoic chamber is currently configured for far field measurement. Patterns have been recorded in the 243 chamber over the frequency range from 7.0 GHz through 40.0 GHz.
The upper surface or mounting plane of the positioner is nearly flush with the chamber floor, this permits easy removal of the existing traverse table assembly and installation of other test antenna support structures when required. Rear wall access doors are provided for ground level access to the chamber.
Note: As this range is infrequently used, it is maintained in a state of safe storage. Some cost and schedule impact should be anticipated and budgeted to support returning the range to the state of readiness required to support testing. Estimate available upon request.
