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Outdoor Ranges

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  4. 212 West Range
  • 212 East Range
  • 212 West Range
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212 West Range

The Building 212 West antenna range is equipped with an azimuth over elevation positioner with a 20-ft fiberglass mast supporting a motorized polarization roll head. The positioner is track mounted (650 ft track) to enable adjustment of the distance between source antenna and receive antenna. An adjustable azimuth table allows the test engineer to position the test antenna phase center over the center ofrotation for far-field phase measurements. The source antenna has adjustable height and polarization (roll). The range normally operates from UHF through the Ka-band frequencies. The West range is often used to measure low gain antennas mounted on spacecraft and rovers such as the DTF Rover shown below and the UHF and other lower frequency antennas used on rovers and for spacecraft instruments. RF absorber is available to mitigate ground bounce effects.

212 West
212 West
Europa Clipper REASON HF dipole test at the West Range

Europa Clipper REASON HF dipole test at the West Range

DTM MER Rover Deck at West Range

DTM MER Rover Deck at West Range

Inflated airbag up on positioner mast

Inflated airbag up on positioner mast

About MESA

The MESA Antenna test facility provides cost competitive, rapid access, high accuracy antenna RF performance certification and calibration services for JPL spacecraft telecommunications systems and flight instruments such as Radars and Radiometers. The facility also supports developmental RF testing and characterization in support of JPL research and technology tasks. Measurement capabilities include antenna patterns and peak gain, polarization characteristics, impedance and bandwidth, multipaction and ionization breakdown testing.

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Updated: March 23, 2021