Arecibo line feed (or what is left of it)

One of the first things I did when I got to Arecibo, was to pay my respects to the line feed that was hacked down by hurricane Maria. This was my favorite feed -- the most sensitive one to use for incoherent scatter radar. Here are some pictures of one of the two battered sections that fell down. You can tell from how the metal is cracked that the winds have given the feed a pretty good beating.

The good news is that congress has pledged to fix all the damage caused by the hurricane. This means that there will hopefully soon be a new line feed that will replace this one. I heard that quotes for fabricating a replacement have been made.

The other good news is that the Gregorian (dome) wasn't damaged in the hurricane. This means that the 430 MHz radar can still be used, but not anymore in dual beam mode.






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