Minutes 24th November 1999

Those present

A.Pedlar, J.Cohen, B. Anderson, P. Wilkinson, A. Lyne, R. Spencer, P. Diamond, T. Muxlow

1. Minutes of Sept 8th meeting

These were accepted.

2. Matters arising

Memorandum of Agreement. It was hoped  that we could sign up at the SKA steering group meeting to be held at the SPIE meeting in Munich in March 2000. Action: PNW to contact Harvey Butcher to discuss the protocol for signature.

Forthcoming SKA meetings: AGL & JPL would attend the Pune Low Frequency meeting and RJC the RFI meeting at Sydney. PNW will attend the SPIE meeting in Munich in March 2000.

3. Membership

AP suggested that the membership of the focus group be broadened to include Neil Roddis, Brian Smith & Peter Thomasson. This was agreed. Action: AP to contact new focus group members.  In addition PNW agreed to act as focus group secretary -- at least for this meeting.

4. Representation on SKA steering committee.

PD reported that a SKA  international steering committee had been set up. It is proposed that the UK will have two delegates. One possibility was that PD & PNW fill these posts, but AP suggested that a delegate from another UK institution, such as MRAO, might be a good idea.  This was generally agreed. PNW suggested that a short SKA discussion take place at the end of the one-day 'Deep Surveys' meeting planned for Oxford in March and that the UK delegates be decided then. This was accepted. Action: PNW to confirm number and discuss role of delegates with Harvey Butcher.

5. Preliminary SKA webpage

AP distributed printouts of the proposed Jodrell SKA webpages which were welcomed as an excellent start.  AP emphasised, however,  that they were still incomplete and that several of the linked webpages required updates. Jim Cohen suggested we included details of the 1994 SKA meeting held at Jodrell be included. Action: PNW to find the text of earliest SKA paper (presented in Socorro 1991)  and of other JBO SKA-related papers or evidence of
activity.

It was also agreed that there should be links i) to the fibres page; ii) to the poster which R. Fisher is creating for the JBO August 2000 technical workshop Action: AP to make appropriate links.

6.  Possible Grant Applications

There was a brief discussion of Royal Society of Engineering 5 year posts in the contect of a fibre engineer but no action ensued.  There was also a discussion of EU possibilities (RTD, TMR) for ALMA and SKA work within the broad context of a radio technology development programme.  No action resulted. Given the likelihood that the SKA fibre links would follow ALMA (and hopefully MERLIN) and use digital technology it is vital that we be able to shield the MERLIN and SKA front-ends very efficiently from  stray emissions emerging from the GHz-bandwidth digital  electronics. It was suggested that this was an ideal topic for funding by the Radio Communications Agency.
Action: RJC to investigate possibility of funding work this via a grant from the RA.

7. August Technical SKA Meeting

PD outlined some local  details. Attendees will be housed in the De Trafford Arms. Alderley Edge or in the Boddington Arms, Wilmslow or in the JBO dormitory. A firm view emerged that the proceedings should be published. Action: PD to contact SOC for their views on publication. NRAO is putting together a poster (see item 5 above). A 20-poster session will be organised at the meeting; PD suggested that this be housed in the Library.

8. Date of next meeting

Wednesday 2nd February 2000 at 9:30 am.