1. Parkes ATUC Report Nov 2007

2. Stats Scheduled observing time (2007) –85% Downtime (last 12 months): –1% system faults –3.1% high wind

3. Observer feedback 25 reports last 12 months –9.7 for after-hours support –9.4 for quarters comfort -7.4 for RFI (immunity from)

4. From ‘Production and Impact of Radio Telescopes 2001- 2005’ Trimble & Ceja (2007)

5. Open Days, Sep 2007 3500 visitors 2000 tower tourists

6. Receivers With new 16-26GHz receiver, can cover most of the the spectrum from 1.2 - 26GHz 20cm multibeam remains state-of-the-art for next 4-5 years (until FPA?)

7. Receiver developments Frequency agility - lightweight 18-20cm receiver –use Multibeam only for part of year –upgrade existing H-OH? 8GHz MARS receiver –Modify conversion to get 1GHz bandwidth –New S/X feedhorn for astrometry/geodesy

8. Pulsar/transient backends Pulsar timing –PDFB2 operational (1GHz x 2IF) –PDFB3 coming soon (1GHz x 4IF) Search mode –APSR coming soon (~8Gb/s BBR) –Search mode for PDFB3 –MBDFB (new 13 beam search engine)

9. APSR – the Delluge

10. MBDFB Collaboration between Swinburne, Berkeley, Manchester, Cagliari, ATNF, Effelsburg 13-beam filterbank search engine with higher spectral resolution. Targets; MSPs, transients, relativistic binaries

11. Still lots out there

12. Spectral line Multibeam correlator still the workhorse –2048 or 4096 channels max for nb > 2 –Up to 16384 channels for single beam MOPS correlator needed for 16-26GHz receiver – possibly using PDFB3? s/w correlators possible (using CPSR,PAMELA)

13. Standing-wave problem Robert Braun et al. taking a fresh approach. Use randomised scatterers at aperture blockages

14. VLBI Parkes key element in VLBI array Mark 5b recorder now (almost) working eVLBI ‘PAMHELA’ on track 16-26GHz receiver

15. Mark 5 VLBI recorder

17. Matenet – now replaced by observatory fibre links

18. FPA 12m testbed antenna

19. The price of flexibility – more automation of routine configurations

20. Unattended operation? Completely unattended operation may leave ATNF exposed DCP within 1km, possibly asleep; –Maintaining observer vigilance –Remote monitoring, including fire alarms –Odd noises – early intervention

21. For the chop AT correlator WBC (Wideband pulsar correlator) Mark3A VLBI recorder S2 VLBI recorder PDFB1 lifetime is limited Pulsar analogue f/b ditto (post-MBDFB)