Antenna measurement techniques at 11 GHz

The European Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) will be supported by an earth station that will be used for telemetry, telecommand, and orbital control functions, and will be equipped with communications test facilities suitable for measuring the performance of the satellite payload. The earth station antenna will operate at 11 GHz. It is shown how radio astronomy methods can be applied to the calibration of antennas operating at frequencies above 10 GHz, where direct G/T measurement used at lower frequencies is insufficiently accurate. Useful measurements which can be made without undue difficulty are gain, noise temperature, pointing accuracy, and sidelobe level. Methods required to measure cross polar discrimination are examined.