VENTSPILS INTERNATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY CENTER - CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (1993 - 1999)
Compilation made by Edgars Bervalds & Zigurds Sika

1993
The existence of the previously secret antennas is revealed.
Withdrawal of armed forces of the former Soviet Union from the Baltics negotiated.
Support to preserve the antennas by the international radio astronomy community.

1994
July 19 Latvian government transfers the antennas to the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
July 22 At 12h 45m, the Latvian Academy of Sciences begins the takeover. At 18h, the last soldier has left, and the site is placed under guard.
Sept. Visit at the site by astronomers from Sweden.
October A working group is formed for the renewal work of the 32-m antenna.
Nov. 14 Start of antenna examination and of the damages made.
Dec. 16 Electricity supply renewed, with red lamps illuminating the 32-m dish for its first non-secret Christmas.

July 22, 1994. Headquarters of the military unit of the Russian army in Irbene; a commission of the Latvian Academy of Sciences assumes possession of the former Space Communication Centre from the representatives of the Russian part. Photo by M. Zirnite.

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April 27, 1995. A minute after the restoring of the performance of the RT-32. Photo by Z. Kipere.

1995
Mar. 22 Following replacements and repairs, the hydraulic brakes are activated.
April 9 Metal pieces thrown into the mechanical drives by the departing army have been removed. First motion of antenna around its vertical axis.
April 25 Nails driven in by soldiers have been extracted from cables. Zenith-lock motors activated, releasing the antenna. First motion of the antenna around its horizontal axis.
May 9 Repairs of drive electronics (which had been drenched in electrolytic acid), and of cables that had been cut, now permit antenna motion under electrical motor power (vertical axis). The motion in elevation follows on June 14.
Sept. 19 Latvian Academy of Sciences decides to found "Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre" as a working unit inside the Academy.

1996
April 12 An agreement of radio astronomy cooperation signed by Swedish, Latvian, and Russian organizations, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.
April 24 Government of Latvia decides to found VIRAC as an independent organization.
June 9 Antenna feed and radiometer installed; first signals recorded from the Sun.
July-Aug. Radio amateurs communicate by bouncing signals off the Moon (at 23 cm).
August Mapping of the antenna directional pattern, using a transmitter on Mikelbaka lighthouse.
Sept. 15 First detection of distant cosmic radio sources: Cas A and Cyg A.
Sept. 17 Completion of the manually controlled antenna movement systems.
Oct. 4 First meeting of the VIRAC Board.
Oct. 12 During a partial solar eclipse, radio emission is monitored at 12.2 GHz.
Nov 11-13 First meeting of the VIRAC Scientific Advisory Council.

1997
Jan. 1 With grant support from the Latvian Council of Science, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, work begins on antenna pointing and tracking.
April 14 Automatic wind-measuring station installed.
June 6 Mechanical mountings for the angular encoders installed on both axes.
June 14 Experiments with computer control of the antenna begin.
June 19-20 Second meeting of the VIRAC Board.
Aug. 12 Completion of a receiver for 10.5 to 11.5 GHz.
Sept. - Nov. Test observations of Cas A, Crab nebula, Jupiter, and other sources.

1998
Feb. A cover for the mirror feed is commercially produced.
April 2 Installation of a GPS receiver, starting a regular measurement program.
April 24 At 15h 00m, the first antenna pointing under computer control is achieved, reaching a precision of about 1 arcmin.
May Mechanical adjustments of the horn feed were made to find its optimum position.
May 17 Searches for terrestrial noise sources at 10.7 GHz, scanning with the antenna along the horizon at zero elevation. No signals seen above the thermal background.
June 15-17 Second meeting of the VIRAC Scientific Advisory Council.
July 9 Computer-aided record and visualization of signals of radioastronomy objects realized.
July 11 Scanning of the position of the Astra TV satellite and 3D-visualization of its recorded signal made. (See figure in Observations page.)
Sept. 30 The common simultaneous action of two small drive motors realized and action of the system of the play selection fully renovated.
Nov 27 The new 11 GHz conical feedhorn installed and tested in the secondary focus zone of the RT-32. (See figure in Photos page.)
Nov 28 A scanning of the Sun performed changing angular altitude obtaining 3D visualization of the signal. (See figure in Observations page.)

1999
April 12-16 The damaged electronic installations of the RT-16 checked. By help of crow-bars the antenna moved in both azimuth and altitude axis.
May 9 A new radiometer installed and tested in the RT-32 thus reducing the system temperature noise by a factor of 2.
May 28 A new device installed allowing automatic shift of the feedhorn on optical axes.
June 18 Installation of the RT-32 antenna pointing software made. The system uses discreet signals of the angle sensor RS-50 thus allowing pointing accuracy of ±20".
June 20 Scanning of the Sun performed using the automatic pointing system.(See figure in Observations page.)
June 29 The VIRAC Board meeting in Riga.
July 1-2 Scanning of the Sun performed changing angular altitude with a step of 2'. Scanning of the Tau A radio source made.(See figures in Observations page.)
July 1-2 The automatic tracking of an observed radio source achieved within accuracy interval [-20",0].