Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 20(3), 313‒340 (2017). THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE GEORGES HEIGHTS EXPERIMENTAL RADAR ANTENNA TO AUSTRALIAN RADIO ASTRONOMY Wayne Orchiston and Harry Wendt National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, 260 Moo 4, T. Donkaew, A. Maerim, Chiang Mai 50180, Thailand. Emails:
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[email protected] Abstract: During the late 1940s and throughout the1950s Australia was one of the world’s foremost astronomical nations owing primarily to the dynamic Radio Astronomy Group within the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation’s Division of Radiophysics based in Sydney. The earliest celestial observations were made with former WWII radar antennas and simple Yagi aerials attached to recycled radar receivers, before more sophisticated purpose-built radio telescopes of various types were designed and developed. One of the recycled WWII antennas that was used extensively for pioneering radio astronomical research was an experimental radar antenna that initially was located at the Division’s short-lived Georges Heights Field Station but in 1948 was relocated to the new Potts Hill Field Station in suburban Sydney. In this paper we describe this unique antenna, and discuss the wide-ranging solar, galactic and extragalactic research programs that it was used for. Keywords: Australia, radio astronomy, experimental radar antenna, solar monitoring, H-line survey, 1200 MHz all-sky survey, Sagittarius A, ‘Chris’ Christiansen, Jim Hindman, Fred Lehany, Bernie Mills, Harry Minnett, Jack Piddington, Don Yabsley 1 INTRODUCTION November 1961 (Robertson, 1992) the nature of Australian radio astronomy changed forever (see In 2003 the IAU Working Group on Historic Radio Sullivan, 2017).