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John Miller talks with Bill Schneider in Fairbanks, Alaska on May 6, 2000 about...
1) Family and personal history.
born -- Depression era\ motivation\ NW Pennsylvania -- grew up\ Meadville\ worked -- Western Union messenger\ enlisted -- 1948\ Army Signal Corp\ Korean War\ Alaska\ President Harry Truman\ Alaskan discharge|
2) Moving to Alaska and becoming interested in electronics.
trained in electronics\ radio engineer -- KFAR\ Ballaine Lake\ Pennsylvania -- moved back\ worked -- television station\ television -- color\ Alaska -- moving back\ KFAR -- worked\ program manager\ engineering -- interested in\ electronics technician\ Alaska Communication System -- receiving station\ station -- used for other services|
3) Beginning his career at the Geophysical Institute.
Bates, Skip\ Chapman Building\ ionosphere\ model C4\ antenna\ high power output\ radar\ energy\ frequency\ harmonic relationship\ echoes\ chamber -- built|
4) Building a chamber to enhance echoes.
machine shop -- supervisor\ apprentice\ coils\ tuner\ machine -- enhance echoes\ not effective\ operated unit\ interlocked sides\ Bates, Skip\ test tubes\ record\ replace tubing\ studies\ maintenance factors\ pulling tubing out\ tubes -- hot|
5) Projects with the Geophysical Institute.
Bates, Skip\ clipping signals\ echoes -- spikes\ echo returns\ F-layer\ E-layer\ E and F layer discrimination\ degree\ NASA\ Hoff, Harold L.\ satellite tracking station\ satellite orbit\ North Dakota\ Fairbanks\ geology\ civil engineer|
6) Life at the Geophysical Institute and its relationship with NASA.
NASA\ Ballaine Lake\ Hoff, Harold L.\ engineering degree\ design building\ Arctic engineering\ NASA -- equipment\ contract\ College mini-track station\ station -- transportable\ success|
7) The Geophysical Institute's working relationship with NASA.
orbit observatories\ VHS band\ S-band\ C3\ man-made interference\ NASA\ power generating facility\ Gilmore site preparation\ contract\ Geophysical Institute\ employees -- increase\ funding -- steady from NASA|
8) Should the Geophysical Institute be doing field engineering work?
NASA -- stable funding source\ National Science Foundation (NSF)\ Air Force contracts\ staff -- laid off in the summer\ mini-track\ money\ antennas\ graduate students -- working\ Wilson, Bucky\ bridging gaps\ Gilmore Creek Project\ Mather, Keith -- Geophysical Institute director|
9) Trying to establish a career with the Geophysical Institute.
opportunities -- searching for other\ NASA -- job offering\ station director -- Gilmore Creek\ Europe\ College mini-track station\ European Space Research Organization (ESRO)\ European Space Agency (ESA)\ VHF -- ground stations\ VHF -- wanted a station in Alaska\ proposal\ RCA\ Bendix Field Engineering\ GI proposal -- heavy overhead rate\ field sites -- maintaining\ ESRO -- selected Bendix Field Engineering\ ESRO -- offered job\ station manager|
10) A job offer to become a station director from European Space Research Organization.
road -- building\ non-public road\ Chena Hot Springs Road\ homesteaders\ documents\ station -- built\ Gilmore Creek\ station -- operated\ Mather, Keith\ job offer\ head of Technical Services -- job opening\ Geophysical Institute -- coming back to work for|
11) Coming back to work for the Geophysical Institute.
technical services\ shops\ field stations\ scientific services\ NASA\ science\ Weeks, Willy -- sea ice scientist\ optical viewing satellites\ sea ice -- covered in winter\ Wilson, Skip -- NASA\ radar imager for sea ice\ Weller, Gunter|
12) Launching a radar satellite and receiving data.
Weller, Gunter\ Wilson, Skip\ Weeks, Willy\ sea ice\ radar satellite\ sea ice research\ ground station\ Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)\ ESRO\ NASA -- built the station\ radar satellite for sea ice\ NASA and ESA -- relationship\ data -- free access to\ ESA -- concerned about amount of data|
13) Receiving data from SAR and the overflow of data.
data -- 10 minutes a day\ satellite -- in orbit\ work -- successful\ data -- 30 minutes a day\ solar panels\ ESA\ data -- receiving lots of\ NASA\ data -- processing\ data -- everyone wanted it\ radar -- pictures\ station director\ radar -- processing\ airborne radar|
14) The most important projects at the Geophysical Institute.
Geophysical Institute -- largest, best known\ results -- importance\ ground station\ data\ scientists\ Bates, Skip\ F1 echoes\ F2 echoes\ E echoes\ ASF\ Weller, Gunter\ signal\ antenna\ tracking beacons\ radar\ radar -- nightime\ radar -- processor|
15) Receiving an image via Synthetic Aperture Radar.
Synthetic Aperture Radar\ light and dark\ Northern Canada\ island\ frozen water\ location\ images\ landmarks -- none\ radar satellites\ sea ice research -- requirements\ NASA -- approved researchers\ data -- users were limited\ SAR -- data\ list -- approved|
Anchorage\ data -- receiving it\ ESA\ user fees\ satellite -- launching\ satellite -- maintaining\ oil spills\ SAR\ Prince William Sound|
17) Job responsibility at the Geophysical Institute.
job responsibilities -- blurred\ cross training people\ SAR image\ Landsat Quick Look Program\ Gilmore Creek\ NASA\ ground station\ Landsat\ proceesing -- data into images\ Gilmore Creek antenna\ Wrangell Island\ Siberia|
18) A landsat image in arctic sea ice between Wrangell Island and Siberia.
perfect circle\ four mile circumference\ sea ice\ airplane\ aviation week\ science tech\ arctic sea ice\ military\ image -- copy\ copies -- digital\ film -- library archive\ Air Force\ aviation week\ missile test -- through the ice\ cross trained\ data -- interest|
19) Retiring from the Geophysical Institute.
1993 -- October\ status -- Emeritus\ work -- small projects\ antenna -- Elvey Building\ data -- meteorological|