Location

The antenna is mounted on a small concrete pillar at ground level at  the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) , South Africa

A joint collaboration between HartRAO  and ESA/ESOC was established in April 2017.

Following the long-standing EGON station MAL2 in Kenya, HRTB is the 2nd station to be installed in Africa, providing coverage of the Southern regions together with MTJF. 

Equipment

In September 2017 a Septentrio PolaRx4 receiver was installed together with a Septentrio Chokering MC antenna,  providing multi-GNSS tracking from this location: GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou and QZSS.

In December 2019 the equipment was upgraded to a Septentrio PolarRx5 receiver and a Septentrio PolaNt Chokering B3/E6 antenna

Photos