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Data Access
Access to Voyager 1 and 2 PRA Highband 48 second binary data files
HTTPS from SPDF
PDS/PPI
Voyager 2 Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) Highband Receiver Jupiter encounter, 48 sec resolution
var authors='Warwick, James W.';
document.write(authors);
(2025).
Voyager 2 Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) Highband Receiver Jupiter encounter, 48 sec resolution.
[Data set].
University of Iowa; Space Physics Data Facility; Planetary Data System.
https://doi.org/10.48322/yggh-9h95. Accessed on document.write(currentDateStr);.
Note: Proper references, including
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or other formats, should include the "Accessed on date" to identify the version of the resource being cited in a given publication.
ResourceID
spase://NASA/NumericalData/Voyager2/PRA/Jupiter/High/PT48S
Description
Voyager 2 Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) Highband receiver daily files
during Jupiter Encounter (1979-06-01 to 1979-07-30). Associated with these binary data are a series of quick-look GIF spectrogram plots created using the binary data. The plots are available for both polarization channels. These binary data were also converted into IDL save sets.
The data set provides 48 second resolution highband radio mean power data
in units of millibels. The high-band receiver consisted of 128 channels of
200 kHz bandwidth each, with center frequencies spaced at 307.2 kHz
intervals from 1.2 MHz to 40.4 MHz. The highband receiver was designed
especially for the observation of Jovian decametric radio emissions. The
PRA radiometer was usually operated routinely in the so-called POLLO sweeping
mode, in which all 198 frequency channels of the high- and low-band receivers
together were swept in 6 sec, dwelling at each channel for 25 msec. From one
step to the next in the channel switching sequence, the antenna polarization
sense was reversed, i.e., was changed from RH to LH or vice versa. Thus the
time required for making a measurement of both the RH and LH intensity
components at both senses of elliptical polarization at a given frequency was
12 sec. The data consists of successive averages of 4 pairs of RH and LH
intensity measurements, each average spanning an interval of 48 sec.
The format of these binary data files is as follows:
file separation variable
year, month, day information
millisecond decimal value of the day
Integer array (128,2) for 128 left and right channels (NOTE 128 channels for Hi-band; 70 channels for Lo-band)
file separation variable
There is an IDL program that reads these files into an IDL-format save set. See Information URL for a link to this file.
The data are calibrated and are given in units of
'millibels' which is 1000 times the log of the received power.
Zero millbels corresponds to approximately 1.4 x 10^-21 W m^-2
Hz^-1, however, this value is never seen in practice. The
minimum values detected, which includes receiver internal and
spacecraft generated noise, are about 2300 to 2400 millibels,
or about 3.5 x 10^-19 W m^-2 Hz^-1; even higher values are seen
at the very lowest frequencies.
Note:
The polarization indicated is the received polarization, not
necessarily the emitted polarization. Correct interpretation of
the received polarization depends on the antenna plane
orientation relative to the radio source. A good description of
this concept can be found in
Leblanc Y., Aubier M. G., Ortega-Molina A.,
Lecacheux A., 1987, J.Geophys. Res. 92, 15125 and in
Wang, L. and Carr, T.D.,
Recalibration of the Voyager PRA antenna for polarization sense
measurement, Astron. Astrophys., 281, 945-954, 1994. and references therein.
Metadata Rights
CC0-1.0:
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
Note
CC0 1.0 Universal is the Creative Commons license applicable to all publicly available SPASE metadata descriptions. The actual data/software may be subject to a different license.
View XML |
Edit
Details
Version:2.7.1
NumericalData
ResourceID
spase://NASA/NumericalData/Voyager2/PRA/Jupiter/High/PT48S
NamingAuthority
NASA
ResourceType
NumericalData
ResourceHeader
ResourceName
Voyager 2 Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) Highband Receiver Jupiter encounter, 48 sec resolution
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48322/yggh-9h95
ReleaseDate
2026-07-21 12:09:04Z
RevisionHistory
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2020-07-07 21:16:00Z
Note
Only known prior ReleaseDate of the metadata
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2025-11-14 16:01:55Z
Note
Added PublicationInfo. Added ResourceType and NamingAuthority. Changed http to https in top-level schemaLocation attribute. Fixed version number separator in top-level schemaLocation attribute. Matched version number in schemaLocation attribute to updated value in Version tag. ZCB
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2025-12-04 13:32:41Z
Note
Added MetadataRightsList and RightsList(s). Updated to 2.7.1. ZCB
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2026-02-17 18:48:06Z
Note
Added DOI. TLK
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2026-07-21 12:09:04Z
Note
Added HelioData InformationURL. JWL
Description
Voyager 2 Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) Highband receiver daily files
during Jupiter Encounter (1979-06-01 to 1979-07-30). Associated with these binary data are a series of quick-look GIF spectrogram plots created using the binary data. The plots are available for both polarization channels. These binary data were also converted into IDL save sets.
The data set provides 48 second resolution highband radio mean power data
in units of millibels. The high-band receiver consisted of 128 channels of
200 kHz bandwidth each, with center frequencies spaced at 307.2 kHz
intervals from 1.2 MHz to 40.4 MHz. The highband receiver was designed
especially for the observation of Jovian decametric radio emissions. The
PRA radiometer was usually operated routinely in the so-called POLLO sweeping
mode, in which all 198 frequency channels of the high- and low-band receivers
together were swept in 6 sec, dwelling at each channel for 25 msec. From one
step to the next in the channel switching sequence, the antenna polarization
sense was reversed, i.e., was changed from RH to LH or vice versa. Thus the
time required for making a measurement of both the RH and LH intensity
components at both senses of elliptical polarization at a given frequency was
12 sec. The data consists of successive averages of 4 pairs of RH and LH
intensity measurements, each average spanning an interval of 48 sec.
The format of these binary data files is as follows:
file separation variable
year, month, day information
millisecond decimal value of the day
Integer array (128,2) for 128 left and right channels (NOTE 128 channels for Hi-band; 70 channels for Lo-band)
file separation variable
There is an IDL program that reads these files into an IDL-format save set. See Information URL for a link to this file.
The data are calibrated and are given in units of
'millibels' which is 1000 times the log of the received power.
Zero millbels corresponds to approximately 1.4 x 10^-21 W m^-2
Hz^-1, however, this value is never seen in practice. The
minimum values detected, which includes receiver internal and
spacecraft generated noise, are about 2300 to 2400 millibels,
or about 3.5 x 10^-19 W m^-2 Hz^-1; even higher values are seen
at the very lowest frequencies.
Note:
The polarization indicated is the received polarization, not
necessarily the emitted polarization. Correct interpretation of
the received polarization depends on the antenna plane
orientation relative to the radio source. A good description of
this concept can be found in
Leblanc Y., Aubier M. G., Ortega-Molina A.,
Lecacheux A., 1987, J.Geophys. Res. 92, 15125 and in
Wang, L. and Carr, T.D.,
Recalibration of the Voyager PRA antenna for polarization sense
measurement, Astron. Astrophys., 281, 945-954, 1994. and references therein.
Acknowledgement
When using delivered data please acknowledge the data provider.
PublicationInfo
Authors
Warwick, James W.
PublicationDate
2025-11-14 16:01:55Z
PublishedBy
University of Iowa; Space Physics Data Facility; Planetary Data System
Contacts
Role
Person
StartDate
StopDate
Note
1.
PrincipalInvestigator
spase://SMWG/Person/James.W.Warwick
2.
MetadataContact
spase://SMWG/Person/Todd.A.King
InformationURL
Name
PPI/PDS PRA Instrument catalog file PRAINST.CAT
URL
https://pds-ppi.igpp.ucla.edu/ditdos/download?id=pds://PPI/VG_1601/CATALOG/PRAINST.CAT
Description
Information about the PRA instrument on the Voyager mission including operational mode descriptions.
InformationURL
Name
Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA)
URL
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-076A-10
Description
NSSDC Master Catalog description of the Voyager 2 PRA Instrument
InformationURL
Name
IDL program - convertvoyHIband
URL
https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/voyager/voyager2/planet_radio_ast_pra/documents/routines/create_IDL_save_sets/convertvoyHIband.pro
Description
An IDL program that will read these Voyager PRA highband binary files and convert to IDL save sets.
InformationURL
Name
HelioData
URL
https://helio.data.nasa.gov/dataset/Voyager2_PRA_Jupiter_High_PT48S
Description
The HelioData dataset page provides an overview of the dataset with access links, associated variables, and more.
PriorIDs
spase://VWO/NumericalData/Voyager2/PRA/VG2_PRA_High_Jupiter_PT48S
spase://VWO/NumericalData/Voyager2/PRA/Jupiter/High.PT48S
spase://VSPO/NumericalData/Voyager2/PRA/Jupiter/High/PT48S
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
spase://SMWG/Repository/UIowa/RadioPlasmaWaveGroup
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
AccessURL
Name
Access to Voyager 1 and 2 PRA Highband 48 second binary data files
URL
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/voyager/data/pra/
Description
Within this directory list are the binary data files for Voyager 1 and 2 PRA highband.
Language
en
Format
Binary
Encoding
None
Acknowledgement
When using delivered data please acknowledge the data provider.
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
spase://SMWG/Repository/NASA/GSFC
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
RightsList
Rights
SchemeURI
https://spdx.org/licenses/
RightsIdentifierScheme
SPDX
RightsIdentifier
CC0-1.0
RightsURI
https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html
RightsName
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
Note
CC0 1.0 Universal is the Creative Commons license applicable to all publicly available NASA Heliophysics data products
AccessURL
Name
HTTPS from SPDF
URL
https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/voyager/voyager2/planet_radio_ast_pra/PRA_save_sets/
Description
Within this directory list are the IDL save sets for Voyager 2 PRA highband during Jupiter encounter.
Language
en
Format
IDL
Encoding
None
Acknowledgement
When using delivered data please acknowledge the data provider.
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
spase://SMWG/Repository/PDS/PPI
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
AccessURL
Name
PDS/PPI
URL
https://pds-ppi.igpp.ucla.edu/search/view/?f=yes&id=pds://PPI/VG2-J-PRA-4-SUMM-BROWSE-48SEC-V1.0
ProductKey
VG2-J-PRA-4-SUMM-BROWSE-48SEC-V1.0
Description
This collection is archived with NASA's Planetary Data System.
Language
En
Format
Text.ASCII
Acknowledgement
NASA's Planetary Plasma Interactions (PPI) Node of the Planetary Data System (PDS) and the P.I. for the data.
InstrumentIDs
spase://SMWG/Instrument/Voyager2/PRA
MeasurementType
Waves.Passive
MeasurementType
Spectrum
MeasurementType
ElectricField
MeasurementType
MagneticField
TemporalDescription
TimeSpan
StartDate
1979-06-01 00:00:34Z
StopDate
1979-07-30 23:59:59Z
Cadence
PT48S
SpectralRange
RadioFrequency
ObservedRegion
Jupiter
ObservedRegion
Heliosphere.Outer
Keywords
Dynamic Spectrogram
Spectrogram
Jupiter
Decametric Radio Emission
DAM
Parameter #1
Name
Date
Description
Year, month, and day in the format YYMMDD
Support
SupportQuantity
Temporal
Parameter #2
Name
Millisecond
Description
Milliseconds of day
Units
ms
Support
SupportQuantity
Temporal
Parameter #3
Name
Spectral Power
Description
Electric field power spectral density,
an average of 8 sweeps of the PRA highband receiver of 128 frequency channels each.
Units
millibels
Wave
WaveType
PlasmaWaves
WaveQuantity
ACElectricField
FrequencyRange
SpectralRange
RadioFrequency
Low
1.2
High
40.4
Units
MHz