Noise temperature and gain loss due to paints and primers: A case study ofDSN antennas

in achieving high performance for reflector antennas, it has been noted tha t it is essential to carefully assess the roles of surface paints and prime rs. A thorough literature search has revealed that not much has been report ed on this very important engineering-implementation topic. It is one of th e main objectives of this feature article to provide a detailed study on th e effects of paints and primers on reflector-antenna performance. In partic ular, as a case study, this paper presents excess-noise-temperature and add ed-gain loss data at 32 GHz for various combinations of paints and primers currently being studied for use on DSN (Deep Space Network) antenna reflect or surfaces. It is shown that 500FHR6 acrylic urethane-based paint has the lowest excess-noise-temperature contribution. Recently, it has been recomme nded that this paint be used for all new DSN beam-waveguide antennas being constructed, and for all those 34-m and 70-m antennas with reflector surfac es that need repainting. The results, methodologies, and observations prese nted in this article are also applicable to other reflector-antenna configu rations.