Lots in Translation: A Revised Center Location for the
CARMA C/D/E Arrays

Glen R. Petitpas
University of Maryland
College Park MD, USA 20742


The inclusion of buildings, roads and updated  regions of the site
that need to be avoided have resulted in a re-evaluation of the
original locations of the antenna pads. We have taken advantage of the
nearly decoupled nature of the original A/B and C/D/E arrays to
propose a small translation of the inner three arrays to optimize the
use of the flattest part of the site. By moving the C/D/E arrays 72
meters to the south, and 35 meters to the west, we avoid both
unsuitable areas and geographic obstacles such as the north-south
gully.  With this move, it is now possible to share 2 pads between the
B array and the lower resolution arrays (an improvement of one over
the original design). We present the new locations and discuss any
changes that needed to be made and the negligible performance costs of
each change.  A cool photo tour of the C-array can be seen at
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~petitpas/carma/site_photos/2004array/