DARA training @ Hartebeesthoek - 2026 February

14 Feb 2026, 08:00 → 28 Feb 2026, 18:00 Africa/Johannesburg

VC and Lecture Room (SARAO Hartebeesthoek)

Roelf Botha (SARAO)

SARAO Indemnity and restrictions for DARA training.pdf

Sunday, 15 February

12:00 Lunch

Monday, 16 February

06:45 Breakfast

BREAKFAST

1 Welcome + Site Safety

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

1_1_DARA_at_Hart_Safety_Presentation_2024.pdf

2 Fourier Analysis

Speaker: Heystek Grobler (North-West University (NWU))

1 DARA_Training_Introduction_to_DSP.pdf

2 DARA_Training_DSP_Theory_and_Applications_with_Examples.pdf

3 DARA_Training_The_Fourier_Transform.pdf

DARA_Training___The_Fourier_Transform.pdf

Dara_Training_Practical.pdf

09:45 Tea

12:00 Lunch

3 Digital Signal Processing

Speaker: Heystek Grobler (North-West University (NWU))

DARA_Training___DSP_Theory_and_Applications_with_Examples.pdf

DARA_Training___Introduction_to_DSP.pdf

14:30 Tea

4 Radio Frequency Interference (RFI)

Speaker: Thomas Scragg (University of Leeds, UK)

DARA_RFI_Examples_HartRAO20241107.pdf

Direct Youtube link for RFI Video

RFI_Jonas.mp4

18:00 Dinner

Tuesday, 17 February

06:45 Breakfast

5 Introduction to Radio Astronomy

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

ISYA2024 _radio_astronomy_RAD1.pdf

09:45 Tea

6 Antenna Basics + Calibration

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

Jamie_Leech_antennas_v3.pdf

kchap2.pdf

12:00 Lunch

7 Antenna Exercises

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

14:30 Tea

8 Receiver Exercises

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

9 Receiver basics

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

RF principles.pdf

18:00 Dinner

Wednesday, 18 February

06:45 Breakfast

10 Intro to RF recievers for RA - Tinus Stander. Add WVR (short)??

09:45 Tea

11 Caibration of RA data - theory + exercise

Speaker: Pfesesani van Zyl (SARAO)

Continuum.zip

Github - Continuum tutorial

12 Water vapour radiometers: Why, what and how

Speakers: Reuben Neate (University of Pretoria), Tinus Stander (University of Pretoria)

ProcessingTippingCurveData.ipynb

ProcessingTippingCurveData.py

T240312.csv

WVR general talk.pdf

WVR3_DataProcessing.pdf

WVR3_DataProcessing.pdf

12:00 Lunch

13 Brightness temperature of the sun 1

Calibrating a small Radio Telescope

Speaker: Pfesesani van Zyl (SARAO)

AVN brightness temperature of the sun tutorial - Jupyter Notebook.pdf

GIT Repository - brightness temperature of the sun

14:30 Tea

14 Brightness Temperature of the Sun 2

Measuring the brightness temperature of the
sun using a DSTV dish

Speaker: Pfesesani van Zyl (SARAO)

Git repository for tutorial folder

15 Radiometer Equation

Summary of variables in the Radiometer Equation wrt to observational requirements (simpilifed) plus adaption for pulsar observations.

Speaker: Ben Stappers (University of Leeds, UK)

4 AVN2021_radiometer_MEJ.pdf

4 Radiometer Equation - Michael Jones.mp4

DARARadiometerEquation_HartRAO20241106_1.pdf

Stappers-Radiometer.pdf

18:00 Dinner

Thursday, 19 February

06:45 Breakfast

16 RA Data calibration - Pfesi

pfesi

09:45 Tea

17 Introduction to Pulsars

Speaker: Ben Stappers (University of Leeds, UK)

DARA_PulsarObservationPlanning_2021_Student.ipynb

DARA_PulsarObservationPlanning_HartRAO2024011013.pdf

DARAPulsarIntroduction_HartRAO20241113.pdf

DARAPulsarTiming_HartRAO20241113.pdf

FindingPulsarsAndTransients-DARA-Stappers.pdf

IntroToPulsarsAndTransients-DARA-Stappers.pdf

MeerTRAPTRAPUM-DARA-Stappers.pdf

12:00 Lunch

18 Pulsar Observing / Pulsar backend systems

Speaker: Thomas Scragg (University of Leeds, UK)

DARAHartRAO_Pulsar_Backend_Systems20241113.pdf

14:30 Tea

19 Week 1 wrap-up + feedback

Speakers: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO), Thomas Scragg (University of Leeds, UK)

Friday, 20 February

06:45 Breakfast

20 Overview of RA to VLBI

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

Intro_RA_VLBI.pdf

09:45 Tea

21 VLBI

22 Lunch

23 VLBI Fundamentals / Radiometer equation (tbd)

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

1 MFB_VLBI_Fundamentals_2021d_print.pdf

1 VLBI Fundamentals.mp4

24 VLBI

18:00 Dinner

Saturday, 21 February

06:45 Breakfast

Breakfast and collect lunch packs

25 Outing: Drive to a nature reserve, hike

Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

You are welcome to do the hiking trail which is 3.5km long and starts at the base of the waterfall on your right hand, facing the waterfall. The garden is open every day from 08:00 – 18:00. No entry after 17:00. I have attached the rules and regulations for the garden. It will assist in planning your visit.

Please ensure that you are well prepared for the hiking (comfortable walking shoes, hat, snacks and sufficient water) The hiking trail although short can be strenuous with significant uphill climbs. Please be prepared for potentially slippery surfaces in wet conditions.

The normal entrance fees apply when doing the hike. You are welcome to have a picnic afterwards.

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

WSNBG Rules and regulations full list 17 April 2024.pdf

26 Outing: Cradlestone Mall

(11 students max) Outing to Cradlestone Mall, if you want to do something different or look for gift - this mall has a huge variety of shops so it should offer something for most / all.

18:00 Dinner

Sunday, 22 February

06:45 Breakfast

27 Bothongo Rhino and Lion Nature reserve

A day outing to the Bothongo Rhino and Lion Nature reserve

Please refer to:
- Their website at: https://www.rhinolion.co.za/
- Phone: +27 011 957 0349
- Email: info@rhinolion.co.za
- Visitor guide
- Map

You will have lunch pack that will go along, so that you may have something to eat through the morning up to lunch, as we miss the normal tea time. We'll have lunch at a restaurant at the reserve at about 14:00.

Timetable:
08:10 - Depart Hart at the latest
08:40 Arrive at the reserve, get tickets from ticketing office
09:00 - 12:30 - Predator park, look for other game, Wildlife Centre,Snake & Reptile Park
12:30 Depart to predator feeding area
13:00 Predator feeding
13:30 Time for additional game drive, en route to restaurant
14:00 Lunch
15:45 Depart for Hart

12:00 Lunch

28 Rhino and Lion Park

18:00 Dinner

Monday, 23 February

06:45 Breakfast

29 Masers

Speaker: Fanie van den Heever (North West University)

Star_formation_and_Masers.pdf

09:45 Tea

30 Spectral line reduction

Speaker: Fanie van den Heever (North West University)

G009.62+0.20.tar.gz

HartRAO_spectroscopy_software.pdf

Scripts.zip

12:00 Lunch

31 Spectral line reduction 2

Speaker: Fanie van den Heever (North West University)

HartSpec.tar.gz

PSS.zip

Setting up HartSpec.pdf

14:30 Tea

32 Data collection with 26m dish

Speaker: Fanie van den Heever (North West University)

18:00 Dinner

Tuesday, 24 February

06:45 Breakfast

33 Introduction to SETI: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life Landscape

Speaker: Ramiro Saide (University of Manchester)

SETI_DARA_TRAINING.pdf

09:45 Tea

34 COSMIC: commensal SETI processing at the VLA

Speaker: Ross Donnachie (University of Pretoria)

DARA2025-SETI-CommensalProcessing.pdf

12:00 Lunch

35 Introduction to Analysis and TurboSETI & Turbo SETI setup

Speaker: Ramiro Saide (University of Manchester)

data-SETI.zip

SETI_TRAINING.ipynb

14:30 Tea

36 TurboSETI - Analysis with real data Part 1

Speaker: Ramiro Saide (University of Manchester)

37 TurboSETI - Analysis with real data Part 2, Presentations and discussion

Speaker: Ramiro Saide (University of Manchester)

18:00 Dinner

38 Movie night

Wednesday, 25 February

06:45 Breakfast

39 TART

Speaker: Timothy Molteno (University of Otago, Electronics Research Foundation)

tart_overview.pdf

09:45 Tea

40 Building an Observatory

Speakers: Philip Mey (SARAO), Pieter Stronkhorst (SARAO HartRAO)

12:00 Lunch

41 Space Geodesy

General background and an overview of what we do at SARAO Hartebeesthoek site

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

Antarctic ice loss 2002-2016 - YouTube.MP4

Hyperwall Greenland Ice Loss 2002-2016.mp4

42 Time and Position from Astronomy

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

Geodesy - determining time and position with the help of Astronomy.pdf

Longitude_problem_by_GilesMcMullen.mp4

Sidereal_vs_Solar_Day_by_curiousmbi.mp4

14:30 Tea

43 Workshops practical + tour 1 - WS team

Speaker: Ronnie Nombembe (SARAO)

18:00 Dinner - Braai

Thursday, 26 February

06:45 Breakfast

44 GNSS - basic principles and RINEX data format

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

GBGB00NAM_R_20233310000_01D_01S.crx.zip

GNSS Overview and RINEX.pdf

VPS100ZAF_R_20233380000_01D_30S.crx.zip

45 GNSS processing with GAMIT/GLOBK

Introduce GAMIT/GLOBK for:
- Timeseries
- PWV

Speakers: Nkululeko Qwabe (SARAO - Geodesy), Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO), Slindile Nyide (SARAO)

13-sh_gamit.pdf

gamit-globk-workflow_basics.pdf

09:45 Tea

46 Shuttling to SANSA with Pool cars

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

47 SANSA Space Ops visit

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

12:00 Lunch

48 Shuttle fron SANSA with pool cars

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

49 GNSS exercises

14:30 Tea

50 Workshops Practical + tour 2 - Workshop team

18:00 Dinner (self Braai)

51 Movie night

Friday, 27 February

06:45 Breakfast

52 AVN + ARAP (zoom)

https://ska.zoom.us/j/93855257313?jst=4

Speaker: Carla Mitchell (SARAO)

Mitchell_Carla_Space.pdf

53 Tour of GNSS and Seismic vault

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

54 Ubuntu installation, PC Setup and Linux overview

ASBRU-CM

curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/asbru-cm/release/cfg/setup/bash.deb.sh' | sudo -E bash
sudo apt-get install asbru-cm

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

Linux_install1.txt

Linux_notes_2025_09.txt

09:45 Tea

55 Virtual machines and shared Data folder

QEMU/KVM + Linuxmint Xfce
Data drive / folder shared between host and client

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

VMs_and_shared_data.txt

12:00 Lunch

56 Radio Astronomy principles in Remote Sensing

Speaker: Andile H Fani (SARAO)

Downloading Ubuntu.pdf

From-Radio-Astronomy-to-Remote-Sensing-A-Journey-in-Geoinformatics final.pdf

14:30 Tea

57 Wrap-up: week 2

Speaker: Thomas Scragg (University of Leeds)

58 (Optional) Ubuntu installation

If time + energy allows...

Speaker: Dr Roelf Botha (SARAO)

18:00 Dinner

Saturday, 28 February

06:45 Breakfast

59 Check-out: please returm all keys, power adapters, dongles and torches

12:00 Lunch

13:00 Trainees Shuttle depart Sat 27th @ 13:00