Radio-Frequency interference at the mcgill arctic research station

Abstract

The frequencies of interest for redshifted 21cm observations are heavily affected by terrestrial radio-frequency interference (RFI). We identify the McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS) as a new RFI-quiet site and report its RFI occupancy using 122h of data taken with a prototype antenna station developed for the Array of Long-Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observations from the Sub-Antarctic. Using an RFI flagging process tailored to the MARS data, we find an overall RFI occupancy of 1.8% averaged over 20–125MHz. In particular, the FM broadcast band (88–108MHz) is found to have an RFI occupancy of at most 1.6%. The data were taken during the Arctic summer, when degraded ionospheric conditions and an active research base contributed to increased RFI. The results quoted here therefore represent the maximum-level RFI environment at MARS.