INSTRUMENT OVERVIEW
    ===================
 
      This experiment consisted of a modified version of the Pioneer 8 
      and Pioneer 9 experiments to measure the electric-field components 
      in four 30%, narrow-band channels centered at 100, 730, 7350, and 
      30,000 Hz. The aims of the investigation were to perform an analysis 
      of VLF electric fields at Venus and to elucidate the plasma interactions 
      between the solar wind and the ionospheric or exospheric plasma. The 
      role of plasma instabilities in modifying the heat flux from the solar 
      wind and in thermalizing newly-born ions from Venus was also studied. 
      A self-contained balanced V-type antenna with a differential preamplifier 
      was employed to make the measurements. At the 512 bps satellite mode, 
      one frequency scan per second was obtained.
      
      The Pioneer Venus plasma wave instrument has a self-contained
      balanced electric dipole (effective length = 0.75 m) and a
      4-channel spectrum analyzer (30-percent band width filters with
      center frequencies at 100 Hz, 5.4 kHz, and 30 kHz).  The
      channels are continuously active and the highest Orbiter
      telemetry rate (2048 bps) yields 4 spectral scans/s.  The total
      mass of 0.55 kg includes the electronics, the antenna, and the
      antenna deployment mechanism.  This report contains a brief
      description of the instrument design and a discussion of the
      in-flight performance.
 
 PI PDS USER ID                : RSTRANGEWAY
 BUILD DATE                    : 1976
 INSTRUMENT MASS               : 0.55
 INSTRUMENT HEIGHT             : 0.075
 INSTRUMENT LENGTH             : 0.190
 INSTRUMENT WIDTH              : 0.066
 INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURER NAME  : TRW
 INSTRUMENT SERIAL NUMBER      : '5971-02'