Category: radio astronomy

SolderSmoke Podcast #224: Mars. Spurs. Bikes. SDR. NanoVNA. Antuino. MAILBAG


SolderSmoke Podcast #224 is available:

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke224.mp3
1 August 2020
–The launch of Perseverance Mars probe with Ingenuity helicopter.
–China’s Tian Wen 1 on its way – radio amateur Daniel Estevez EA4GPZ is listening to it!
–Sci Fi Books: Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. No skip on Mars 🙁
–We have some sunspots! SFI now 72 and the Sunspot number is 23.
Bill’s bench:
–Conquering Ceramic Spurs in Q-31 Roofing filter — sort of
–NE602 for a Q-75 converter – Gilbert Cell.
–Measuring low power levels out of NE602. Antuino better than ‘scope .
–NanoVNA Really cool stuff. SDR in there.
–Building a 455 kc LC filter from QF-1 rubble. Using LTSPICE, Elsie…
–Reviving my bicycle AM radio – The “All Japanese 6”
–Understanding L Network impedance matching.
–Bill’s new resistor kit from Mouser. Thanks to Drew N7DA.
SHAMELESS COMMERCE: PATREON, AMAZON SEARCH. THANKS
Pete’s Bench:
–Lockdown Special
–BPF work on SDR Rig
–I U W I H
Mailbag:
VK3HN Summit Prowler 7
VK2EMU “The Stranger”
SM0P HB uBITX in Dubai
AE7KI Worked him in VK from London
ON6UU EA3GCY’s 4020 rig
KA4KXX A Simpler Mighty Mite
W9KKQ M19 DMR
KD4PBJ Radio Schenectady
W3BBO 12AU7 Regen
KE5HPY Another 12AU7 regen
N5VZH Ne602 Converter
KY3R Wall Art
G4WIF Spectrum Analyzer in your pocket
W2AEW Talks to UK Club
KK0S Sent 455 Kc IF cans
KL0S Making 9Mhz filters
VU2ESE Diving into simple SDR schemes
Dean KK4DAS Amateur Radio Astronomy

Nobel Prize winner Joe Taylor, K1JT, Talks to a Radio Club

Really great to see this session with Nobel Prize winner Joe Taylor, K1JT.
I liked his comments on his use of his retirement office at Princeton, University.
I also liked his slide on how far below the noise level you can go with various modes.
And then there was his reminder to 1) RTFM and 2) be sure to check the EME delay box so that your software will get the timing right when working earth-moon-earth.

“Pulsars keep good time.”

Radio Astronomy Knack!

This video has so much of the kind of stuff that interests us: roadkill antennas. 3D printers. Arduinos. Raspberry Pi, And of course, RADIO ASTRONOMY.

And the Thought Emporium guys have a lot of other great project videos on their YouTube site:

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV5vCi3jPJdURZwAOO_FNfQ

I feel myself being pulled back into SPACE. First there was Farhan’s new satellite, now this. Last weekend I finished a 3 element quad for 146 MHz. In a fit of nostalgia I used the same copper tube elements that I used to communicate with the MIR space station from the Dominican Republic in 1995. They have good JuJu. And Mojo. TRGHS. More on this later. Tune UP!

The CHIME Radio Telescope and Fast Radio Bursts

The new Canadian radio telescope is very interesting. It has a great name for a radio telescope: CHIME

And it it always nice to come across a reference to the Parkes Radio Telescope.

More info here:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/03/fast_radio_burst/

And here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_radio_burst

Good luck on getting a QSL from the FRB station.

An Epic Evening on 40 Meters

I had a good night on 40 meters last night. The Radio Gods were obviously with me.

First I called CQ and VP2EIH on Anguilla responded. Nice to start with a whiff of DX.

Then Jason W5IPA called in and said he wanted to try out his uBITX! See the pictures below. FB!

Then I got a call from K5WDW on Hilton Head Island — Dexter runs Collins gear from an ocean-front shack (see above). Check out his QRZ page.


Then WA4PUB called in. Dave has been on the air since 1948 and was a student of legendary ham and radio astronomer John Kraus. Dave has directional antennas on 40 — when he switched the pattern he went from LOUD to barely detectable. FB. Check out Dave’s homebrew rig below.

Finally Gary W7DO joined us. He has a big 4 Square on 40 that also has some really impressive directional properties. See below for a look at his 80 meter 4 Square.

TRGH



WA$PUB
W7DO 80 meter 4 Square


China and SETI: What Happens if China Makes First Contact?

Here is a really amazing article from The Atlantic. It is very thought provoking. Mind blowing. Strongly recommended.

You can read it here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/12/what-happens-if-china-makes-first-contact/544131/

 Or you can listen to a reading of it (like a podcast) here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-154380542/what-happens-if-china-makes-first-contact-the-atlantic-ross-andersen

Thanks to Mike Rainey AA1TJ for alerting us to this.

Fast Radio Bursts and the Molonglo Radio Telescope (with video)

7,744 circular dipoles on 843 MHz feeding 176 preamplifiers and 88 IF amplifiers!

Read about how the Molonglo Radio Telescope has recently been used to study the mysterious Fast Radio Bursts:
http://www.sciencealert.com/confirmed-mysterious-radio-bursts-detected-by-astronomers-really-are-coming-from-outer-space

There is a Grote Reber connection:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molonglo_Observatory_Synthesis_Telescope

Listening UP for KIC 846

How's SETI's investigation of peculiar star KIC 846 2852 going? @EricCMack checks in https://t.co/4roQ7nbDk9

Since October 16, the SETI institute has been using its Allen Telescope Array to observe KIC 846 2852 over a wide range of radio frequencies (1 to 10 GHz), looking for any artificial signals. Keep in mind that this star system is relatively far, roughly 1400 light-years away. That’s more distant than the Orion Nebula, and getting there (if you feel the need) would require a 23 million year ride in our fastest rocket. But more to the point, any signals detectable here on Earth would have to be exceptionally powerful.
We’re continuing to analyze the data. In another week, our SETI team will once again observe KIC 846 2852 using some new receivers being affixed to the Allen Array – known as Antonio feeds – that will increase the sensitivity by a factor of two. Check this space.
Meanwhile, consider KIC 846 2852 as something suggestive of cosmic company, but no more than a suggestion.

Real DX: The Mysterious Flicker of KIC 846

Artist's conception of a Dyson Sphere. Image Credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr CC By SA 2.0
Artist conception of a Dyson Sphere Alien Mega-structure

This story somehow seemed appropriate for Halloween. But it is for real (this is Halloween, not April 1!). The role of amateur scientists in this matter is especially interesting, as is the radio-astronomy follow-up. Stay tuned!

Amateurs and the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

Interesting article. The author mentions a connection between SETI and the Homebrew Computer Club:
We had a SolderSmoke “SETI at Home” team. Anybody know how are we doing?
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Fireballs Emitting RF at HF!

Yea, and that damn gamma ray bust static has been totally messing up the 12 meter band! Someone should complain to the FCC!

https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/1382596c320d

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Contact Reestablished with ISEE-3 Satellite

http://spacecollege.org/isee3/we-are-now-in-command-of-the-isee-3-spacecraft.html

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

A Worthy Cause: Help Save the ISEE-3 Spacecraft!

http://www.rockethub.com/projects/42228-isee-3-reboot-project-by-space-college-skycorp-and-spaceref

Here is an excerpt from the above website:

Our plan is simple: we intend to contact the ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) spacecraft, command it to fire its engine and enter an orbit near Earth, and then resume its original mission – a mission it began in 1978. ISEE-3 was rechristened as the International Comet Explorer (ICE). If we are successful it may also still be able to chase yet another comet.

Working in collaboration with NASA we have assembled a team of engineers, programmers, and scientists – and have a large radio telescope fully capable of contacting ISEE-3. If we are successful we intend to facilitate the sharing and interpretation of all of the new data ISEE-3 sends back via crowd sourcing.

Time is short. And this project is not without significant risks. We need your financial help. ISEE-3 must be contacted in the next month or so and it must complete its orbit change maneuvers no later than mid-June 2014. There is excitement ahead as well: part of the maneuvers will include a flyby of the Moon at an altitude of less than 50 km.

Our team members at Morehead State University, working with AMSAT-DL in Germany, have already detected the carrier signals from both of ISEE-3’s transmitters. When the time comes, we will be using the large dish at Morehead State University to contact the spacecraft and give it commands.
Thanks to Dave, WA8JNM, for the heads up on this.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Arecibo Birthday

Thanks to Bob Crane for this birthday alert:

The Arecibo Observatory opened on this date in 1963. At a diameter of a thousand feet, it’s the largest single-aperture telescope ever built. It’s also got the largest focusing dish in the world, which gathers electromagnetic waves from space. Located near the city of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, it’s close to the equator, which enables it to “see” (via radio waves) all the planets in the solar system; within six months of its opening, it enabled scientists to study the rotation rate of Mercury and determine that it rotated every 59 days, rather than 88 as was previously thought. It’s also been used for military purposes like locating Soviet radar installations by tracking their signals as they were reflected off the moon. It’s provided the first full imaging of an asteroid and also led to the first discovery of planets outside our solar system.

In 1999, it began collecting data for the SETI Institute; SETI stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence,” and the organization looks for deliberate radio or optical signals from other planets. The Arecibo Observatory also sends data over broadband to the home and office computers of 250,000 volunteers, who, through the Einstein@Home program, donate their computers to be used for data analysis during periods when they would otherwise be idle. A year ago, three such volunteers in Iowa and Germany discovered a previously unknown pulsar, 17,000 light years from Earth.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Big Data and the Square Kilometer Array

All of this is very interesting, but SolderSmoke readers will probably find the last ten minutes most interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzlwhP5JejA

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The Jamesburg Dish

Mama mia! That’s an antenna! This is the skyhook that the very hip people in yesterday’s video (scroll down) are using to send very cool messages to Gliese 526. With a setup like that, they may have a shot at a QSO!

More on the antenna here: http://www.jamesburgdish.org/

As I suspected, real hams (not the hipsters!) are doing the tech work.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20