Amateur Radio Astronomy

Hi,

I think this si the best category for this...

intro.fringes.org/

Introduction

If you're looking to get into radio astronomy and you've looked at other backyard radio astronomy sites on the Net, coming to the conclusion that all you need a "spare 3m satellite dish and $20,000 of surplus electronics", then this site is for you!

You can do some serious radio astronomy without a dish!

This site currently focuses on 20MHz radiometers (telescopes). The antennas typically look like two sticks with a piece of wire between. The radio receivers are built from an off-the-shelf electronics kit. You can observe with one receiver or multiple receivers (an interferometer). The calculations and display are done by standard personal computer with a sound card. A simple interferometer can cost you as little as A$300 if you've already got the PC and sound card.

Is there any astronomy club in Ireland that has actually partaken in Radio Astronomy? Since 1992, Sean MacKenna in TAS set up and exhibited a radio telescope, with successful observations recorded of Io interacting with Jupiter, and numerous meteor "noises", including in-depth recording of the Perseids in 1995. That night, we got numerous flashes of FM broadcasts in the US!

Its somethig not actively partaken on an amateur level in Ireland is it? And its easy and cheap to do too.

Seanie.

It's something I'd be interested in hearing more about.
Perhaps a talk on the topic could be arranged sometime Seanie???

Michael

Perhaps a talk on the topic could be arranged sometime Seanie???

Michael

In Tas? Why not! The only hiccup why we haven't done so already in the last few years has been because Sean Mac has been busy - he now runs his own company, so sometimes, the hobbies suffer a little! BUT, we're in the process of getting next years calendar organised, so I think there should be a spot for it.

Have you ever considered taking it upon yourself Micahel? You could (if you wanted) give your own lecture on starting it up and continuing it, and I'm sure Sean Mac would have no problem helping you out all he can.

At the time he had it in operation, it was the ONLY amateur radio telescope in operation in Ireland - 'twould be a shame to let it lay down!

Seanie.

Is there any astronomy club in Ireland that has actually partaken in Radio Astronomy?

I've listened to meteors alright, though have not set up an observatory to record this properly. You can get away with an FM radio and a sound card for this, though ideally you need a little bit more.

Listening to jovian events is something I've been meaning to try, the antenna is almost ready to go up for that, no reciever yet though.

The only other thing I have done, but a while ago so I must whats changed, is downloading `stuff` from satellites, mainly weather images.

Cork Astronomy Club seem to have done a fair bit of radio astronomy, I'm sure I've seen posts from ei5fk about meteor scatter. And I think I heard that Eamon Ansbro was working on putting setting up a dish in Roscommon.

Cheers,
~Al

Thats right, I forgot about Cork AS and Charles' efforts. I'd like to see his setup.

Indeed, anyone can 'listen' to meteors by tuning their FM radio to a frequency where no national stations are broadcasting, with the aerial fully extended. A favourable meteor has occured when you hear a radio broadcast for a few seconds on that frequency. The high altitude meteor ion trail acts as a deflector, bouncing back radio signals sent skyward from one part of the globe down to another - like a rudimentary satellite link!

You do need a proper shortwave reciever to go above the 18MHz standard that a household radio with SW would have for other observations. Jupiter and Io can be listened to at arouund the 21MHz frequency. You will also need a specially designed aerial to properly pick this up. To properly record your findings on paper too, you will need a drum recorder - I can't remember the name of the device, but you would recognize it as the same pen-to-paper device seen measruing an earthquake - peaks across the page!

Apart from the receiver and drum, its quite cheap to set up your own radio observatory - like your bedroom!

Maybe Charles in Cork can give us some links/pages of interest and advice, including his homepage: www.qsl.net/ei5fk/

Seanie.