Hello again anyone following this blog, I have temporarily suspended operations at the observatory (duh). I am now working on starting a small business making boutique music synthesizers and audio products. The radio telescopes are just too big for our family's property. Stay tuned though as my company will be making some stuff for VLF/natural radio (musical applications). Hopefully in the future I can get back to radio astronomy... I have a rather cool idea for a small Kraus-type scope made with (you guessed it) hardware cloth and TV antennas (but this time a rigid wooden frame. I'm done with Home Depot's stupid angle irons... :P
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Update, and really big news!
Hi all,
As it turns out, those yagis aren't all they're cracked up to be:
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list/t/9eb42eac638f3b29
So, in this respect, I have come to a couple of decisions for the radio observatory.
1. I am going to be scrapping the 1.2 x 2.7 meter cylinder and making a new improved and more well constructed one. It will be 2.4 x 2.7 meters, with the same f-ratio (f/0.25). This one will be much more rigidly constructed, with an improved and motorized (in declination) mount.
2. I am now accepting donations!
Go here to donate (its at the bottom of the page): http://channel37.110mb.com/
The observatory name is what you are paying towards, which is the Tesla Memorial Observatory (its in my personal account). Anything helps, donate as little or as much as you would like. I am just not going to be able to get this thing done at any good speed with the rate I'm going to be making (usable) money. I just got laid off from the tech support place, and am now working a part-time job at a restaurant for minimum wage, and all the paycheck is going to my family for the mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc.
I have also made an approximate budget for the new reflector and mount that I will report all purchases to by crossing out the item in the list. These dollar amounts are _approximate_ and just for those considering donating to refer to to get an idea of what the observatory needs and what they would consider giving. There will also be a donation count on that page, the spent amount, and the balance.
Its here:
http://channel37.110mb.com/rev_2_ant_budget.html
I greatly appreciate all contributions and their contributors.
Thank you all,
KM.
As it turns out, those yagis aren't all they're cracked up to be:
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list/t/9eb42eac638f3b29
So, in this respect, I have come to a couple of decisions for the radio observatory.
1. I am going to be scrapping the 1.2 x 2.7 meter cylinder and making a new improved and more well constructed one. It will be 2.4 x 2.7 meters, with the same f-ratio (f/0.25). This one will be much more rigidly constructed, with an improved and motorized (in declination) mount.
2. I am now accepting donations!
Go here to donate (its at the bottom of the page): http://channel37.110mb.com/
The observatory name is what you are paying towards, which is the Tesla Memorial Observatory (its in my personal account). Anything helps, donate as little or as much as you would like. I am just not going to be able to get this thing done at any good speed with the rate I'm going to be making (usable) money. I just got laid off from the tech support place, and am now working a part-time job at a restaurant for minimum wage, and all the paycheck is going to my family for the mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc.
I have also made an approximate budget for the new reflector and mount that I will report all purchases to by crossing out the item in the list. These dollar amounts are _approximate_ and just for those considering donating to refer to to get an idea of what the observatory needs and what they would consider giving. There will also be a donation count on that page, the spent amount, and the balance.
Its here:
http://channel37.110mb.com/rev_2_ant_budget.html
I greatly appreciate all contributions and their contributors.
Thank you all,
KM.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Another update... and big news!
Hi all,
I have come across a startling discovery:
http://www.tvaerials.com/product.aspx?productid=32
Its a 19 dBi gain yagi! This means that as of now I am making the cylinder the temporary UHF radio telescope. That is to say, I will be using the cylinder for UHF until I can get my grubby little hands on a couple of these yagis (I will phase together two of them)! A collinear phased array of two of these yagis will also be the new VLBI antenna, and be used in my eight meter "house interferometer."
The yagis will also be on a motorized alt-az mount made from two ordinary TV antenna rotors, some PVC pipe, potentiometers (for position feedback), and a little electronics magic with this:
http://www.geocities.com/yyz228/
As for the cylinder, I will be completing it for UHF to see how well it works on the source test ("first light"), and for some work until the yagis are installed. It will then be converted to L-band. It will also be the leading contender for the L-band VLBI antenna.
Cheers,
KM.
I have come across a startling discovery:
http://www.tvaerials.com/product.aspx?productid=32
Its a 19 dBi gain yagi! This means that as of now I am making the cylinder the temporary UHF radio telescope. That is to say, I will be using the cylinder for UHF until I can get my grubby little hands on a couple of these yagis (I will phase together two of them)! A collinear phased array of two of these yagis will also be the new VLBI antenna, and be used in my eight meter "house interferometer."
The yagis will also be on a motorized alt-az mount made from two ordinary TV antenna rotors, some PVC pipe, potentiometers (for position feedback), and a little electronics magic with this:
http://www.geocities.com/yyz228/
As for the cylinder, I will be completing it for UHF to see how well it works on the source test ("first light"), and for some work until the yagis are installed. It will then be converted to L-band. It will also be the leading contender for the L-band VLBI antenna.
Cheers,
KM.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Another update on progress... and mount design!
Just another update here, got the job about three weeks ago! Most of the money for now is going to the home mortgage, as I stated previously. However, hopefully either this or the next Friday or Saturday, I'm going to purchase the parts for the transit mount, and build it onto the antenna.
As far as the transit mount design goes its difficult to explain, so I have created a graphic:
Basically its a kickstand mount that is held in place with suspension/tension cables. This seems to be a nice cheap (with the metal stock as expensive at it is at Home Depot) and lightweight way to get a strong, stable mounting structure for drift scan measurements. I'm estimating the cost at about $50-$70 USD, but don't hold me to that ;)
Anyway, I'll post back here when I get the supplies for the mount. The day of first light is getting nearer!
Cheers,
KM.
As far as the transit mount design goes its difficult to explain, so I have created a graphic:
Basically its a kickstand mount that is held in place with suspension/tension cables. This seems to be a nice cheap (with the metal stock as expensive at it is at Home Depot) and lightweight way to get a strong, stable mounting structure for drift scan measurements. I'm estimating the cost at about $50-$70 USD, but don't hold me to that ;)Anyway, I'll post back here when I get the supplies for the mount. The day of first light is getting nearer!
Cheers,
KM.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Updates on progress
Hey everybody,
I haven't been able to acquire funds to complete the radio telescope, because of being laid off my job last December. However, it looks as if I am going to get a new, better paying one soon (have an interview with a tech support company this Monday). I have to give some money to my family for awhile to pay off some of our debts (like the mortgage), but after a couple of months I will be back to constructing.
At first I'm going to just complete this antenna and source test, but I have the next step I have decided that I will take. I am going to build an interferometer, with an eight meter or so East-West baseline (across our property). This will drastically improve the mapping resolution and add some gain. The interferometer will be the multiplying type, with A/D conversion for each receiver and correlated by a Linux computer. The resultant data will be sent to my laptop for, filtering, Fourier transforming (to make the map), and after the scans are completed contour mapping. The resolution will be about two degrees or so, which will make for a useful (not a novelty) diffuse source map. Each antenna will have a clear view of the meridian line from 90 degrees north to about 10 degrees south, so I'll have no problems getting the full sky map.
After this I plan to do something pretty daring, if I can get enough people to participate. Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or VLBI. Its still in the conceptual phase, but I will start drafting after the eight meter interferometer is completed (that will get me some hands on experience with mapping interferometry).
Anyway, hope to get started soon here!
Cheers,
KM.
I haven't been able to acquire funds to complete the radio telescope, because of being laid off my job last December. However, it looks as if I am going to get a new, better paying one soon (have an interview with a tech support company this Monday). I have to give some money to my family for awhile to pay off some of our debts (like the mortgage), but after a couple of months I will be back to constructing.
At first I'm going to just complete this antenna and source test, but I have the next step I have decided that I will take. I am going to build an interferometer, with an eight meter or so East-West baseline (across our property). This will drastically improve the mapping resolution and add some gain. The interferometer will be the multiplying type, with A/D conversion for each receiver and correlated by a Linux computer. The resultant data will be sent to my laptop for, filtering, Fourier transforming (to make the map), and after the scans are completed contour mapping. The resolution will be about two degrees or so, which will make for a useful (not a novelty) diffuse source map. Each antenna will have a clear view of the meridian line from 90 degrees north to about 10 degrees south, so I'll have no problems getting the full sky map.
After this I plan to do something pretty daring, if I can get enough people to participate. Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or VLBI. Its still in the conceptual phase, but I will start drafting after the eight meter interferometer is completed (that will get me some hands on experience with mapping interferometry).
Anyway, hope to get started soon here!
Cheers,
KM.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The noise source is here!
I just got Jan's noise source (well, yesterday actually, I just opened it tonight)!
The noise source, 9V battery clip, attenuator, and antenna.
This is an extremely useful tool for measuring things like the radiation pattern and gain of the radio telescope (as well as the receiver electronics, I need to make a cage for the TV tuner to block out external RF, and a noise source is invaluable to determine if its good to go), as otherwise I would have to depend on the Sun as a noise source. The noise source can also be tweaked to different output levels, via the use of an attenuator (these are particularly useful for calibration). Jan has supplied me with a -10dB attenuator as well to that end (thanks again Jan! :) ).
Merry Christmas to you too Jan, and thanks a bunch! :)
Anyway, I will have the receiver built in a week or so (when I get time to clear off the bench in my garage and solder it together) and some kind of transit mount for the antenna ready by January.
Cheers,
KM
The noise source, 9V battery clip, attenuator, and antenna.
This is an extremely useful tool for measuring things like the radiation pattern and gain of the radio telescope (as well as the receiver electronics, I need to make a cage for the TV tuner to block out external RF, and a noise source is invaluable to determine if its good to go), as otherwise I would have to depend on the Sun as a noise source. The noise source can also be tweaked to different output levels, via the use of an attenuator (these are particularly useful for calibration). Jan has supplied me with a -10dB attenuator as well to that end (thanks again Jan! :) ).
Merry Christmas to you too Jan, and thanks a bunch! :)
Anyway, I will have the receiver built in a week or so (when I get time to clear off the bench in my garage and solder it together) and some kind of transit mount for the antenna ready by January.
Cheers,
KM
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The feed is in and... pictures!
I attempted to load these on my website, but I can't login for some odd reason so... here they are:
As you can see, a lot of blockage, but I did a short test with an old TV set and, lets put it this way, I got channels I have never seen in this area (I think one was from Tucson, and it came in full color and almost completely clear!) right through the my garden gate! The directivity seems to be what I expected, and I was able to aim it over the fence and pick up even more signal and it faded to static after a very slight tip in either direction (elevation). It is also more directive in azimuth then elevation (faded in and out with a little shake right and left), which was also expected. The front-to-back ratio is phenomenal, I couldn't get anything out the back (turned it away from the gate completely). Anyway, a real test will have to wait until the receiver is built and I get Jan's noise source. Here are more pics:
The feed.
The parabolic curve of the cylinder.
Close up of the feed, showing the TV splitter used a the combiner for phasing the elements in the line feed together.
Well, that's it for now, the next steps to take are building a meridian transit (drift scan) mount, building the receiver, and of course, testing it. Future plans are a tracking system involving beam shaping the elements by using phase shifters, and then making the telescope remotely controllable over an http interface (I'm learning Java for that purpose now) and doing a collaborative study with those who would like time on the telescope over an IRC channel on the freenode IRC network (I currently run that channel for general discussion purposes, #radioastronomy on irc.freenode.net port 6667).
All this having been said, you can visit my website,
http://channel37.110mb.com/
to find a list of places to contact me with questions, suggestions, etc. other than comments posted to this blog.
Cheers,
KM
As you can see, a lot of blockage, but I did a short test with an old TV set and, lets put it this way, I got channels I have never seen in this area (I think one was from Tucson, and it came in full color and almost completely clear!) right through the my garden gate! The directivity seems to be what I expected, and I was able to aim it over the fence and pick up even more signal and it faded to static after a very slight tip in either direction (elevation). It is also more directive in azimuth then elevation (faded in and out with a little shake right and left), which was also expected. The front-to-back ratio is phenomenal, I couldn't get anything out the back (turned it away from the gate completely). Anyway, a real test will have to wait until the receiver is built and I get Jan's noise source. Here are more pics:
The feed.
The parabolic curve of the cylinder.
Close up of the feed, showing the TV splitter used a the combiner for phasing the elements in the line feed together.Well, that's it for now, the next steps to take are building a meridian transit (drift scan) mount, building the receiver, and of course, testing it. Future plans are a tracking system involving beam shaping the elements by using phase shifters, and then making the telescope remotely controllable over an http interface (I'm learning Java for that purpose now) and doing a collaborative study with those who would like time on the telescope over an IRC channel on the freenode IRC network (I currently run that channel for general discussion purposes, #radioastronomy on irc.freenode.net port 6667).
All this having been said, you can visit my website,
http://channel37.110mb.com/
to find a list of places to contact me with questions, suggestions, etc. other than comments posted to this blog.
Cheers,
KM
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