Satellite Dish Radio Astronomy

[Piers127]

Hi,

Simple question this, I think. Could it work? If so, how could I convert/use the signals?

many thanks,

Piers

[Glen]

Hi check this out

http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/epo/teachers/ittybitty/procedure.html

Regards

Glen

[Piers127]

Great, that looks superb!

Many thanks!

[Horus]

Wow.......if only I was handy like that I'd have a go at making one !

[TheoGB]

I'd very much like to give this a try but I'd also like to interpret the results. There's an old dish at the flat we've bought that's at least 24" maybe more so I'd like to use the incoming CATV cable and find a way to take that data into my computer and do some proper radio astronomy, even if very basic.

I am thinking back to my undergraduate days at Manchester when we did a lab at the 7-foot radio dish they have at Jodrell Bank. That said, I'm fairly sure it had a whole motorised aspect that was used to scan about so this is probably all beyond me...

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you can get two of them you could even make an interferometer. We had one consisting of two 7' dishes known as the PQRS for Paddepoel Quasi Radio Sterrenwacht (Quasi Radio Observatory, Paddepoel was the suburb in which our campus is located). We did our radio astronomy practicals there.

I suddenly have a mental image of a radio star-party with dozens of people bodging together a radio synthesis telescope. The only thing is it takes 12 hours of integration to get an image if you just use an east-west line array (which avoids having to use a 3D Fourier transform).