Amateur radio astronomy

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips about radio astronomy. I'm the
chairperson of an astronomy society in Dublin and we're considering building a small
radio scope for members' use. We plan to do observations of the Sun, Jupiter, strong
pulsars and maybe galactic centres (AGNs?).

What sort of setup will we need, and how much would it cost? Although not unlimited, our
financial resources can cover a good bit of money. We also have a place to build the
apparatus, and possibly a control room for computers and such equipment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can also be contacted at conor.farrell8 at
mail.dcu.ie.

Conor Farrell
--
DCU Astronomy Society
www.astrosoc.net

Hi Conor,

Have a look through http://www.radiosky.com/

Observations of the Sun and Jupiter, and possibly the Crab should be
achievable without too much money. A kit for the Radio Jove project
http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/ costs ~$200, You will need extra
materials and will have to assemble everything, but thats the fun bit I
imagine.

I have "Radio Astronomy Teacher's Notebook (2nd Ed.)" and "Listening to
Jupiter" from the above site that you can borrow. Do you ever go to
South Dublin Astronomical Society meetings or will you be at Cosmos?

You should also ask on the boards on www.irishastronomy.org, there are a
few amateur radio people there. I know some are more interested in DXing
during auroral activity and monitoring meteor showers, but someone may
be able to help you out.

It might also be worth getting in touch with Prof. Mike Redfern in UCG,
I think they now have a dish.

Cheers,
~Al
--
www.SouthDublinAstronomy.org

Astronomy Society wrote:
I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips about radio
astronomy.

http://www.signalone.com/radioastronomy/telescope/

Best,
Stephen

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You could try the BAA Radio Group, which has recently got going again.

Email to radiogroup-at-britastro.com

Cheers, Callum

In message , Astronomy
Society writes
Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips about radio
astronomy. I'm the
chairperson of an astronomy society in Dublin and we're considering
building a small
radio scope for members' use. We plan to do observations of the Sun,
Jupiter, strong
pulsars and maybe galactic centres (AGNs?).

What sort of setup will we need, and how much would it cost? Although
not unlimited, our
financial resources can cover a good bit of money. We also have a place
to build the
apparatus, and possibly a control room for computers and such equipment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can also be contacted at
conor.farrell8 at
mail.dcu.ie.

Conor Farrell
Glasgow University used to have an interesting page, designed for
students, which looked as though it might give you a useful and
inexpensive 'starter kit' based on a standard satellite dish aerial.
Try this address. If no longer valid I could send you a copy of the
page.

http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/users/lyn...astronomy.html

--
Best wishes,
John.