Tag: contact

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"Cloudsonian" – DIRECTV Solar (And Other) Itty Bitty Radio Telescope Setup For Daytime Fun – Part 1: Cheap PoC

Above (and we didn't do this): The Very Large Array antennas dip in formation to observe a target in the southwest sky. Radio telescopes can observe day or night. From https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/the-backs-of-the-vla-dishes/

When we first bought the house, the DIRECTV dish was screwed in tight on the northwest side and we had no intention of ever doing anything with it because everything we want (WXXI) is pumped direct into our digital antenna. That said, you can't do amateur astronomy and own a dish without at some point wondering if you could do some kind of observing with it – which eventually led me to Mike Brown's "Summer project: Build a radio telescope at home" page on making a solar scope on the super-cheap. A long time ago. "I gotta try that," as the saying goes.

The issue was forced this year by my eldest remarking on how the dish wasn't doing any good in the basement by itself. Good point. It's been seven years, but it is an outdoor dish designed for whatever weather conditions Western NY can throw at it, so I decided it was worth a little bit of money to see what might come of trying to, at the least, pick up the Sun with it.

And it works(!), even it we're a loooong ways away from the movie Contact. I present to you our proof-of-concept house "Cloudsonian" – good enough to find the Sun, geosynchronous satellites providing signal, and other stuff we've not yet identified. Also nearly as much fun as a four-year-old can handle for a good 30 minutes.

And, of course, there is nothing new about this – the Itty Bitty Radio Telescope has lots of precedent (and links) and lots of examples (and links). Some relevant links (and links) below:

  1. https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ibtmanual2.pdf
  2. https://www.gb.nrao.edu/epo/ibt.shtml
  3. https://www.radio-astronomy.org/store/projects/ibt
  4. http://www.stargazing.net/David/radio/itty_bitty_radio_telescope.html
  5. http://arrl.org/files/file/ETP/Radio%20Telescope.pdf
  6. https://www.aoc.nrao.edu/epo/teachers/ittybitty/procedure.html
  7. https://www.opensourceradiotelescopes.org/itty-bitty-radio-telescope/
  8. Whatever else your web search for "Itty Bitty Radio Telescope" might come up with

If you just wanted to try something, had some money lying around, but didn't want to go into any real technical detail, the below and some aim will get you buzzing.

Parts List

  1. The Complete Dish (for us, with a LNB SL5S4NR2-02) – honest to goodness, there was another one out in the trash at a neighbor's house last year and I didn't think to go out late at night and take it. You might find one cheap on craigslist, might just see one on the street, who knows. Parts are also all over ebay. The range for this sized dish is 12.2 to 12.8 (OK, 12.7) GHz, or the entire Ku band of the EM spectrum. You'll find this out if you do broad searches for "other uses for DIRECTV dishes," where some of the most interesting uses are for outdoor cooking.
  2. ($57) Tripod – we went very cheap on first pass, using PVC I had lying around. We had so much fun that I eventually sprung for a proper tripod to make life (and aiming) a bit easier – 3ft Heavy Duty Tripod Mount for Starlink, Antenna, DIRECTV, Ubiquiti (includes 1.66" by 2" diameter Mast) – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2213CV7
  3. ($13) Power Supply – you can do this by soldering some connectors together to get enough 9V batteries to do what you need, but, for $14, you can just buy something you don't have to fiddle with – AT&T (Formerly DIRECTV) 21 Volt Power Inserter for All DIRECTV SWM LNBs (PI21) – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005AME7Y8
  4. Satellite Finder – bought two because the first one (orange) didn't work on battery alone, then the second one (blue) ended up being touchy when plugged in. Orange + Power Supply = audible detection.
  5. ($4) Coax Cable – if you don't have a spare – Monoprice RG6 Quad Shield CL2 Coaxial Cable with F Type Connector – 18AWG, 75 Ohm, 6 Feet, Black – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L1AG72?th=1
Theodore (4), amateur radio astronomer

We had it out for an hour the first time, fighting with the PVC stand to point the dish at the Sun, then at the rough position we knew the DIRECTV satellite to be, then at various other locations just looking for legitimate changes in signal.

The Thrill Is Not (Entirely) Gone…

It comes out intermittently at this point. After the March setup, we used it during the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse this year. Given the ridiculous cloud cover we had in the Rochester area that entire afternoon, our use of the dish to find the exact location of the Sun and point it out to backyard attendees was entirely reasonable.

Poorly framed, poorly focused, but three generations and the rig on the tripod on April 8th.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning the several relevant pages put together by Martin Pepe on the ASRAS website for those looking for some more background (and others in the area who have done the same or much, much better).

A very simple Round 1 is in the bag and we'll see what else we decide to do with the dish or something more involved as another observatory project. Stay tuned (no pun intended).

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Free Astronomy Magazine –January-February 2022 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Above: "How did you do it? How did you evolve, how did you survive this technological adolescence without destroying yourself?" Jodie Foster as Eleanor Arroway, Contact (1997).

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (January-February 2022) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure at www.astropublishing.com.

We return to our astro-centric selection of excellent articles and original content with a perspective on climate change that, I think, cuts down the less-spoken middle of the debate. Yes, climate change is real. Yes, the climate has changed many, many, many times in Earth's history. Yes, it isn't affecting major economies fast enough yet for the developed world to propose an Apollo-like approach to solve the problem (Because we haven't! Go look). Yes, the overall increase and wild swings in damaging weather patterns we're experiencing as of late will most likely continue for years and decades to come. Yes, it was "-0 F" this morning according to my Apple Watch. Yes, you should wonder where the energy is coming from to push that much cold air down from the north to make such an event occur several years in a row. Yes, the trend is for the coastal areas to suffer considerable economic hardships that tax dollars and massive spending projects are going to try to resolve/mitigate whether any individual taxpayer likes it or not (and not just because the U.S. Department of Defense itself is planning how to deal with this issue and the instabilities therein. See climateandsecurity.org and Tackling The Climate Crisis for sample examples).

Like the frog from low-boil, we will adjust slowly and reactively as our species is want to do, complaining about the inconvenience all the way, adjusting to the new normal with some of the frog historians remembering the good olde days of pleasant soaks.

That said, Earth doesn't much care. The damage is only to our current comfort level and standing as the self-appointed shepherds of life currently sharing the planet with us. It should make us collectively disappointed that the civilizations who considered the seventh generation were nearly eradicated by the civilizations more concerned about progress for the 1/7th generation, but this post is being written on an Apple product that stopped being the "newest" and "best-ever" such product only five years ago despite the last model being fully-capable of performing the tasks needed to draft and post.

Alternative take – "The planet is fine…" George Carlin, Earth Day (Getty Images). The important other half of that quote continues on youtube or at, for instance, American Digest in its transcribed entirety.

The issue (climate change) is made more pressing now that I consider it as a parent, knowing the generational solutions, whatever they are, are going to burden my kids and alter the world they're going to inherit in ways that no one yet knows how to prepare them for – and that includes knowing they (in particular) may not directly experience the changes in detrimental ways as they grow up simply because of the otherwise idyllic, seasonally-varied, and fresh water-engorged location we now finds ourselves in (although, yearly news cycle after yearly news cycle, we've been happy each of the last five years that we didn't buy the lakefront house and the accompanying exorbitant insurance policy).

Michele's take is well worth the read – as is the rest of the issue.

Browser-readable version: www.astropublishing.com/1FAM2022/

Jump to the PDF download (25.6 MB): January-February 2022