In recent years backyard radio astronomy has attracted an increasing number
of people (radio amateurs and amateur astronomers alike) who have great fun in
space exploration by radio. Strong signals are emitted by our sun and the giant
planet jupiter. But even sources which are so distant that an optical amateur
telescope will barely show them are within the range of amateur radio
observatories. You want to know how and when to listen to jupiters radio noise
storms? You ask for the current status of solar activity? You wish to buy
off-the-shelf components for building your own amateur radio telescope? This
page is intended to provide you with some interesting links!
Daily solar radio fluxes are observed by the DRAO 10cm SOLAR RADIO
NOISE PATROL , since 1947. The
current state of solar activity is also provided by the Geophysical Alert Message
of WWV, Boulder, Colorado (see below). Very useful links to up to date solar
activity information is given by the at Solar Terrestrial Dispatch Homepage .
All the information needed to understand solar activity reports is introduced by
the Solar Guide aimed to shortwave
listeners. Also, don't miss the page of IPS Radio & Space Services
with their ``Interesting Facts and Educational Material'' (contains ``ever
ything you always wanted to know about the Sun and ionosphere but were afraid to
ask ...'').
Much information about radio meteors can be found on the individual homepages
of radio amateurs. A good starting point to locate them is the Worldwide Amateur Radio Information
This is one of my favoured amateur radio pages featuring ALL aspects of this
popular hobby! Introductory meteor information aimed at amateur radio
astronomers is presented by the International
Meteor Organization . For beginners they answer frequently asked questions
(receivers, antennas, frequencies to monitor ...), list addresses of radio
workers which can be contacted for help, references to books and articles and
provide an MS-DOS code for radio meteor workers.
The giant planet Jupiter sporadically emits powerful radio bursts which are
best observed in the 18-22 MHz range. They can be monitored by shortwave
receivers of good quality or by amateur radio transceivers. The set should be
connected to an external antenna such as a simple dipole or a long wire. In a
loudspeaker jovian bursts sound like a fast ocean surf. As a lover of this
"jovian music" I appreaciate the monthly burst prediction schedules provided by
the University of Florida Radio
Observatory (UFRO) You can run their prediction program interactively on the
screen. Some articles briefly describe jupiter's decametric emissions and how to
observe them. Moreover, they offer examples of jovian bursts (long and short
burst activity) as *.au files on this page! For beginners who have never heard
jupiter roaring before, this makes the business of identifying the signals
easier.
Those of us considering to look out for alien broadcasts should check the
Home Page of SETI League .
They offer continously updated information on hardware components, general SETI
items, references to interesting books and articles and prepare a SETI League
Technical Manual. You will also find links to other SETI League members.
The many voices of mother earth such as lightning-generated whistlers, the
``dawn chorus'' or ``tweeks'' can be heard at very low frequencies (0.1-11 kHz).
The receivers and antennas are described by John H. Davis. He is a member of the
Long Wave Club of America and invites
you to explore The World of
Radio Below 500 kHz . To get your first listening experience, visit Steven
P. McGreevy's page with sample records of Ground-based VLF Natural Radio
recordings downloadable as wave-files.
For technical information on the ICOM R7100 receiver used for amateur SETI
see the ICOM U.S. pages.
Also, you should visit the page of at Angle Linear . They provide preamps,
filters and other components intended for use below 2.5 GHz for: "business,
cellular, trunking, aerospace, education, science, deep space and space shuttle,
radio astronomy and amateur applications". Space born amateur radio astronomy is
done by: the Satellite Amateur
de Radio-Astronomie
Radio Sky Publishing
References to Article
s about Planetary Radio Astronomy.
Radio Astronomy Books by John Kraus
ASDS High-Level Package
Descriptions
24 hours a day and 365 days a year the WWV and WWVH
radio stations provide you with time signals, solar activity information
and geophysical alert broadcasts transmitted on shortwave at 2.5, 5, 10, 15 and
20 MHz. These stations are operated by the
National
Institute of Standards and Technology Time and Frequency Division , Boulder,
Colorado. Details including hourly broadcast schedules can be found here . Note:
unlike most time signal stations of the world which use the Single Side Band
(SSB) mode for their transmissions WWV and WWVH use ordinary Amplitude
Modulation (AM).
These pages are aimed to a broader audience but also may contain material
related to amateur radio astronomy:
SCIENCE HOBBYIST
AMATEUR SCIENCE
A Kids Guide to Electricity