This is a bit like a scaled down (in terms of telescope size) Project Argus [1]. You could probably use the SARA ‘scope in a box’ [2] to do it, too, which is slight;y cheaper than the projected cost ($350 vs $500) assuming you have a spare r-pi hanging around. The far lower cost of entry will probably make it a lot more popular though - not to mention finding satellite dishes of that size is becoming harder by the year..
About 2 decades ago, I had a Project Argus setup taking up most of my back yard [3]. I moved to the US when Apple bought my company, and had it packed up to take with me, thinking (in my naivety) that all US dwellings would have way more space than the terraced house I was living in (in London) and I could use it there too. Gentle reader, I was wrong. That dish has remained in its packing crate since it arrived all that time ago.
I leave the US to return permanently to the UK on 4th July (yes, yes…). Once I’m settled, bought a new house, and have the kids schooling sorted out, I’ll definitely be looking to get it up and running again, to rise, phoenix-like, and stare boldly into the abyss once more.
This is so cool. As someone who used to run SETI@Home, this is exciting and I'll be doing what I can when they're ready for me.
What is lacking, or I cannot find, yet, is steps for me to take or contribute.
show comments
mk_stjames
The next step for a project like this would be to incorporate a better, perhaps bepsoke SDR device more focused on the astronomy to be performed as most small off the shelf RTLSDR dongles have pretty horrible frequency drift. The addition of a more stable local clock source, coupled with a GPSDO - GPS disciplined oscillator - would allow signals to be correlated in time across many stations and allow for some actual, albeit basic, interferometry / aperture synthesis.
I think that is what is needed for some actual science to be done with this kind of hardware and community support - similar to the work done by amateurs hosting hardware to record sferics in the VLF bands that sync up over the internet to do lightning strike tracking.
show comments
ericye16
I would love to build something like this, but it looks like the project is not quite complete yet? And also I don't see anywhere on the page where I can sign up for updates.
show comments
dmos62
At the risk of retracting from the really cool project, I notice that a lot of highlighted phrases in a text is indicative of an LLM writer. Not that I have anything against that.
This is a bit like a scaled down (in terms of telescope size) Project Argus [1]. You could probably use the SARA ‘scope in a box’ [2] to do it, too, which is slight;y cheaper than the projected cost ($350 vs $500) assuming you have a spare r-pi hanging around. The far lower cost of entry will probably make it a lot more popular though - not to mention finding satellite dishes of that size is becoming harder by the year..
About 2 decades ago, I had a Project Argus setup taking up most of my back yard [3]. I moved to the US when Apple bought my company, and had it packed up to take with me, thinking (in my naivety) that all US dwellings would have way more space than the terraced house I was living in (in London) and I could use it there too. Gentle reader, I was wrong. That dish has remained in its packing crate since it arrived all that time ago.
I leave the US to return permanently to the UK on 4th July (yes, yes…). Once I’m settled, bought a new house, and have the kids schooling sorted out, I’ll definitely be looking to get it up and running again, to rise, phoenix-like, and stare boldly into the abyss once more.
1: https://www.setileague.org/argus/
2: https://radio-astronomy.org/store/projects/scope-in-a-box
3: https://imgur.com/pCJvp9C
This is so cool. As someone who used to run SETI@Home, this is exciting and I'll be doing what I can when they're ready for me.
What is lacking, or I cannot find, yet, is steps for me to take or contribute.
The next step for a project like this would be to incorporate a better, perhaps bepsoke SDR device more focused on the astronomy to be performed as most small off the shelf RTLSDR dongles have pretty horrible frequency drift. The addition of a more stable local clock source, coupled with a GPSDO - GPS disciplined oscillator - would allow signals to be correlated in time across many stations and allow for some actual, albeit basic, interferometry / aperture synthesis.
I think that is what is needed for some actual science to be done with this kind of hardware and community support - similar to the work done by amateurs hosting hardware to record sferics in the VLF bands that sync up over the internet to do lightning strike tracking.
I would love to build something like this, but it looks like the project is not quite complete yet? And also I don't see anywhere on the page where I can sign up for updates.
At the risk of retracting from the really cool project, I notice that a lot of highlighted phrases in a text is indicative of an LLM writer. Not that I have anything against that.