Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
Hello Aficionados! We’ve just released a marvelous summary of how to build a “Pail of Milky Way” horn radio telescope. This is described in LightWork memo 32. https://github.com/WVURAIL/lightwork/blob/master/memos/LightWorkMemo032-PailOfMilkyWay-r5.pdf The memo concludes with a plot of one day’s observations, showing what you can see with a horn radio telescope. The Doppler shifted Cygnus and Perseus Spiral arms of the Milky Way are visible. Comments and improvements welcomed. Data are all obtained using Gnuradio designs available from the DSPIRA web site. https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro Thanks to Kevin Bandura at WVU and the Green Bank Observatory Staff. Cheers Glen
Re: Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
Hey Glen, this is really cool stuff! Tried to give this a bit of reach on Mastodon [1], but I'm far from the audience I used to have on twitter. It's pretty cool that a galvanized pail does the job so well, would have thought zinc wouldn't be low-loss enough a surface coating, but was proven wrong by awesome results :) The best case of being wrong! I especially like that this is a solution that needs so little "craftiness" and seems quite robust. Just drill a hole, watch (and then obviously like) a few videos and send Glen an email to get a free feed :D If I had one complaint, it's that you promise a shopping list in the appendix – but there's no appendix! I'd also state very early in the guide (maybe actually with a flashy yellow "sticker" on the title page?) that it comes with video documentation (30 min in total[2]). I think that's quite a relief to a teacher who doesn't want to risk building something new based on text only, especially when it involves mechanical work! Cheers, Marcus PS: I think if you're really going to leave it out in the weather, maybe add a Polymeric Low-Absorption Small-Thickness Inherently Costefficient Best-fit Antenna enGulfing (PLASTICBAG) radome? [1] https://mastodon.social/@funkylab/110301361379949802 [2] For those wondering: these videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMYhHhJW1VDYESTcHJIiwNbRQXWpFlyF On 02.05.23 16:53, Glen Langston wrote: Hello Aficionados! We’ve just released a marvelous summary of how to build a “Pail of Milky Way” horn radio telescope. This is described in LightWork memo 32. https://github.com/WVURAIL/lightwork/blob/master/memos/LightWorkMemo032-PailOfMilkyWay-r5.pdf The memo concludes with a plot of one day’s observations, showing what you can see with a horn radio telescope. The Doppler shifted Cygnus and Perseus Spiral arms of the Milky Way are visible. Comments and improvements welcomed. Data are all obtained using Gnuradio designs available from the DSPIRA web site. https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro Thanks to Kevin Bandura at WVU and the Green Bank Observatory Staff. Cheers Glen
Re: Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
On 02/05/2023 18:58, Marcus Müller wrote: Hey Glen, this is really cool stuff! Tried to give this a bit of reach on Mastodon [1], but I'm far from the audience I used to have on twitter. It's pretty cool that a galvanized pail does the job so well, would have thought zinc wouldn't be low-loss enough a surface coating, but was proven wrong by awesome results :) The best case of being wrong! I especially like that this is a solution that needs so little "craftiness" and seems quite robust. Just drill a hole, watch (and then obviously like) a few videos and send Glen an email to get a free feed :D If I had one complaint, it's that you promise a shopping list in the appendix – but there's no appendix! I'd also state very early in the guide (maybe actually with a flashy yellow "sticker" on the title page?) that it comes with video documentation (30 min in total[2]). I think that's quite a relief to a teacher who doesn't want to risk building something new based on text only, especially when it involves mechanical work! Cheers, Marcus PS: I think if you're really going to leave it out in the weather, maybe add a Polymeric Low-Absorption Small-Thickness Inherently Costefficient Best-fit Antenna enGulfing (PLASTICBAG) radome? [1] https://mastodon.social/@funkylab/110301361379949802 [2] For those wondering: these videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMYhHhJW1VDYESTcHJIiwNbRQXWpFlyF On 02.05.23 16:53, Glen Langston wrote: Hello Aficionados! We’ve just released a marvelous summary of how to build a “Pail of Milky Way” horn radio telescope. This is described in LightWork memo 32. https://github.com/WVURAIL/lightwork/blob/master/memos/LightWorkMemo032-PailOfMilkyWay-r5.pdf The memo concludes with a plot of one day’s observations, showing what you can see with a horn radio telescope. The Doppler shifted Cygnus and Perseus Spiral arms of the Milky Way are visible. Comments and improvements welcomed. Data are all obtained using Gnuradio designs available from the DSPIRA web site. https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro Thanks to Kevin Bandura at WVU and the Green Bank Observatory Staff. Cheers Glen Some of this reminds me of the memo I published 1.5 years ago on a similar subject: http://www.ccera.ca/files/memos/ccera-memo-0014.pdf
Re: Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
On 02/05/2023 18:58, Marcus Müller wrote: Hey Glen, this is really cool stuff! Tried to give this a bit of reach on Mastodon [1], but I'm far from the audience I used to have on twitter. It's pretty cool that a galvanized pail does the job so well, would have thought zinc wouldn't be low-loss enough a surface coating, but was proven wrong by awesome results :) The best case of being wrong! You wouldn't want to make extended wave-guides out of zinc-plated steel. But for small numbers of lambda, the loss is quite small. I routinely make dish feeds for 21cm from 15cm (6") HVAC duct. The spiral wound stuff is quite stiff and maintains its shape well...
Re: Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
Hi Marcus Leech (and Muller), Well you beat me to it! It’s great that you can pre-confirm my results. I’ll have to look at the rest of your memos. Do you mind if we cross-post your memo CERRA memo, as a LightWork memo too? Maybe it will be better to just reference your memos on the LightWork page. Just thinking while typing… You produced a beautiful spectrum of the Milky Way, if you love that kind of thing, like I do! Calibrating, by looking at the Ground, is pretty reliable and easy. Cheers Glen > On May 2, 2023, at 7:03 PM, Marcus D. Leech wrote: > > On 02/05/2023 18:58, Marcus Müller wrote: >> Hey Glen, >> >> this is really cool stuff! >> >> Tried to give this a bit of reach on Mastodon [1], but I'm far from the >> audience I used to have on twitter. >> >> It's pretty cool that a galvanized pail does the job so well, would have >> thought zinc wouldn't be low-loss enough a surface coating, but was proven >> wrong by awesome results :) The best case of being wrong! >> >> I especially like that this is a solution that needs so little "craftiness" >> and seems quite robust. Just drill a hole, watch (and then obviously like) a >> few videos and send Glen an email to get a free feed :D >> >> If I had one complaint, it's that you promise a shopping list in the >> appendix – but there's no appendix! >> >> I'd also state very early in the guide (maybe actually with a flashy yellow >> "sticker" on the title page?) that it comes with video documentation (30 min >> in total[2]). I think that's quite a relief to a teacher who doesn't want to >> risk building something new based on text only, especially when it involves >> mechanical work! >> >> Cheers, >> Marcus >> >> PS: I think if you're really going to leave it out in the weather, maybe add >> a Polymeric Low-Absorption Small-Thickness Inherently Costefficient Best-fit >> Antenna enGulfing (PLASTICBAG) radome? >> >> >> [1] https://mastodon.social/@funkylab/110301361379949802 >> [2] For those wondering: these videos: >> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMYhHhJW1VDYESTcHJIiwNbRQXWpFlyF >> >> On 02.05.23 16:53, Glen Langston wrote: >>> Hello Aficionados! >>> >>> We’ve just released a marvelous summary of how to build a “Pail of Milky >>> Way” >>> horn radio telescope. This is described in LightWork memo 32. >>> >>> https://github.com/WVURAIL/lightwork/blob/master/memos/LightWorkMemo032-PailOfMilkyWay-r5.pdf >>> >>> >>> The memo concludes with a plot of one day’s observations, showing >>> what you can see with a horn radio telescope. The Doppler shifted >>> Cygnus and Perseus Spiral arms of the Milky Way are visible. >>> >>> Comments and improvements welcomed. >>> >>> Data are all obtained using Gnuradio designs available from the DSPIRA web >>> site. >>> https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro >>> >>> Thanks to Kevin Bandura at WVU and the Green Bank Observatory Staff. >>> >>> Cheers >>> >>> Glen >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > Some of this reminds me of the memo I published 1.5 years ago on a similar > subject: > > http://www.ccera.ca/files/memos/ccera-memo-0014.pdf > > >
Re: Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
On 02/05/2023 19:17, Glen Langston wrote: Hi Marcus Leech (and Muller), Well you beat me to it! It’s great that you can pre-confirm my results. I’ll have to look at the rest of your memos. Do you mind if we cross-post your memo CERRA memo, as a LightWork memo too? Maybe it will be better to just reference your memos on the LightWork page. Just thinking while typing… You can feel free to cross-post. That was the original idea of our memo series. You produced a beautiful spectrum of the Milky Way, if you love that kind of thing, like I do! Calibrating, by looking at the Ground, is pretty reliable and easy. Cheers Glen On May 2, 2023, at 7:03 PM, Marcus D. Leech wrote: On 02/05/2023 18:58, Marcus Müller wrote: Hey Glen, this is really cool stuff! Tried to give this a bit of reach on Mastodon [1], but I'm far from the audience I used to have on twitter. It's pretty cool that a galvanized pail does the job so well, would have thought zinc wouldn't be low-loss enough a surface coating, but was proven wrong by awesome results :) The best case of being wrong! I especially like that this is a solution that needs so little "craftiness" and seems quite robust. Just drill a hole, watch (and then obviously like) a few videos and send Glen an email to get a free feed :D If I had one complaint, it's that you promise a shopping list in the appendix – but there's no appendix! I'd also state very early in the guide (maybe actually with a flashy yellow "sticker" on the title page?) that it comes with video documentation (30 min in total[2]). I think that's quite a relief to a teacher who doesn't want to risk building something new based on text only, especially when it involves mechanical work! Cheers, Marcus PS: I think if you're really going to leave it out in the weather, maybe add a Polymeric Low-Absorption Small-Thickness Inherently Costefficient Best-fit Antenna enGulfing (PLASTICBAG) radome? [1] https://mastodon.social/@funkylab/110301361379949802 [2] For those wondering: these videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMYhHhJW1VDYESTcHJIiwNbRQXWpFlyF On 02.05.23 16:53, Glen Langston wrote: Hello Aficionados! We’ve just released a marvelous summary of how to build a “Pail of Milky Way” horn radio telescope. This is described in LightWork memo 32. https://github.com/WVURAIL/lightwork/blob/master/memos/LightWorkMemo032-PailOfMilkyWay-r5.pdf The memo concludes with a plot of one day’s observations, showing what you can see with a horn radio telescope. The Doppler shifted Cygnus and Perseus Spiral arms of the Milky Way are visible. Comments and improvements welcomed. Data are all obtained using Gnuradio designs available from the DSPIRA web site. https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro Thanks to Kevin Bandura at WVU and the Green Bank Observatory Staff. Cheers Glen Some of this reminds me of the memo I published 1.5 years ago on a similar subject: http://www.ccera.ca/files/memos/ccera-memo-0014.pdf
Re: Pail of Milky Way Horn Radio Telescope
On 02/05/2023 19:17, Glen Langston wrote: Hi Marcus Leech (and Muller), Well you beat me to it! It’s great that you can pre-confirm my results. I’ll have to look at the rest of your memos. Do you mind if we cross-post your memo CERRA memo, as a LightWork memo too? Maybe it will be better to just reference your memos on the LightWork page. Just thinking while typing… You produced a beautiful spectrum of the Milky Way, if you love that kind of thing, like I do! Calibrating, by looking at the Ground, is pretty reliable and easy. Cheers Glen Wide-field spectra at milky-way transit near Cygnus are generally pretty nice. Here's a kind of "extremal" of these types of horn antenna: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kn49pWqQ3kiiZwTq8 We had that one built by a local sheet-metal/HVAC shop for under C$200.00. The diameter at the exit is about 23" as I recall. The plan was to use it to illuminate our sub-reflector at the observatory, but we had a change of heart after we realized that plan was going to require a LOT of "civil engineering". So, we converted the 12.8m dish to prime focus, and that well-built (but kinda 'amateur') horn is just sitting there.
