The Jodrell Plank Observatory

The Yagi aerial fixed to the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Apologies to my regular readers for the paucity of posts on this blog over the last week or so.

I have been beavering away in the Cabine constructing the LVST or Lowestoft Very Small radio Telescope.

After days of feverish activity involving; copper pipes, assorted lengths of timber, screws and washers of various sizes, cables, cable connectors, cable ties, saws, screw drivers, creosote and a brush; and with the Yagi aerial fixed to my small shed, I was almost ready to go.

For two days I awaited the delivery of technological heart of the beast; 'The FunCube Dongle Pro+'.

Software defined radio is a hobby in itself although not as rewarding as proper radio according to my pal Jon.

Tension mounted and then got off again!
And finally the great day arrived.

The FunCube Dongle dropped through my letterbox courtesy of Howard at Halincrest and our Royal Mail postman, I could hardly restrain my excitement (clearly I don't get out enough).

I built the LVST to monitor and track meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. The way it works is quite interesting.  There is a powerful radar installation, the GRAVES transmitter near Dijon in France that generates an unmodulated signal at 143.05 MHz.  From Lowestoft, Dijon is below the horizon  and consequently the signal cannot be received directly.  When friction with the upper atmosphere heats a meteroid it ionises particles and creates a plasma that acts as a mirror to the signal from GRAVES. As long as the LVST is tuned appropriately,the reflected signal is then receiveable at Jodrell Plank.

So much for the theory.  Would it actually work?

Well after a lot of fiddling about with a BNC aerial connector from Maplins (most difficult bit of the whole DIY project - no instructions for fitting one to the RG58 coax cable Mr M!). It worked, I netted my first meteors and duly managed a couple of screen captures to prove it!

I like this nice big spike on the 3d graph

Apparently I can do all sorts of nerdy stuff with the recorded data but first I need to save up for a second hand computer that I can leave turned on to monitor the heavens 24/7. So still some more work and expletives to deliver before Jodrell Plank becomes self aware and goes fully operational.

For more information regarding the LVST at the Jodrell Plank Observatory -  follow the link to my new website:

http://missbissuk.wix.com/lvst

Credits: Freeware Spectrum Lab, FCD+Frequency Control Programme  and SDRSharp. Paul Hyde coordinator of the BAA's radio astronomy group, Howard at Halincrest Ltd and the Sky at Night Magazine.