ASSA Radio Astronomy Group

As of early December, the Jupiter observing season has pretty much finished for 2011. The planet is at it's zenith not long after dark and the prospect of successful reception during predicted storm activity is slim, if not impossible. All results of observations collected over the last few months will be posted to a child page, evaluated for relevent data and where appropriate, highlighted. The native .spd files generated by the Radio Skypipe software are too large to post here but are available for further analysis if necessary.

The jpeg images on this page show the most recent Skypipe chart recorded by one of the HF receivers in use at the Adelaide Hills Radio Telescope. For the 2011 observing season, the first of these charts will record peak signal reception in 15 minute blocks. The second chart records the whole of the current session, both are updated every two minutes.

I am using an East-West aligned, 135° phased dipole array as defined in the Radio Jove RJ1.2 Antenna Kit Assembly Manual to detect any emissions from Jupiter. The current height of the dipole array will be set at 4.5m to suit the elevation of Jupiter, which is presently quite low in the sky at transit (from this location in the southern hemisphere) and will remain so for the next few years.

Eventually, the default receiver will be a Ten-Tec 1056 Direct Conversion Receiver kit that will be constructed specifically for this task. Occasionally, my WinRadio G305e or one of the Society's Ten-Tec RX-331s will be used for monitoring, primarily to determine their suitability for the task regardless of their cost or better(?) use elsewhere. Receiver functions are kept consistent, where possible using bandwidths of 3.2kHz, in AM mode and with preamplifiers off. Receiver AGC will be disabled with the exception of the RX-331, which is not able to switch off AGC, only be programmed to function in a minimalist way.

For additional details on the hardware currently in use, follow this link here