3 ms·

Software defined radio is a lot of fun for me, there is interesting math, there are weird RF signals to investigate, and it is fun to decode things like ADSB fl

Software defined radio is a lot of fun for me, there is interesting math, there are weird RF signals to investigate, and it is fun to decode things like ADSB flight data. That said, if you want to do real science, you can also do radio astronomy with these things. For a relatively small amount of money ($300 - $500 US) you can set up a radio telescope in your back yard that doesn't suffer from a lack of "dark sky". Also makes for a great science project!

elkos 5y ago
And they can help us out witn SatNOGS (https://satnogs.org https://satnogs.org) as soon as they finish this up now that they are familiar with Raspberry Pi and SDRs ;)
- wrycoder 5y ago
  That’s interesting, but, given the network, what do you do with it?
  - elkos 5y ago
    So Low Earth Orbit satellites pass overhead you just a few times over the day and you have like a few minutes to actually receive the data they transmit. For especially for experimental cubesat missions of University teams etc that can be problematic. With a network with many ground-stations all over the world people assist teams by coordinating receiving these signals. We all share it in a common database and these data is available to everyoneone (mostly researchers). It's something that I consider fun and interesting while on the same time facilitates researchers (not all people share the same definition of fun with me). Disclaimer: I've been part of this community since it started so I'm certainly biased
    - tverr_bjelke 5y ago
      Actually I am really interested joining! Alas there is the 5 days rule: "If you want to begin sth, do not delay too much, else..." and I currently have some pile of tobedone-things and it should not grow but shrink :) Still, some "reading and pre-probing" should be possible. Luckily in this thread you linked some initial reading for this...
bmitc 5y ago
Do you have any particular references for backyard radio astronomy? I have been thinking about a visible light observatory, but those have a lot of constraints. So I was curious what could be done with a backyard SDR setup.
- neapolisbeach 5y ago
  I've had a lot of fun doing Hydrogen line backyard astronomy. I wrote up an article on my experience [1]. These are two great sites as well [2][3]. [1]https://hmcguinn.com/posts/hydrogen-line/ https://hmcguinn.com/posts/hydrogen-line/ [2]https://www.rtl-sdr.com/cheap-and-easy-hydrogen-line-radio-astronomy-with-a-rtl-sdr-wifi-parabolic-grid-dish-lna-and-sdrsharp/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/cheap-and-easy-hydrogen-line-radio-a... [3]https://physicsopenlab.org/2020/09/08/milky-way-structure-detected-with-the-21-cm-neutral-hydrogen-emission/ https://physicsopenlab.org/2020/09/08/milky-way-structure-de...

elkos 5y ago

And they can help us out witn SatNOGS (https://satnogs.org https://satnogs.org) as soon as they finish this up now that they are familiar with Raspberry Pi and SDRs ;)

wrycoder 5y ago
That’s interesting, but, given the network, what do you do with it?
- elkos 5y ago
  So Low Earth Orbit satellites pass overhead you just a few times over the day and you have like a few minutes to actually receive the data they transmit. For especially for experimental cubesat missions of University teams etc that can be problematic. With a network with many ground-stations all over the world people assist teams by coordinating receiving these signals. We all share it in a common database and these data is available to everyoneone (mostly researchers). It's something that I consider fun and interesting while on the same time facilitates researchers (not all people share the same definition of fun with me). Disclaimer: I've been part of this community since it started so I'm certainly biased
  - tverr_bjelke 5y ago
    Actually I am really interested joining! Alas there is the 5 days rule: "If you want to begin sth, do not delay too much, else..." and I currently have some pile of tobedone-things and it should not grow but shrink :) Still, some "reading and pre-probing" should be possible. Luckily in this thread you linked some initial reading for this...

bmitc 5y ago

Do you have any particular references for backyard radio astronomy? I have been thinking about a visible light observatory, but those have a lot of constraints. So I was curious what could be done with a backyard SDR setup.

neapolisbeach 5y ago
I've had a lot of fun doing Hydrogen line backyard astronomy. I wrote up an article on my experience [1]. These are two great sites as well [2][3]. [1]https://hmcguinn.com/posts/hydrogen-line/ https://hmcguinn.com/posts/hydrogen-line/ [2]https://www.rtl-sdr.com/cheap-and-easy-hydrogen-line-radio-astronomy-with-a-rtl-sdr-wifi-parabolic-grid-dish-lna-and-sdrsharp/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/cheap-and-easy-hydrogen-line-radio-a... [3]https://physicsopenlab.org/2020/09/08/milky-way-structure-detected-with-the-21-cm-neutral-hydrogen-emission/ https://physicsopenlab.org/2020/09/08/milky-way-structure-de...