Keen to get into it but.....

[tnbk00]

Hi,

Im wondering if someone can provide me with some direction. I am interested in having a bash at radio astronomy but i dont want to spend a million bucks.

My research to date has some holes in it but from what I gather i could get started with a shortwave reciever and a dipole.

So the questions I have are, what could I expect to hear with that kind of setup (basically between 1-30Mhz)

Im kinda lost wrt the dipole, having some experience in radio stuff, i would have thought that the antenna would need to be more aimable rather than omni/bi directional.

Sorry if these are stupid questions but im very lost at this stage, and all the info I see on the web sugests that hardcore recievers with a range of 0hz-18Ghz are used, which basically means that the cost goes nuts.

So basically if anyone can clear my confusion that would be great!

Thanks

Daniel

[AussieSky]

Daniel;

Have a look at this thread
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=44414

The Radio Jove gear is cheap and easy to get into. There is a kit receiver available from Altronics that looks very much like the Radio Jove receiver here: http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K1127

The antenna is easy to build and cheap, you just need a bit of room for it (about 9m x 9m for the twin dipoles)

I can send you some pix of my setup if you PM me

Greg

[ZL4PLM]

actually you can do quite a lot with simple HF kit

and a directional antenna is not really required but simple dipoles will suffice to start

with an HF receiver you can also add a preamp for LF if the receiver goes low enough too or add a simple VLF converter

space radio on shortwave can be easy to start

you can also build an interferometer using a satellite TV LNB and dish too ;)

ill see if i can find some links and post some info too

rgds

Simon ZL4PLM

[tnbk00]

Thanks to every one for the info. At this stage I am looking at a pretty standard SW radio with a dipole arrangement as a starting point.

Any advice on buying a SW for this? The criteria i have been looking at basically covers the facility for an external antenna, and frequency coverage up to 29Mhz.

[ZL4PLM]

yes am or ssb reception is ok .. 21 MHz is the sweet spot for Jupiter radio observations .. an ext antenna is a must .