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I finally managed to get out and start working on this project. I set up a "workbench" for the project and got most of the equipment set up. The oscilloscope seems to be working, which is nice. I also did an inventory of the status of the receivers I currently have. I've noticed a few problems with one, but hopefully the rest of it is working fine, so I should be able to revive that one. Another one seems to be complete, so hopefully it's working fine and can be made to run easily.
 The workbench I'll be using to build the interferometer. |
 View of the 3 receivers I'll be testing for the interferometer. Only two of them will be used in the final setup, with one as a backup. |
 These cables and wires will become the antennae the receivers will use to detect radio signals from astronomical sources such as the Sun, Jupiter, and other galaxies. |
As I've acquired some of the necessary parts, construction has resumed. I'm being joined by an undergraduate at RIT, Ryan, who will be helping me. We are starting by replacing several of the chips on the board. Two of the ICs on two of the receivers used the wrong chips. Today we were able to replace the ICs in one of the units, and should be able to replace the other one next week.
Progress will likely start moving faster one of us will be able to test and calibrate one of the receivers while the other works on construction.
Our future plans are to finish the construction and begin testing. In the meantime, we will also be working out the design of the antennas.
Today we began working on replacing the chips for the final receiver. Ryan worked on desoldering them while I began testing one of the receivers. We encountered some suspicious voltages on it, and I switched to another receiver. I'll resume testing the other one after investigating the parts situation.
The second receiver had nominal voltages however the sound output was not as described in the RadioJove manual. I attempted to adjust the receiver to tune it, but with no success.
Although updates have been sparse, we have been busy working on the telescope. We've finished building and testing two RadioJove receivers and they seem to be working. They have been tuned to operated at 20.1MHz and will observe the Sun and Jupiter at those wavelengths.
Several days ago we began working on the antennas. We will be using half-wave dipoles for each receiver. That works out to an antenna that is over 20ft long! We've partially completed one antenna and will be begin working on the next one soon.
Once we've finished an antenna, we plan to get it up individually with each receiver and verify that they are working by observing the Sun. Once we've established they're working, we will link the oscillators in them to lock them onto the same frequency for inferometry.
 Ryan holding the wire for the half-wave dipole antenna. |
 Ryan getting ready to measure the length of the dipole. |
Since the last update, we've accomplished a fair amount. The masts to support the antennas have been built and the actual wiring for the antennas have been completed. As this was the last missing piece, we expect to be able to test them soon. At this point things have gone rather smoothly, and we hope the test of the receivers goes well. We should run a preliminary test by the end of this week and if all goes well, results will be posted to this page.
 Ryan working on the coax cable. |
 Me drilling holes in the antenna mast. |
 The finished antenna masts. |
Ryan and I managed to continue working on the radio telescope through almost the end of May. We had used a ham radio receiver to test the antenna. While we were able to get what might be the sun moving through the beam, the noise level was simply too high due to nearby power lines.
As I am no longer at RIT, I am unfortunately not going to be able to further assist in building the radio telescope. Ryan is working over the summer on it, and will be making progress on it. I will post a link to a website with his progress if one is make.