How to build a radio telescope...

[Zachary]

Heyho, yup you read the title right, I want to build a radio telescope! I have lots of money, time and youthfull naivety and I might morph it into some physics coursework in the future (just finished my first year at uni, hence the loads of time on my hands)

So anyway, does anybody have any experience with this and are there any websites out there that can point me in the right direction? All I know is that they're incredibly difficult to build and it's equally difficult to make sense of any information they recieve, which makes it a perfect project for me ;)

Cheers,
Just some guy.

[Parsec.au]

Well, they can be incredibly difficult or incredibly easy depending on what you want to use it for. You may want to use an old tv parabolic antenna or perhaps a simple dipole or inverted V antenna cut to a certain frequency. You may want a specialized receive or a general coverage such as an Icom IC 7000. These will depend on what frequency or range you are interested in.

There are several software packages. However, again depending what you plan to do will dictate what type of software.

I suggest before you spend a lot of money and time, study up on the total radio frequency spectrum and at least the basics on radio astronomy. This 'stuff' bears no resemblance to visual astronomy. It is a totally different ball game.
I am not trying to be condescending but radio astronomy, is not what it appears.

Go to this link and read. It will give you a bacis idea.:)

http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/radioastronomy/

[JustAFriend]

My answer to anyone wanting to start a hobby:

BUY A BOOK

Radio astronomy & how to build your own telescope (Unknown Binding)
by John Heywood (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Radio-astronomy-build-your-telescope/dp/B0007DWX2S/ref=sr_1_4/002-3976910-2040867?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183133414&sr=1-4

In fact, here's a bunch of books on the subject:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-3976910-2040867?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=radio+telescope&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

(Search bars are your friend....)

[djellison]

You might want to look at the VLF stuff being done by the BAA's Radio Astronomy section - saw a talk on it a few months ago - very interesting.

Doug

[bloodhound31]

http://www.aussiepeople.com.au/asignobservatory/Radioastronomy.aspx