The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, WV

Pat, Anakin and I went here for the 25th Anniversary Conference of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. It was inspiring, to say the least. The dish surface is more than 100 meters in diameter (~392 feet), and the telescope rivals the Statue of Liberty for height.

Welcome to the Stony Creek Observatory

by David M. Ocame, N1YVV

On the top, left is the world's largest, fully steerable radio-telescope. Below is my humble attempt at building an amateur radio observatory using a decommissioned 2.4 meter diameter surplus microwave relay dish, kindly donated by the State of Connecticut.

I first became interested in radio astronomy and, in particular, SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) shortly after passing my license exam for an Amateur Radio Technician class license in March of 1997. After many years of slaving and saving, I finally had accumulated enough wealth to build the modest installation you see pictured below. Here you see the outdoors half of the station. The rest are the electronics located inside.

In the interests of simplicity and brevity, I'll keep this short. I won't go into a full description of Radio Astronomy nor SETI. Those subjects are already covered in great detail by more knowledgeable persons other than myself, so why re-invent the wheel? Go to my table of links to find out more. Or stay here awhile, look at my pictures or go to my blog for more up to date information on my activities.






Just a little more information. My first radio observatory was built at our home in New Haven, CT. I named that station after the park across the street, East Shore. In July, 2005, we moved to the town of Branford, CT. Now, Branford has some interesting folk and they divide the town into sections such as the Hills, Pine Orchard, and Stony Creek. Pine Orchards and Stony Creek are more affluent areas of town, and I was once told that I couldn't use Stony Creek as the name for my observatory because I didn't live there. So, I did (besides, I like the name Stony Creek Observatory)!

A lot of people ask how I learned all this stuff. My greatest resources have been, and still are, The SETILeague, The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA), and the Amateur Radio community in general. My thanks go out to these groups for the guidance I've received from them all.






Links

David Ocame's SETI and Radio Astronomy Blog A chronicle of my science activities in the areas of SETI and Radio Astronomy.

The SETI League, Inc ...the international grass-roots organization dedicated to privatizing the electromagnetic search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.

Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) is an international society of dedicated enthusiasts who teach, learn, trade technical information, and do their own observations of the radio sky.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Home of the Green Bank Telescope, among others.

Ettus Research LLC Where to get the USRP receiver I use at this station.

AMSAT The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation

The Gnu Radio Project Linux based software for the USRP.

Big Ear Radio Observatory Home of the Wow! signal

The Carl Sagan Portal Information about Carl Sagan.

SpaceWeather.com News and information about the Earth-Sun Environment

The Planetary Society Making you a part of the next age of exploration.

The SETI Institute The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.

NASA Audio-Webcast, Feature Articles, Flash Features, Image Feature, Interactive Feature, Press Releases, Status Reports and more.

Space.com Space.com provides information on everything Space - satellites, stars, astronomy, the Sun, planets, NASA and more.

Amateur Radio Relay League The national association for amateur radio

Snopes.com Ok, its not about radio astronomy nor SETI. But, it is a great place to check out those urban legends to see if they are really true.

Images and Photos



This page last updated: 14 Feb 2007