Did some tweaks and now a new reading

[Cathal O'Donghaile]

Good afternoon everyone.

I did some tweaks to my horn antenna:

I''ve run a half metre cable between the LNA and cantenna. The LNA itself is now in a sealed container inside a static bag. The probe itself comes from the black aerial that comes with the Smartee v5 bundle. The whole setup is easier to manage this way. After applying this, another reading appeared:



So, the reading at 0.5 Doppler is still there which AI Claude still reckons is a Hydrogen cloud. The new one at 0.3 Doppler it reckons is the Perseus Arm. The Az of my antenna is 225 and the alt 65 from Waterford, Ireland. Would love to know what you all think?
Instead of as before, I ran 

[Andrew Thornett]

Can you post a photo of the cantenna you ate using on this horn and how ot connects to horn?

Andy

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From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cathal O'Donghaile <cathalod...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 23 June 2026 18:46:48
To: Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [SARA] Did some tweaks and now a new reading

 

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[Cathal O'Donghaile]

[Andrew Thornett]

So you are using a 5 litre rectangular tin. Are you overall happy with that choice or would you make your cantenna in a different way if you were doing it again? Does it rust, or collect water?

Andy

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From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cathal O'Donghaile <cathalod...@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 7:30:53 pm

To: Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [SARA] Did some tweaks and now a new reading

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/c2f7bed8-d292-4f67-bfda-6a1ed7c3b846n%40googlegroups.com.

[Cathal O'Donghaile]

Hi Andy. Yes, it does indeed rust and collect water. I've overcome rust by lining the inside with that aluminium tape you see attaching the horn to the cantenna. Collecting water I overcame by putting the whole thing under a plastic canopy. 

Overall I am happy with it as it is easy enough to replace. However, replacing it involves buying something that comes in a rectangular 5L tin which are becoming less common and more expensive.

Given a choice between that and being able to make a custom one from steel sheets - I'd go for custom. 

Cathal

On Wednesday, 24 June 2026 at 15:41:40 UTC+1 Andrew Thornett wrote:

So you are using a 5 litre rectangular tin. Are you overall happy with that choice or would you make your cantenna in a different way if you were doing it again? Does it rust, or collect water?

Andy

Sent from Outlook for Android

[Andrew Thornett]

Is it also worth drilling couple holes in end of your tin to drain it? I did that with my WR650 and it worked.

I guess might not be necessary for you if the plastic sheet you cover it with works well. I suppose it depends on whether you find water collects inside from condensation from dew.

(I drilled the 2 holes in the WR650 and also covered the whole thing with a plastic sheet but we are quite humid here and dew condensation is a significant issue.)

Andy

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From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cathal O'Donghaile <cathalod...@gmail.com>

Sent: Wednesday, 24 June 2026 17:05:59

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/6c06bd3b-c4fd-4ef9-8c49-32e52672de65n%40googlegroups.com.