H1 Survey with Horn Antenna and ezRA

[Nathaniel Butts]

Howdy folks,

Been super busy around here with work and travel, but I have managed to complete the first half of my first H1 survey.

Using my SOKY-RAD horn antenna and ezRA, I kept my scope pointed towards azimuth 180 (in Northern Hemisphere) for several nights and adjusted elevation by 2.5 degrees between 20 to 90 degrees.  The data shows the H1 distribution, although very faint.  There are a few reasons for that:

1. Collecting area is very small, about 0.5m^2
2. Because of small collecting area, I had to integrate samples over 55 seconds/sample
3. We've had some super strong weather this summer, so there were many days when I had to pull the scope into the garage and wait out the weather.  When I then set it back up, the azimuth setup was surely in a slightly different point each time.

Even with these limitations, and the not super-detailed data, I'm still really happy with this first attempt.  I had several days where my LNA would lose power due to a poor connection.  I finally took it apart and made the connections more permanent, and sealed it in an Altoids tin.  This helped a bunch.

Next step is to find a clear Northern view of the sky, not easy in my neighborhood.  The weather has been much, much better so I'm able to leave it outside for longer periods.  While I'm collecting that data, my next project will still be focused on H1, but my plans are to focus on:

1. A more permanent, outside scope that can survive the elements on a permanent mount
2. Motor control of this scope in elevation direction
3. Motor control of this scope in azimuth direction

Maybe then I can get some data that will be prettier, and useful for some actual galactic hydrogen studies.

Thanks,

Nathan Butts

Wannabe Astronomer

Bowling Green, KY

[Nathaniel Butts]

Some more plots to supplement the previous post.  

ezSky200 shows the plot of the spectrum across the entire RA/DEC to go along with ezSky201 which plots the maximums only.

ezSky400 shows the heatmap of the power spectrum for each longitude.

ezGal580 shows some of the Perseus arm of the galaxy, and a little bit of the outer arm.

ezGal610 shows the spectrum for each longitude, with the spectrum shifted to show relative velocity.

ezGal510 shows the velocity relative to galactic longitude.

Baby steps, but it's pretty cool what you can do with parts from Home Depot and a Raspberry Pi.  Looking forward to continuing exploration.

Thanks,

Nathan Butts

Wannabe Astronomer

Bowling Green, KY

[andrew....@googlemail.com]

Dear Nathaniel,

 

I am very excited by your plots as they show me what I might (hopefully) be able to get once I extend my own observations at different altitudes. I am building myself a mount to let me direct the antenna so that I can do this.

 

Do you have a website where you describe your horn antenna and your work on this or can you send me some information to me by email at andrew (at) thornett (dot) net ?

 

I realise you may have described all this in detail to the group – but I have only recently joined so will have missed most of the discussion.

 

Similarly, there are many people here who have done similar things – and I will have missed those discussions.

 

Clear (radio) skies!

 

Andy

 

 

---

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To post to this group, send email to sara...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sara-list-...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sara-list+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/044f5232-5f3d-40d6-969d-4aba1d612f1fn%40googlegroups.com.

[Nathaniel Butts]

Howdy Andrew,

I saw your Triffid and was very intrigued.  I'm trying to do some research in the properties and construction of your array now to see what I can glean from different antenna theories.

I'm working on a website, but I've got to redo my server.  Hopefully soon.

Here is a link to my first post regarding the V1 of my antenna.  I'm currently on V3 due to the changes I've been making along the way....

And here are some various reports I've made when I do some testing.  I'll be putting one together again when I get the complete sky survey done for northern hemisphere.

You'll find nothing but great people to answer your questions here so don't be afraid to ask.  My only advice is to take it one step at a time, change one variable at a time, until you get to where you can do some collecting to keep you interested in it.  If you're into data, collect and process data.  If you're into antenna, work on making the best antenna you can.  Either way we all learn from one another.

Thanks,

Nathan Butts

Wannabe Astronomer

Bowling Green, KY

[andrew....@googlemail.com]

That’s marvellous – thank you for link and the advice.

I will enjoy looking at your info.

Plus – I hope you don’t mind me coming back to you re data which is my main interest – I want to work out what to do next!

I guess that will be to vary altitude and take drift scans for as wide a range of altitude as I can, is that right?

How many days do you take drift scans at each altitude for with your kit? Does ezRA suite integrate date over several days to improve signal to noise ratio or just treat each day separately?

Andy

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/5a815e97-745e-4a08-860d-4bb7e949f62cn%40googlegroups.com.

[andrew....@googlemail.com]

Ignore that! Just got it to work. Don’t know what happened there

Andy

M6THO

Lichfield, UK

www.astronomy.me.uk

 

 

From: THORNETT, Andrew (BLACKWOOD HEALTH CENTRE)
Sent: 08 October 2023 20:57
To: sara...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [SARA] Re: H1 Survey with Horn Antenna and ezRA

 

Very interesting!!

I have tried downloading integration times document but it says I don’t have permission – do you know what is happening there?

Andy

 

From: andrew....@googlemail.com <andrew....@googlemail.com>
Sent: 08 October 2023 17:58
To: "THORNETT, Andrew (BLACKWOOD HEALTH CENTRE)"@smtp2.e.amses.net
Subject: FW: [SARA] Re: H1 Survey with Horn Antenna and ezRA

 

This message originated from outside of NHSmail. Please do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

 

 

From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Nathaniel Butts

Sent: 08 October 2023 17:38

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/5a815e97-745e-4a08-860d-4bb7e949f62cn%40googlegroups.com.

[Alex P]

"  How many days do you take drift scans at each altitude for with your kit? Does ezRA suite integrate date over several days to improve signal to noise ratio or just treat each day separately?  Andy  "

I recommend taking a sufficient number of averages  during one session to get clean S/N scans rather than trying to align several days of data.    

These are 5 minute scans of data per trace w/ 1.2m dish

[tedcl...@gmail.com]

                                                 Does ezRA suite integrate date over several days to improve signal to noise ratio

                                                or just treat each day separately?

Yes, to data integration over several days:

ezRA's   ezSky   sorts all incoming data into 0.5 degree Right Ascension by 0.5 degree Declination radio sky boxes,

and plots each box's average power.

The   ezSky309   plot presents the counts of data used in each RaDec sky box.

Likewise for the radio sky boxes of the Galactic coordinate plots.

So just provide data, and let   ezSky   plot it.

Of course, better if the data has been filtered of radio frequency interference (RFI).

More data is usually better.

---

Ted Cline   N0RQV
Loveland Colorado   USA
tedClineGit at gmail.com

      ezRA - Easy Radio Astronomy
      Free 1420 MHz Galactic hydrogen data collection and analysis
      https://github.com/tedcline/ezRA
      Windows and Linux

On Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 11:00:57 AM UTC-6 andrew....@googlemail.com wrote:

That’s marvellous – thank you for link and the advice.

I will enjoy looking at your info.

Plus – I hope you don’t mind me coming back to you re data which is my main interest – I want to work out what to do next!

I guess that will be to vary altitude and take drift scans for as wide a range of altitude as I can, is that right?

How many days do you take drift scans at each altitude for with your kit? Does ezRA suite integrate date over several days to improve signal to noise ratio or just treat each day separately?

Andy

...

[Andrew Thornett]

Thanks 😊

Sent from Outlook for Android

---

From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of tedcl...@gmail.com <tedcl...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, October 9, 2023 12:08:31 AM

To: Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SARA] Re: H1 Survey with Horn Antenna and ezRA

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To post to this group, send email to sara...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sara-list-...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sara-list+...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/0c39881d-fe19-4f41-8a52-c1e9fa43c976n%40googlegroups.com.

[Andrew Thornett]

Thanks Ted and Alex.

The more I use this ezRA suite of Ted's, the more awed I am by its capabilities and touched that so much effort has been put into providing such an incredible free resource!

Andy 

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: sara...@googlegroups.com <sara...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of tedcl...@gmail.com <tedcl...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, October 9, 2023 12:08:31 AM

To: Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SARA] Re: H1 Survey with Horn Antenna and ezRA

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To post to this group, send email to sara...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sara-list-...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sara-list+...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sara-list/0c39881d-fe19-4f41-8a52-c1e9fa43c976n%40googlegroups.com.

[Alex P]

Hello Andrew,

I found your IF_AVE filesets on your website

 Data  from Your System

 

a 1m   Umbrella Radio Telescope

Alex  KK4VB

[b alex pettit jr]

Umbrella Antenna data  = 300 Second Samples =   272 Samples/Day   

Alex  KK4VB

--
-

[b alex pettit jr]

                           02 Oct 2023               Baseline Drift   over full data set               Y axis calibrated in  dB re normalization channel

                                      1024 Channels for This Data