Using Empty TV Spectrum For Radio Astronomy and Meteor Skip Studies

[gccradioscience]

With the analog TV signals gone, does this mean we could use this
spectrum space for radio astronomy? My radio called the Grundig G5
that covers 76 to 108 MHz and the Grundig G8
covers 64 to 108 MHz has quite a bit of empty space on the 64 to 88
MHz region. Nothing but static. Do you think this area would be a
good place to check out for weak signals in space?
The DTV signals are very narrow and they could not be detected with
the Grundig G5 and G8.
There are other shortwave radios out there that cover 64 to 108 MHz.
Also 64 to 88 MHz
would be a great area for some rare meteor scatter skip to hear a rare
exotic station from
another country that is broadcasting on those frequencies. The 174
to 216 MHz region is open
for business for radio astronomers and meteor hobbyists. So please
don't suddenly throw out those analog TVs. Also a better place for
astronomy is yes the UHF 470 to 764 MHz region where it's
much quieter for radio astronomy.

Adam Ebel
Virginia Beach, Virginia

[Marcus D. Leech]

One needs to be careful about assuming that unoccupied spectrum,
formerly occupied by analog TV, will remain so in perpetuity.
A *plethora* of commercial proposals for that spectrum are extant,
and it's only a matter of time before one or more of those
proposals goes "production".

The only hard exception that I'm aware of is channel 37, from 608 to
614MHz, which is permanently allocated to Radio Astronomy
on a "rules" basis in North America, and on a "casual cooperation"
basis in many other parts of the world.

--
Marcus Leech
Principal Investigator
Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium
http://www.sbrac.org

[Michael Klinosky]

gccradioscience wrote:
> With the analog TV signals gone, does this mean we could use this
> spectrum space for radio astronomy?

From what I've heard, the digital broadcasts use those frequencies now.
That's why the same decades-old antenna can be used.

> Nothing but static.

_Digital_ static. :)

[Bruce Rout]

Who was it from San Diego with that great tv array presentation at Stanford a year ago? He is very up on all this.

-Bruce

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[Myamiphil]

The 608 - 614 MHz band is also shared by biomedical telemetry. Its called the WMTS band. That won't be going away anytime soon. It is secondary to the astronomy needs, such that if a hospital were in the radio telescope area the hospitl would not be allowed to use it. Otherwise it is used all over the US.

Very small power ! 0 to -6db power range.

 

It would be nice to use it till the band gets occupied again.

There's all sorts of tv receivers around.

Best Regards

Phil
Lat: 40.8367633
Long: -74.1768412

---

From: Marcus D. Leech <patchv...@gmail.com>
To: sara...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, April 23, 2011 11:54:56 AM
Subject: Re: [SARA] Using Empty TV Spectrum For Radio Astronomy and Meteor Skip Studies

[kl7uw]

It might be safer in terms of your investment for radio astronomy to
utilize part of the 6 meter ham radio band (50-54 MHz). With some
exceptions this spectrum is largely unoccupied by hams above 52.525
MHz. A 53-54 MHz receiver would probably enjoy a quiet spectrum.

But the only way to know is to monitor the intended frequencies with
an small antenna.
Most professional radio obsservatories monitor their local radio
environment with a omni-directional antenna and a spectrum analyzer.
I suspect some even record it.

On Apr 23, 7:10 am, gccradioscience <gccengineerin...@gmail.com>
wrote: