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Under construction for a number of years, Ed Cole's 4.9 meter dish at Argus Station BP40iq in Alaska saw first light in April, 2010. This photo shows the shadow of the feed being used to calibrate the azimuth and elevation encoders. In preliminary testing, Ed is seeing a 6-dB rise in Sun noise over the background at 432-MHz. Calibration at other frequencies will follow. KL7UW photo

Argus station FN21ws with dish in bird-bath mode, as built by Laura Dos Reis in New Paltz, NY, USA. The antenna mount is built from nine old automibile tires, donated by the local Honda dealership. AB2SY photo

Marcus Leech goes to extremes to ensure good RFI shielding in his SETI receiver stack. He writes, "I have a separate power supply cabinet for the receiver power, which gets fed to the fully-screened receiver box with a coax cable. The DC input to the receiver cabinet is RF bypassed as soon as it enters the cabinet. The DC power supply for the receiver is both linear-regulated (NO switching noise), and a LOT bigger than it needs to be, with BIG output capacitors on the power supply, and a linear regulator inside the receiver cabinet that steps the 13.8V down to 8V for use by the USRP digital receiver subsystem. The fan inside the receiver box has a stainless screen over it which is bonded to the cabinet ground. The LNA bias supply, which is both linear-regulated, and much larger than it needs to be, is injected up the coax cable to the front-end, which is normally a 100+ft run, so I set the LNA supply to 16.5 volts, and inject it up the coax using a satellite-TV bias Tee. Power gets "picked" off the coax at the feed end using another bias Tee. That 16.5V (minus coax-run voltage drop) is conditioned right up at the feed with a linear regulator assembly, with more RF bypass and largish capacitors producing both +12V and +5V for LNAs and other things I have up at the feed from time to time." VE3MDL photo

Peter Wright, DJ0BI, and two of his students show off the small radio telescope being built at the Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences in Germany. The 3.7 meter diameter dish has a log periodic feed for L through C bands, and full azimuth/elevation rotation. SETI League photo

In India, graduate student Vishal Gajjar works on his Project Argus radio telesope at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics on the Pune University campus. See more photos of Vishal's SETI station here. SETI League photo

Ken Meyer, K9KJM, has built this beautiful setup in Wisconsin. At left is the operating console, and at right the equipment rack, for Project Argus station EN64iu. K9KJM photos

Argonaut Joseph Potts sends along these images of the innovative feedhorn design on his Project Argus dish. He explains, "This is a copper cylindrical feed that I built with a movable back plate for tuning. The KEPS LNA is mounted directly on the probe inside a 'cool' box on the side of the feed. The DC cooling unit is on top of the feed. The feed is quite heavy and I had to strengthen the frame of the dish to support the feed. The feed support legs are made from fiberglass fence posts and fiberglass rake handles. These are very strong and much cheaper than prefab fiberglass rods. I left enough room for a feed choke if I decide to use one. The cooling unit keeps the LNA at 54 deg. F even in the sun. The dish is in birdbath now but is going to be moveable in Declination and will have a motorized RA movement to allow off-axis movement for signal checks." Joe Potts photos

The classic Project Argus station built in Port Orchard WA USA by Rollo, N7JQ, uses a steerable 10 foot TVRO antenna with SETI League feedhorn design, wideband GaAs FET low noise amplifier, and Icom 8500 receiver. This is the tried and true design from The SETI League Technical Manual, which any member can readily duplicate. N7JQ photo

Greg, K6QPV, has acquired this 3-meter diameter parabolic reflector, and is trying to figure out how to illuminate it. With a focal length to diameter (F/D) ratio of 0.25, the dish is so shallow that its rim and focal point are in the same plane. Thus, the feed must have an extremely wide beamwidth to "see" the entire dish's surface. This precludes the traditional waveguide feedhorn with choke ring that most of us use, and suggests that a short helix or dipole with splash plate may be more appropriate. "Trash cans are for water ballast so dish won't blow over in high winds" explains Greg. K6QPV photo

At the Bottom of the World, Robert Melville has activated his ARGUS equipment at Admussen-Scott South Pole Station. This station gives The SETI League, for the first time, full seven continent coverage. Bob does not have to worry about providing cryogenic cooling for his low noise preamplifier! WB3EFT photo

In Maine, Project ARGUS station FN54gj achieved first light on 18 August 2006, with a 12 foot Paraclipse dish, and SSB Electronic low noise amplifier and downconverter, feeding an SDR-14 digital signal processor. Note that the dish is mounted close to the ground, in bird-bath mode, which allows grass to grow through the mesh. Rick Bishop photo

In Michigan, member Jim Van Prooyen, N8PQK, is working on the design of a portable 21 foot diameter dish. Pictured from left to right are Tyler Van Prooyen, Jim Van Prooyen, William Van Prooyen, and Rich Nagel. The feed antenna was built by Bruce Randall, WD4JQV. This dish will be used for pulsar work in the 406 MHz band. The basic design goal is a big antenna that can be takeen to schools, parks, and star parties, to show what can be done with radio astronomy. N8PQK photo

In Sweden, the 6 foot diameter dish at Project Argus station JO89sn is getting a big brother. Greg writes, "It doesn't sound like such a big difference, but standing next to each other, the 10 footer is a monster. I'm getting eager for the first drift scan of Cygnus to compare results." Greg Gimseus photos

More images of the 3 meter dish going up in Sweden, at Project ARGUS station JO89sn. Greg says of his dish mount, "I do hope it will hold. It's about 1' diameter and 2' deep. In the bottom I weldeded a large + that I drove into the ground, to stop it from turning. The ground here is an old lake bottom. Only a few inches at the top is soil, down under we have clay, tough - hard - blue clay, almost as tough as cement itself. The dish is also in the cover of the house, so I think it'll hold. The dish is so light that one person can lift it; the mount weighs a bit more." Greg Gimseus photos

The Project Argus station of US North Central regional coordinator Don Lallier was undergoing initial testing and setup in mid April, 2006. Note his dish in bird-bath mode, solidly mounted close to the ground to survive high winds (which are ever present in Grid Square EN02vi). Don writes, "if the weather had not been so cold this winter in Nebraska, I would have had my station up a long time ago." N0HWJ photos

Designed by Matt Ettus N2MJI, and produced by his company, Ettus Research, the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) motherboard is a hardware standard for modular transmitters and receivers, using various daughterboards designed in conjunction with the GnuRadio project. Various SETI League members are now using USRP architecture for their Project Argus stations. N2MJI image

Argonaut Marcus Leach, VE3MDL, has been working on DSP and total power radiometry software for the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) seen above. His open source programs are available as part of the GnuRadio project. VE3MDL image

During the first weekend in June, 2005, executive director H. Paul Shuch operated W6KYP's remote SETI station in its entirety, over the Internet. This display shows the spectrum analyzer and waterfall display on Paul's laptop, analyzing audio from Jim Brown's receiver and antenna, both of which he is controlling from 4,000 km distant. It is now possible for a SETI League member to participate fully in Project Argus, even if he or she lacks a radio telescope. Details about the Remote SETI Client can be found on Jim's SETI Net server. More pictures may be found on our Remote SETI Station page. N6TX image

Argonaut Harry Kimball has increased the instantaneous bandwidth of his Project Argus station from 96 kHz to 150 kHz, with 2.4 Hz bin resolution, by adding an RFSpace SDR-14 software-defined receiver. He writes, "I installed the SDR-14 as a direct replacement for the Time Machine (except that it connects to the USB port instead of the sound card) and have been running SpectraVue with best-guess parameters based on my experience with the Time Machine. So far it seems to be doing great." Information on Harry's earlier wide-bandwidth SETI receiver is found in Proceedings of SETICon04. N6TOU image

The first radio telescope in Tunisia is slowly taking shape, and it is a Project Argus station! Regional coordinator Hamdi Mani has his three-meter diameter mesh dish mounted with two 24 inch linear actuator arms for azimuth-elevation tracking, and is now working on getting the electronics installed. He writes, "a radio telescope is really a good project for high school students. I will try to convince the ministry of education of my country to include this kind of project in the schools and colleges." Hamdi Mani photo

Detail of the two 24 inch linear actuator arms, used at Project Argus station JM55ht for declination and right ascension adjustment. Hamdi Mani photo

In Tunisia, Hamdi Mani sets a good example by wearing safety equipment when working on the antenna at Project Argus station JM55ht. A closeup of his hard hat (left) reveals that it sports a SETI League logo. Hamdi Mani photos

Argus station FN14xw went on the air from Smiths Falls, Ontario Canada in February 2004, with a 1.5 meter dish. Marcus promises to upgrade to his 3.7 meter dish shortly. VE3MDL photo

Argonaut Marcus Leach, VE3MDL, has been working on a homebrew digital receiver design incorporating a satellite TV tuner. Here is his software front panel Graphical User Interface, designed to run under Linux. VE3MDL image

Here is a screen shot of the initial spectral analysis application for VE3MDL's new SETI receiver. Marcus writes, "It doesn't do waterfalls (yet), the magnitude scaling is wrong, and there's no LMST markers on the total-power window. This particular shot was taken when the receiver was turned off, so the frequency shown is just the last frequency the tuner was tuned to. Lots of little things to tweak over the next little while." VE3MDL image

Most Project Argus stations start out when members acquire a surplus C-band satellite TV dish. This one, which seems to have fallen off its mount, is apparently no longer receiving video (or maybe the signal is just a bit snowy), so might be a good candidate for acquisition. Members have found that such derelict dishes are generally available for the asking, and can be readily repurposed into sensitive L-band radio telescopes. Devin Bailey photo

Marcus Leech, VE3MDL, built a helical dish feed for 1420 MHz from exotic materials. He writes, "I combined my two hobbies, in that the form for the helix is standard paper 2.6 inch airframe tubing for high-powered model rockets. You can get this in fibreglass and a pultruded material called 'quantum tube'. It turns out that 2.65 inch OD is a near-perfect size for winding a helix with a 1420.405 Mhz center frequency. Serendipitous!" VE3MDL photo

Rob Lodder, WD8BTA, built this ten-foot dish for SETI observations from Argus station EM77to in Lexington KY, USA. SETI League photo

Tommy Henderson, WD5AGO, shows off two horn antennas used for radio astronomy. The larger of the two (on an az-el mount) is optimized for 1.4 GHz hydrogen line observations. Tommy is holding a smaller horn for 5.7 GHz methanol line measurements. SETI League photo

H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, uses the SETI Horn of Plenty antenna for portable operations when away from his Project Argus station FN11lh. The horn, which fits in the back of a minivan, is ideal for classroom demonstrations, exhibiting +20 dBi of gain at 1.4 GHz. SETI League photo

The three-meter dish at Argus station EM29je, with which Harry Kimball, N0TOU, achieved first light on 20 June 2003. Harry says, "I modified the original feed support arm to hold an RAS cylindrical feed horn and choke with an RAS LNA. It looks funny because it's hiding under the bottom 1/3 of a 20 gallon plastic trash can that is held in place with 3 large hose clamps connected end to end." N0TOU photo

David Ocame, N1YVV, at Argus station FN31ng, which achieved first light on 31 May 2003. In this photo, David is using a helical feed on his eight-foot dish. Note that his LNA is enclosed in plastic kitchenware to protect it from the elements. N1YVV photo

In London, member Simon Gornall has come up with a unique way to mount his Project Argus dish in bird-bath mode. The rest of Simon's station consists of the Radio Astronomy Supplies feedhorn and LNA, along with a WinRadio 1550e receiver. Simon Gornall photo

Bertrand Pinel, F5PL (left), receives The SETI League's W2ETI Moonbounce Beacon with this seven-meter dish. He has also been highly successful at radio astronomy in the 1296 MHz amateur radio band. At right is the late Walter "Hoppy" Hopkins, N6BQ, who was long a prominent force in 1296 MHz amateur moonbounce activity. Follow the link to see Bertrand's space probe reception experiments. F5PL photo

Tom Hutter's bird-bath -- er, Project Argus 10-foot dish -- lies on the ground pointing straight up. This is a minimal-impact installation which keeps families and neighbors happy, while still providing valuable sky coverage. K2UYH photo

Mike (K5CDA) and Flo (KC5PPL) Adams put their Argus station on the air in March, 2000, after several years of effort. Mike writes: "We have yet to detect ET. However, as Tommy Lee Jones said in the movie Men In Black, 'Five hundred years ago everyone knew the world was flat.' Personally, we believe that God did not plant this cosmos with the intention of leaving us alone." K5CDA photo

In Massachusetts, Rich Tyndall (NJ1A) shows off his Project Argus station, one of the first on the air. Rich is extremely active on our Argus technical email discussion list, and can always be counted on to help fellow Argonauts with their technical questions. NJ1A photo

Nicolaas Heijblok, our volunteer Regional Coordinator for the Netherlands, built this beautiful dish as part of a hydrogen line meridian transit radio telescope. Nicolaas is a dentist by profession. His steady hand and precision craftsmanship are evident in the construction of his dish. DJ0BI photo

How do you transport two twenty foot diameter parabolic reflectors hundreds of miles over narrow roads? Member Leon Darcy, assisted by SETI enthusiasts Gregg Gibbons and Alex Hamill (seen here), cut them in half and stacked the pieces on a trailer. The Australian threesome are now trying to figure out how to put the dishes back together! ETRC photo

These 4.7 meter Scientific Atlanta dishes are part of a cable TV system on property belonging to member Ken Meyer, K9KJM. Although they are not now available for SETI, they may become so in the future. In the interim, Ken is working toward putting a 12 foot dish (not shown) on the air as a Project Argus station. K9KJM photo

SETI League member Jack Riggs, N7AM, spent the summer of 1998 preparing this rotating tower to accept the thirty-foot mesh dish seen behind it. Jack has been operational on 432 and 1296 MHz EME while his Project Argus station in Bremerton WA slowly takes shape. N7AM photo

SETI League regional coordinator Michael Fletcher and several of his colleagues in Finland have acquired this 13.7 meter dish and radome from the Metsähovi Radio Observatory, and plan to put it into use for amateur Radio Astronomy, EME, SETI, Hydrogen Line analysis, and other amateur projects. When aligned correctly, the surface accuracy is sufficient for use up to 95 GHz. It will take the group several years to get the dish moved and in service. Metsähovi Radio Observatory photo

SETI League member Georgadas Vagelis, SV1CEV (left) has had this three meter dish on line from Athens since 12 April 1998. He uses a cylindrical waveguide feedhorn, a 0.3 dB NF preamp, the SSB Electronic hydrogen line downconverter, and FFTDSP software to achieve impressive SETI performance. SV1CEV photo

Project Argus participant Don Adams, WA8QZZ, built this cylindrical waveguide feedhorn out of a pair of three pound coffee tins. The aluminum box mounted to the horn is the SETI League GaAs MMIC Low Noise Amplifier. Details of Don's station may be found on his personal website. WA8QZZ photo

Noel C. Welstead, volunteer SETI League Regional Coordinator for Eastern Australia, shows off his receiving equipment. His system includes an Icom IC-R8500 receiver, 2 Computers, a 21" monitor,Yeasu FT 767gx Transceiver (used for WWV Time calibration), and a Wavetek Sweep/Signal generator. Nice t-shirt, Noel! VK4AYW photo

Outside, Noel Welstead's station features this satellite TV dish with hydrogen line feedhorn and LNA, conveniently aimed straight up ("bird bath" style), in keeping with the line of reasoning that any direction on the sky is as good as any other for SETI. Noel's station is in beautiful, semi-tropical Brisbane. VK4AYW photo

Scholarship member Thomas W. Stone, a student at Weber State College in Utah, has this ten foot dish up, awaiting time and funds to complete his SETI station. Thomas W. Stone photos

SETI League member Will Higgs (r) of Gilsland, Northumberland UK scrounged this 3 meter dish and hauled home in the back of a friend's lorry. He hopes to have the rest of the station acquired and on the air in short order. Will Higgs photo

Sometimes the real challenge is not in finding the antenna, but in recruiting the strong volunteer labor needed to haul it into place. Will Higgs seems to have a knack for recruiting willing able-bodied youth. The antenna was in place in Will's garden by mid-November 1997, awaiting a feedhorn, LNA and receiver. Will Higgs photo

Claudio Brasil Leitao Junior, volunteer SETI League Regional Coordinator for Brazil, installed this 3 meter dish on 18 October 1997. Claudio still has more equipment to complete before his Project Argus station is ready to go on the air. Claudio Brasil photo

Australian member Leon Darcy uses these two 20-foot dishes on a 100-meter baseline as an interferometer. Located near Sydney, the antennas were part of a 62 dish array called Fleurs. Other Australian SETI enthusiasts are acquiring additional dishes from the array, courtesy of the University of Western Sydney and CSIRO. Darcy and Eastern Australia coordinator Noel Welstead are working to incorporate two of these antennas into a Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) with a 1200 km baseline, at 1445 MHz. ETRC photo

After two years of effort, SETI League charter member John Richardson, WA7CRE, went on the air on 5 September 1997, with this 2.9 meter dish. To our knowledge, John's is the first SETI station in Idaho. WA7CRE photo

This closeup shows how John Richardson mounted a hydrogen-line cylindrical waveguide feedhorn to the focal point of a TVRO dish. Note that this mounting method would also accomodate a choke ring, such as is used in the SETI League feedhorn. WA7CRE photo

Charter member John Richardson writes, "I got this like new dish for $100 by driving around in the country and looking for a house where the owner had a 3 meter dish, and also had a small 18 inch dish. Sure enough, the three places I stopped at all tried to sell me their systems. The last guy, after some grumbling about losing money, agreed to sell me his dish only. The thing was only 3 months old." WA7CRE photo

The SETI League is pleased to welcome Gerard Cavan, VE3EYR, as a new member. Gerry, who resides in Wilsonville ONT Canada, is seen here at the console of his most impressive amateur television (ATV) station. VE3EYR photo

Project Argus pioneer Denis Jakac shows off his modified 10 foot mesh TVRO dish with 1 - 2 GHz helix feed. The first amateur SETI station on the air in Canada, Denis' Toronto station is unique in that he employs a Peltier-cooled low-noise amplifier. VE3ZXN photo

The warm side of member Denis Jakac's amateur SETI station utilizes the popular Icom 7000 receiver, along with a Timewave DSP-599 ZX digital signal processor and a Pentium Pro 150 MHz computer with SoundBlaster 16 sound card. VE3ZXN photo

Project Argus pioneer Daniel Boyd Fox, who won the SETI League's 1997 Bruno Award, uses this re-purposed satellite TV dish for amateur SETI. His station was well documented in our Technical Manual, and served as a prototype for several other members' stations. Dan is the author of the popular SetiFox Digital Signal Processing and Control program. KF9ET photo

Angelika Gerke, wife of Peter Wright, DJ0BI, the SETI League's coordinator for Germany, paints the European Radio Astronomy Club's 3 metre dish. Plans are to allocate this radiotelescope for SETI about 25% of the time. The Faraday cage below the antenna is an equipment housing, containing a computer-controlled IF receiver tuning 25 - 1000 MHz. Downconverters will be mounted at the antenna feed. DJ0BI photo

This 7 metre diameter parabolic antenna is the handiwork of SETI League member and Project Argus participant Magin Casanitjana, EA3UM. Located in Spain, it went on the air on April 21, 1996, among the first operational Project Argus stations in Europe. EA3UM photo

SETI League member and Project Argus participant Magin Casanitjana, EA3UM also uses this 5 metre dish, with L-band and S-band feedhorns installed. EA3UM photo

Close-up view of the dual feedhorns installed on the above dish. These cylindrical waveguide feedhorns utilize choke rings per the VE4MA design, to improve illumination efficiency. Note that the hydrogen-line feed is slightly offset from center. This technique allows Project Argus participants to do parasitic SETI with a dish normally utilized for some other purpose. EA3UM photo

This 3.5 metre diameter SETI dish was built by UK co-coordinator Trevor Unsworth, G0ECP. Trevor's was one of the first Project Argus stations to go on the air on April 21, 1996. G0ECP photo

SETI League member Mike Gingell, KN4BS, at his North Carolina QTH, shows off his two dishes, 12 and 10 feet in diameter, used for radio astronomy, satellite TV, and of course SETI. KN4BS photo

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