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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. Even this simple arrangement is sufficient to place Tom well up the ETCC Honor Roll. K2UYH photo

29 December 2001

SETI League executive director H. Paul Shuch at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, for the August 2001 Small Radio Telescope Conference. (Don't tell his wife that you saw him with a gorgeous dish.) Follow this link for more PARI photos. SETI League photo

22 December 2001

No discernible pattern is found in this plot of random noise at the netural Hydrogen line (1420.40575 MHz), as observed at Argus station FN11LH. Tiled Spectra Plus screen shows time domain, frequency domain, waterfall and surface plots simultaneously. See more interesting Project Argus signals here. N6TX image

15 December 2001

In addition to the airplanes, motorcycles and radio telescopes seen in prior Photos of the Week, executive director H. Paul Shuch's toys include antique cars. Here he is in his prized 1951 MG-TD, which last summer won a second-place trophy at its first antique car show. (When his mother asked 'Why only second place?' Paul replied, 'because the first-place trophy wouldn't fit in an MG.') For a look at more of Dr. SETI's playthings (including, of course, his Project Argus station), visit this page of his personal website. N6TX photo

8 December 2001

Vince Caracci from the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers won the Grand Prize at the SETICon01 Awards Banquet this past April. This beautiful WiNRADiO 1550e receiver was generously contributed by SETI League member and WiNRADiO engineer Milan Hudecek. Now, Milan promises to contribute another WiNRADio receiver, to be awarded as Grand Prize at SETICon02 in April 2002. Don't forget to register for the Banquet by 31 March 2002, to be eligible to win! SETI League photo

1 December 2001

Executive director H. Paul Shuch's long-awaited hypertext book is soon to be released on CD-ROM. Published by the American Radio Relay League, Tune In The Universe! (ISBN 0-87259-854-3) is a radio amateur's guide to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. As a bonus, it includes a sampling of Dr. SETI's popular songs. SETI League members may order advance copies at a 20% discount off the $24.95 cover price, plus free shipping in the US, if you order now! CDs will ship in late December, 2001. Suggested Contribution: special pre-release price, $20 postpaid in US, $25 postpaid elsewhere (if ordered before 1 January 2002) Sue Fagan image (ARRL)

24 November 2001

Weak, broadband GPS L2 signal at 1227.6 MHz, received with Argus station FN11LH's antenna straight up, in bird-bath position (drift scan mode). Tiled Spectra Plus screen shows time domain, frequency domain, waterfall and surface plots simultaneously. See more interesting Project Argus signals here. N6TX image

17 November 2001

Engineering student Mohammed Murad, SETI League volunteer Regional Coordinator for Jordan, is seen here delivering a SETI lecture to the Jordanian Astronomical Society. Click here for Mohammed's biographical sketch. Mohammed Murad photo

10 November 2001

Alaska regional coordinator Ed Cole, AL7EB, spoke at last month's AMSAT Space Symposium in Atlanta, about the details of assembling a microwave satellite station. The techniques which he discussed are equally applicable to the challenges of SETI. N1RL image

3 November 2001

At the AMSAT space symposium in Atlanta earlier this month, Dr. SETI was reunited with an old friend. Robert Coleman, K4AWB, is one of the pioneers of amateur microwave, with whom Paul Shuch had worked a quarter-century earlier in bringing satellite TV to the masses. Although Bob is a SETI League member, the two hadn't seen each other for more than twenty years. N1RL photo

27 October 2001

The SETI League, Inc. has just received two Technology Achievement Awards from the Central PA Chambers of Commerce, for its two current engineering projects. The plaques for "Best Application of Technology" and "New Technology Project" were accepted on behalf of The SETI League by its Executive Director, Dr. H. Paul Shuch, at Friday's Technology Awards Showcase luncheon in Williamsport, PA. See this Press Release for further details. SETI League photo

20 October 2001

Regional coordinator Tom Crowley, KT4XN, set up a SETI League booth at last week's AMSAT Space Symposium in Atlanta GA. In addition to his SETI League duties, Tom serves as President of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA). N8GZL photo

13 October 2001

All SETI League members registering their Project Argus radio telescopes receive this lovely piece of parchment, suitable for framing and public display. To get yours, fill out the Project Argus Participant Survey. SETI League image

6 October 2001

Sing More Songs of SETI (the green book) takes over where the first SETI League songbook (the blue one) left off. More folk songs about SETI, radio astronomy, and the search for other worlds. ISBN 0-9650707-3-5. Suggested Contribution: $10 postpaid in US, $13 postpaid elsewhere. Order here. SETI League photo

29 September 2001

This intrepid group of SETIzens toured the Brazilian rain forest, after last year's International Astronautics Federation conference in Rio de Janeiro. The tour was lead by biologist and SETI League member Mauro Cavalcanti (fourth from right). Carol Oliver photo

22 September 2001

As a US-based organization, The SETI League flies the US flag to honor those fallen in the recent acts of terrorism. In addition, the Flag of Earth, which flies at SETI League headquarters and most other SETI locations around the world, reminds us that we are all one people. The SETI League office is located just a few miles from New York City. We are pleased to reassure our members that Richard, Heather and Paul are all safe and secure. Normal office hours will be resumed in due course; meanwhile, we will endeavor to respond to all email queries in a timely manner, and thank our many members around the world for your messages of concern and support. Flag of Earth © 1970 by James Cadle

15 September 2001

Dr. SETI (our own executive director H. Paul Shuch) was a popular speaker at last week's World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia. In addition to his traditional SETI talk, Paul participated on several panels dealing with science, education and music, and performed one of his legendary Filk Music concerts. For more WorldCon photos, visit this page. Steven R. Staton photo

8 September 2001

First testing of an Array2k corrugated cylindrical waveguide feedhorn prototype on one of the offset-fed 1.8-meter dishes was begun last month. The large feedhorn aperture would have significantly reduced overall antenna gain, if a conventional blocked-aperture prime focus dish had been used. Follow this link to more Array2k project development photos. SETI League photo

1 September 2001

Orville N. Greene was a chemist, patent attorney, philanthropist, and co-founder of The SETI League, Inc. His estate has generously provided for our financial needs since his death in 1997. He is seen here circa 1974. Follow this link to Orville's biographical sketch. Richard Factor photo

25 August 2001

Numerous postage stamps depicting radio telescopes and satellite earth stations have been issued by a variety of countries. Click on the thumbnail to see a few more examples, from the collection of SETI League secretary Heather Wood. Heather Wood photo

18 August 2001

SETI League executive director Dr. H. Paul Shuch explains the latest Array2k feed design at last month's Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers conference at NRAO Green Bank WV. See more SARA photos here, or follow this link to more Array2k development photos. SETI League photo

11 August 2001

Engineers at CSIRO in Australia have developed some elegant corrugated waveguide feedhorns for use by the SETI Institute's Project Phoenix targeted search. The one at left, installed on a 100 foot dish at the Georgia Tech Woodbury Research Facility, covers 1 to 7 GHz with dual polarizations. For our Array2k effort, The SETI League is developing much narrower-band corrugated feedhorns. At right is an L-band feed constructed out of surplus materials, at a cost many orders of magnitude below the feeds made by our Australian colleagues. SETI League photos

4 August 2001

SETI League software committee chairman Daniel Fox writes, "Recently I modified my dish positioner and software to track the galactic plane as the Earth rotates. This plot shows how the hydrogen line emissions from several arms of the Galaxy are Doppler shifted in different directions. There is also a noticeable Doppler shift imposed by the motion of the Earth around the Sun. I was given a copy of the Dwingeloo neutral hydrogen survey, and was able to extract the data for the galactic plane and plot it so I could compare it with my data. I was quite pleased with how well the two matched." KF9ET image

28 July 2001

While doing meridian transit sweeps at Declination -14, Argus station FN42jl saw this intense hydrogen emission from the galactic center. Rich Tyndall reports, "It looks like a really bright spot out there. I have not done 'Scanner' passes in the early AM. So, I've not seen this pattern before." NJ1A image

21 July 2001

Argus station FN42jl captured this nice example of interstellar hydrogen radiaton at RA 09:04:27, Dec -14:11:03. Rich Tyndall writes: "I started off with a fat double peak that thinned out and faded away. But later, I looked over at The tube and saw the thin white line. It didn't look too bright, but it was real narrow. When I looked down at the spectrum display, I said, 'Wow! That's a major Hydrogen Peak!' Did a save and watched it drift up slowly for a while longer. It's about 20% higher than I normally see (or notice). Set up for 150 steps of 10 kHz each. (1.5 MHz wide)." NJ1A image

14 July 2001

Offset-fed dishes such as those donated for our Array2k project (see last week's Featured Photo) require feed geometries different from that used on prime focus dishes (background). At left is the C-band feed we received along with each of our 47 contributed dishes. At right is Big Brother, an L-band extrapolation of that design, constructed from a three-pound coffee tin, a galvanized steel 10" to 6" stovepipe reducer ($4.59 at the local hardware store), two type N connectors, and a four inch length of 1/8" OD brass hobby tubing. The offset feed works well from 1296 to about 1535 MHz (with its response rolling off pretty well at 1575, which should help to eliminate GPS interference). SETI League photo

7 July 2001

The SETI League has received a very generous donation of a significant quantity of high-quality, commercial grade 1.8 meter dishes with C-band feeds and az-el mounts. Here our executive director has set up the first of the lot at SETI League Hq., and is preparing to test its performance. Although somewhat smaller than the dishes we had originally envisioned for Array2k, the price is certainly right, thus we are rethinking the array design. See this Press Release for further details. SETI League photo

30 June 2001

Peter King built this two-element interferometer, consisting of two cylindrical parabolic reflectors, on the grounds of the Mullard Observatory, Cambridge England. The 30 foot dish in the background is part of the MERLIN long-baseline interferometer array. DJ0BI photo

23 June 2001

Five watts from geostationary orbit produces an incredibly strong signal in our Project Argus stations. Seen here is the 2.4 kHz subcarrier from a GOES WEFAX (weather facsimile) satellite, received at Argus station FN11LH. Note that the spectrogram displays a vertical line, indicating zero Doppler shift (as is true of all signals emanating from the Clarke orbit belt.) N6TX image

16 June 2001

The view from the gate of the European Radio Astronomy Club's station in Mannheim, Germany. This station has been doing fulltime parasitic SETI since the start of our Project Argus search. Follow this link to more ERAC pictures. SETI League photo

9 June 2001

Now available -- Proceedings of SETICon01: a collection of papers submitted for The SETI League's first Technical Symposium, published by the Americal Radio Relay League. Must reading for every serious SETIzen. ISBN 0-87259-830-6. See Table of Contents. Suggested Contribution: $20 postpaid in US, $25 postpaid elsewhere. Order here. SETI League photo

2 June 2001

SETI League members Dr. Ragbir Bhathal (left) and Leon Darcy with one of their twin 20-foot dishes at the Bungonia Deep Space Research Centre, Australia. Dean Golga photo

26 May 2001

From the University of Indianapolis, Malcolm Mallette reports his first observations at 1.4 GHz. The radio telescope had been operated on C-band until recently. First light on the neutral hydrogen line occurred at 1000 UTC on 9 April 2001, with detection of Sagitarius A. The radio astronomy program at the University of Indianapolis has claimed the very first ETCC Certificate, with a fifteen source endorsement. University of Indianapolis image

19 May 2001

The SETI League held its first Awards Banquet at SETICon01 in Trenton NJ two weeks ago. Awards Committee chairman David Ocame presented the 2001 Giordano Bruno Memorial Award to a much-surprised Peter Wright, DJ0BI, in recognition of his significant efforts to promote amateur radio astronomy throughout Europe. This press release details Peter's accomplishments. More SETICon01 photos appear here. SETI League photo

12 May 2001

TVRO polar mount modified for remote control of both Right Ascension and Declination. Two-axis rotation is considerably more complex than the elevation-only arrangement seen in last week's featured photo. The RA rotor is a standard satellite TV horizon-to-horizon chain drive. Elevation rotation is provided by replacing the usual Dec turnbuckle with a motorized jack screw (the kind of "dish mover" often used for RA rotation). Note the counterweight, required to keep the dish balanced so as to prolong the life of the elevation rotor bearings. SETI League photo

5 May 2001

Rich Tyndall's SETI dish (see last week's Photo of the Week) is set up for drift-scan observation on a meridian transit mount. The antenna is aligned to pivot on a North-South line, uses a satellite TV motorized jack screw as an elevation rotor, and uses the Earth's rotation as an azimuth rotor. NJ1A photo

28 April 2001

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

21 April 2001

This detail shows one way of mounting the SETI League hydrogen-line feedhorn to a surplus TVRO dish antenna. Four 1/4 inch holes are drilled in the outer walls of the choke ring, as far back toward its shorted end as possible, and 1/4-20 screws and nuts are used to attach the feed assembly to the dish's existing mounting arms. The feedhorn is then slid in and out of the rigidly mounted choke ring until proper illumination is achieved. N6TX photo

14 April 2001

Last month at the California Academy of Sciences, executive director H. Paul Shuch presented Project Phoenix astronomer Seth Shostak with the first SETI League Extra-Terrestrial QSL Card, for his recent reception at the Arecibo Observatory of our moonbounce calibration beacon. SETI League photo

7 April 2001

Though not yet receiving signals from ETI, hardware committee chairman Lee Kitchens' Project Argus dish is spectacularly framed by the winter sunset over Arizona's Sonora desert -- a stark contrast to executive director H. Paul Shuch's winter scene, seen in last week's featured photos. KB9PIP photo

31 March 2001

SETI is not supposed to be a seasonal sport, but when blizzard conditions prevail (as happened in the Northeastern US two weeks ago), a bird-bath mode dish becomes a snow catcher. Moments later, it decides to empty itself, resulting in structural damage. Project Argus station FN11LH will be back on the air come spring thaw. N6TX photos

24 March 2001

The SETI League's Moonbounce Beacon achieved first light last week, providing calibration signals for the SETI Institute's Project Phoneix observing run. Conditions were less than ideal, with the Northeastern US experiencing blizzard conditions the week of the tests. This waterfall display shows the Doppler-shifted beacon, as received on the massive Arecibo radio telescope. The Project Phoenix multi-channel spectrum analyzer (MCSA) pulled our signal out from about 22 dB below the receiver's noise level, while our beacon illuminated the Moon at a power level of a mere ten watts. Future lunar echoes at a 200 watt power level will enable Project Argus participants to calibrate their small radio telescopes. Seth Shostak / SETI Institute

17 March 2001

Since early in the last century, amateur radio operators have observed a tradition of exchanging postal cards to commemorate their on-the-air contacts. So-called QSL cards (named for the International Morse Code signal for 'confirmation') are used as proof of successful radio contact with stations in rare and distant locations. Many operators in exotic lands employ the services of a QSL manager to distribute their much sought after cards. The SETI League, Inc. is pleased to announce that it will henceforth serve as QSL Manager for ET! See this press release for details. Aurore Simonnet image

10 March 2001

Over sixty amateur and professional radio astronomers from all over the world participated in the Second European Radio Astronomy Congress, held over two days last September in Heppenheim, Germany. The next such Congress is scheduled for September 2002, and will be expanded to three days. More photos of the 2000 meeting may be found here. SETI League photo

3 March 2001

Inside and outside views of Hardware Committee chairman Lee Kitchens' cooled front-end assembly. Lee writes, "aside from the electronics, just about any part can be made or found locally. I couldn't find an airflow fan switch so I made one out of a lever microswitch, paperclip arm, and airflow paddle made from tin sheet. The waterproof containers are Rubbermaid. The waterproof 'Air In' - 'Air Out' are plumbing elbows. Old heat sink. Bought a used Peltier for $25. LED out of an old radio. If the fan fails for any reason, the paddle will fall shutting off power to the fan, Peltier, and LNA. All power wires are shielded. Had to move the 12V power source outside close to the dish because the voltage drop in the power line from the house made the fan's airflow insufficient to move the paddle." KB9PIP photos

24 February 2001

Strong GPS L1 signal at 1575.42 MHz, received with Argus station FN11LH's antenna straight up, in bird-bath position (drift scan mode). Tiled Spectra Plus screen shows time domain, frequency domain, waterfall and surface plots simultaneously. See more interesting Project Argus signals here. N6TX image

17 February 2001

SETI League members using the Icom R-8500 microwave receiver have come up with several innovative modifications to disable the receiver's Automatic Gain Control (which diminishes receiver sensitivity in radio astronomy applications). In this article, Steve Woodruff describes one method, which involves first locating transistor Q27 on the main circuit board. Here, Steve shows us where that tiny transistor is located. Steve Woodruff photo

10 February 2001

OSETI pioneer Dr. Stuart Kingsley is the 2000 recipient of the Giordano Bruno Memorial Award, The SETI League's highest honor. It took nearly a year for Dr. Kingsley's trophy to catch up with him. It was finally presented on January 22, 2001 by SETI League executive director Dr. H. Paul Shuch at the OSETI III conference in San Jose CA. More OSETI III conference photos appear here. SETI League photo

3 February 2001

Leon Darcy of the Extra-Terrestrial Research Centre in Australia was interviewed last Autumn for the Bulletin magazine. This photo, which accompanied the article, shows Leon gazing out the window of his lab at his two-dish interferometer. Dean Golga photo

27 January 2001

CW signal from a weak signal source used to test the hydrogen line receiver at Argus station FN11LH. This signal was below the observer's audible threshold in a 2.4 kHz SSB bandwidth, and is discernible only through long software integration. Tiled Spectra Plus screen shows time domain, frequency domain, waterfall and surface plots simultaneously. See more interesting Project Argus signals here. N6TX image

20 January 2001

As we prepare for next week's OSETI III conference in San Jose CA, we remember Percival Lowell, seen in this historical photo from 1910 practicing his particular brand of optical SETI. NASM photo

13 January 2001

The famous Drake Equation, which proports to estimate the number of communicative civilizations in the Galaxy, was actually the agenda for the world's first SETI meeting in 1961. This plaque now graces the very wall of the room at NRAO Green Bank, WV which once held the blackboard where the equation was first written. SETI League photo

6 January 2001

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