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Fifty amateur and professional radio astronomers showed up at NRAO Green Bank WV, for the 20th Anniversay Conference of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (formerly known as the GBT), completed just one year ago, can be seen in the background. SETI League photo

SARA president Tom Crowley, who also serves as a SETI League Regional Coordinator, welcomes attendees to the 20th Anniversary SARA Conference. SETI League photo

NRAO employee Dennis Egan briefed SARA Conference attendees on safety regulations for the Green Bank site. SETI League photo

NRAO educational coordinator Sue Ann Heatherly instructed SARA members on the operation of the 40 foot hydrogen line drift-scan radio telescope, ours for the week of the Conference. SETI League photo

SETI League member and SARA founder Jeff Lichtman reviewed the organization's history in his talk 20 Years, A Walk Down Memory Lane. SETI League photo

Jim Van Prooyen discussed progress with his software-based pulsar detection system, first introduced at last year's SARA conference. SETI League photo

SETI League member Don Cline, president of the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), outlined the impressive history of his organization, founded just four years prior. SETI League photo

PARI technical director Charles Osborne presented a comparison between expected observational results of the facility's 4.6 meter and 26 meter antennas at 1420 MHz. SETI League photo

PARI site manager Dr. Mike Castelaz introduces a Visual Basic interface for controlling multiple Radio Astronomy Supplies spetometers over an Ethernet network. SETI League photo

NOTAM (Notice to Airmen): Pilots using the private airstrip at NRAO Green Bank WV, beware the significant obstruction at the departure end of Runway 30! The good news is that the long threatened closure of the airstrip has failed to materialize, so (at least for now) the facility remains accessible by light aircraft, with prior permission. SETI League photo

Tommy Henderson, designer of the Radio Astronomy Supplies line of low noise preamplifiers, shows off his 6.7 GHz receiver and feedhorn, for detection of interstellar methanol masers. SETI League photo

Dr. Jim Thieman of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center presents an update on the NASA JOVE educational program, which facilitates inexpensive observations of Jupiter's decametric radio emissions. Jim reports that the project has distributed over 350 receiver kits to schools in 25 countries. SETI League photo

Mark and Kyle Klosinski discuss NASA as an outreach resource, and Astronomy for Students, an examination of online astronomy resources for middle and high school students. SETI League photo

Jim Brown of South Carolina State University presents a computer controlled azimuth-elevation system, work supported in part by NASA/MURED through a PAIR grant. SETI League photo

SARA members celebrated the 20th anniversary of their organization at Green Bank with birthday cake and champagne. SETI League photo

Jon Wallace, president of the CT Physics Teacher's Group, presents "Succes at Last: Exploits of an Amateur Radio Astronomer." SETI League photo

Dr. Gordon Holman of NASA Goddard discusses solar flares and the High Energy Solar Spectrometer Imager (HESSI). SETI League photo

SETI League executive director Dr. H. Paul Shuch (who at this year's meeting was elected to the SARA Board of Directors) explains the feed design for the planned Array2k antenna system. SETI League photo

Rodney Howe shares with his fellow SARA members an amateur's struggle to control system temperature at 1.4 GHz. SETI League photo