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Some of the fifty amateur and professional radio astronomers (many of whom are SETI League members) who came to NRAO Green Bank WV, for the 2002 Conference of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (formerly known as the GBT), is seen in the background. SETI League photo

Outgoing SARA president Tom Crowley, KT4XN (who also serves as a SETI League volunteer Regional Coordinator) welcomes the attendees to the 2002 SARA conference. SETI League photo

Jim Van Prooyen, N8PQX, updates us on his 408 MHz pulsar detection project. His software has advanced since last year's presentation. SETI League photo

Nick Pugh, K5QXJ, reported on the detection of meteor trail ionization using signals from the 217 MHz NAVSPASUR radar system. SETI League photo

Don Cline, presedent of the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, gave us his annual PARI update, which included the latest on pulsar research at PARI, as well as remote computer control of their 4.6 meter antenna via the internet. Don was later presented with a SARA Radio Astronomy Achievement Award for his efforts in establishing the world's largest privately owned radio observatory. SETI League photo

A modest crowd shows intense interest in the two full days of technical presentations at the NRAO Jansky Laboratory auditorium. SETI League photo

Newly elected SARA president Charles Osborne, K4CSO, reports on an 80 Megasample/sec analog to digital converter, which makes realtime wideband FFTs and digital downconversion a reality. The project is the work of Pieter Ibelings, N4IP, and Moe Wheatly, AF4JY, who unfortunately could not attend this year's SARA conference. SETI League photo

Assisted by (l-r) students Lily Bueno, Albie Davison, and Jennifer White, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Dr. Jim Thieman discusses the Radio Jove project, and demonstrates an internet-accessible real-time HF digital spectrograph in operation at the Windward Community College, on Oahu. During their presentation, it was announced that SARA's first Robert M. Sickels Radio Astronomy Research Award was going to Dick Flagg AH6NM and Jim Sky KH6SKY, at the Hawaii end of the link. SETI League photo

Set up on the lawn outside the auditorium, this is the portable 20 MHz dual-dipole antenna array developed by Jim Thieman for use in Radio Jove reception. SETI League photo

Funded by grants from the South Carolina Space Grant Consortium and NASA, Jim Brown NJ3B discusses his dual-frequency (HF and VHF) solar/Jupiter radio telescope project. Here he demonstrates the reflective heat shield material he uses to protect his LNAs and downconverter. SETI League photo

Bruce Randall, WD4JQV, reported on two excellent hardware projects: a 408 MHz quad loop feed design for deep parabolic dish antennas (shown here), and the use of the NE602 linear integrated circuit as a square-law detector. SETI League photo

Dr. David Fields, N4HBO, of Roan State Community College in Harriman TN, proposes a SARA research project involving climate correlation of solar-Earth magnetic field coupling. SETI League photo

Physical chemist Karen Jensen of the University of Florida explores spectroscopic techniques in the investigation of the interstellar medium, and emphasizes links between radio, infrared, and UV/visible astronomy. SETI League photo

Kerry Smith built up this 1%-scale Mini-GBT, a functioning Ku-band radiometer using a Prodelin 1-meter offset-fed dish and a Direct Broadcast Satellite LNB. Note the pattern painted on the edge of the dish, which replicates the panel placement of the 100-meter diameter Green Bank Telescope. SETI League photo

Kerry packaged the Mini-GBT's receiver, based upon the popular Channel Master model 1004IFD satellite tuning meter, inside the housing of a surplus Hewlett-Packard analog RMS voltmeter. SETI League photo

NRAO educational coordinator Sue Ann Heatherly registers her surprise at the donation by SARA of Kerry Smith's Mini-GBT (see pictures above), for use in the new Visitor's Center now under construction at Green Bank. SETI League photo

SETI League executive director Dr. H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, describes progress on the Very Small Array (VSA), an eight-dish total power radiometer built with generous funding from the American Astronomical Society and the ARRL Foundation... SETI League photo

...and then leads the assembled multitude in the first public rendition of a new VSA song. SETI League photo

John Mannone, who teaches at a small community college in TN, shares his vision of radio astronomy in community college curricula. SETI League photo

Scott Lansdale, who has just graduated from Randolph-Macon college, describes how he built a hydrogen-line radio telescope for that VA institution. He calls his senior project the Center of the Universe Radio Telescope (CURT). SETI League photo

Between PowerPoint presentations, the digital projector in the NRAO auditorium displayed the perpetual SETI lament... SETI League photo

...while Dr. SETI's SETI Cellphone (seen here with the Green Bank Telescope in the background) continued 'Searching...' SETI League photo

And so, we bid farewell to NRAO Green Bank, and her beautiful 100 meter dish, until next year's SARA conference, tentatively scheduled for July 13-16, 2003. SETI League photo