Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[Ben Hilburn]

Marcus didn't mention this in his e-mail, but I wanted to bring attention
to it, again:

CCERA is trying to raise money to support their efforts through a
crowdfunding campaign, which you can find here:
https://www.gofundme.com/help-make-the-ccera-a-reality-2tvbzx8?rcid=cc4b75bc902911e6adacbc764e05b494

Everyone on this list knows Marcus' name, and more than likely has received
support from him at some point. If you are able, I encourage you to support
his efforts in open source radio astronomy =)

Cheers,
Ben

On Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 3:57 PM, <mle...@ripnet.com> wrote:

> Effective integration time was about 40 minutes.
>
> The beamshape is roughly 42 x 18 degrees from our array antenna.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2016-12-01 15:54, Daniel R. Marlow wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>
>
>   First, congrats to Marcus and CCERA.
>
>
>
>   We are working at 21 cm (1420 MHz) and find that there are at least
> a few pulsars not that far below B0329+54 (now called J0332+5434) in signal
> strength. Indeed, one of the interesting things is that owing to
> scintillation effects, there are times when this pulsar is not as bright as
> some of the pulsars. Of course, when this pulsar is at its best, the
> signal really is quite strong: we get a good detection after just a few
> turns using a 60' dish and 50 MHz of BW.
>
>
>
>A question . . . roughly what was the integration time for the plot
> that you showed?
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
> Dan Marlow
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Discuss-gnuradio <discuss-gnuradio-bounces+marlow=
> princeton@gnu.org> on behalf of "mle...@ripnet.com" <mle...@ripnet.com
> >
> *Date: *Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 3:41 PM
> *To: *"Iain Young, G7III" <g7...@g7iii.net>
> *Cc: *Discuss-gnuradio <discuss-gnuradio-bounces+mleech=ripnet@gnu.org>,
> "discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org" <discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at
> CCERA
>
>
>
> Keep in mind also that B0329+54 is really the only one within reasonable
> "reach" for an amateur in the northern hemisphere--the others are much
> fainter, although if one simply added another "gulp" of antenna every
> paycheque or two...
>
> Also, you need a stable clock--I'm using an OCXO, but a TCXO will work for
> shorter observing times.  So, if you are using a dongle, you'll need to
> replace its clock.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2016-12-01 15:19, Iain Young, G7III wrote:
>
> Hi Marcus,
>
> Brilliant. I am in the middle of assembling my own radio telescope,
> but had not thought Pulsar reception would be possible.
>
> I have a couple of questions on the RF Hardware. I see from some other
> updates, that the antenna is essentially sets of a 4 bay HDTV antenna.
>
> How are you phasing them all together ? Just additive combiners with
> same length coax ? What amplification are you using before feeding
> them to the SDR ? Or ?
>
>
> Best Regards
>
> Iain
>
> On 01/12/16 18:45, Marcus D. Leech wrote:
>
> One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
> Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
>pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
> enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
>observe.
>
> See our update:
>
> http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/
>
> The software is available via github:
>
> https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display
>
> No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
> pyephem.
>
> Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...
>
>
>
> ___
> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
>
>
>
> ___
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> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
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>
>
> ___
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>
>
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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[mleech]

Effective integration time was about 40 minutes. 

The beamshape is roughly 42 x 18 degrees from our array antenna. 

On 2016-12-01 15:54, Daniel R. Marlow wrote:

> Hello, 
> 
> First, congrats to Marcus and CCERA.   
> 
> We are working at 21 cm (1420 MHz) and find that there are at least a few 
> pulsars not that far below B0329+54 (now called J0332+5434) in signal 
> strength. Indeed, one of the interesting things is that owing to 
> scintillation effects, there are times when this pulsar is not as bright as 
> some of the pulsars. Of course, when this pulsar is at its best, the 
> signal really is quite strong: we get a good detection after just a few turns 
> using a 60' dish and 50 MHz of BW.   
> 
> A question . . . roughly what was the integration time for the plot that you 
> showed? 
> 
> Sincerely,
> Dan Marlow 
> 
> FROM: Discuss-gnuradio 
> <discuss-gnuradio-bounces+marlow=princeton@gnu.org> on behalf of 
> "mle...@ripnet.com" <mle...@ripnet.com>
> DATE: Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 3:41 PM
> TO: "Iain Young, G7III" <g7...@g7iii.net>
> CC: Discuss-gnuradio <discuss-gnuradio-bounces+mleech=ripnet....@gnu.org>, 
> "discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org" <discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org>
> SUBJECT: Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA 
> 
> Keep in mind also that B0329+54 is really the only one within reasonable 
> "reach" for an amateur in the northern hemisphere--the others are much 
> fainter, although if one simply added another "gulp" of antenna every 
> paycheque or two... 
> 
> Also, you need a stable clock--I'm using an OCXO, but a TCXO will work for 
> shorter observing times.  So, if you are using a dongle, you'll need to 
> replace its clock. 
> 
> On 2016-12-01 15:19, Iain Young, G7III wrote: 
> 
> Hi Marcus,
> 
> Brilliant. I am in the middle of assembling my own radio telescope,
> but had not thought Pulsar reception would be possible.
> 
> I have a couple of questions on the RF Hardware. I see from some other
> updates, that the antenna is essentially sets of a 4 bay HDTV antenna.
> 
> How are you phasing them all together ? Just additive combiners with
> same length coax ? What amplification are you using before feeding
> them to the SDR ? Or ?
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Iain
> 
> On 01/12/16 18:45, Marcus D. Leech wrote: 
> 
> One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
> Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
> pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
> enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
> observe.
> 
> See our update:
> 
> http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/
> 
> The software is available via github:
> 
> https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display
> 
> No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
> pyephem.
> 
> Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...
> 
> ___
> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio 
> 
> ___
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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[Daniel R. Marlow]

Hello,

  First, congrats to Marcus and CCERA.

  We are working at 21 cm (1420 MHz) and find that there are at least a few 
pulsars not that far below B0329+54 (now called J0332+5434) in signal strength. 
Indeed, one of the interesting things is that owing to scintillation 
effects, there are times when this pulsar is not as bright as some of the 
pulsars. Of course, when this pulsar is at its best, the signal really is 
quite strong: we get a good detection after just a few turns using a 60’ dish 
and 50 MHz of BW.

   A question . . . roughly what was the integration time for the plot that 
you showed?

Sincerely,
Dan Marlow


From: Discuss-gnuradio <discuss-gnuradio-bounces+marlow=princeton@gnu.org> 
on behalf of "mle...@ripnet.com" <mle...@ripnet.com>
Date: Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 3:41 PM
To: "Iain Young, G7III" <g7...@g7iii.net>
Cc: Discuss-gnuradio <discuss-gnuradio-bounces+mleech=ripnet@gnu.org>, 
"discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org" <discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA


Keep in mind also that B0329+54 is really the only one within reasonable 
"reach" for an amateur in the northern hemisphere--the others are much fainter, 
although if one simply added another "gulp" of antenna every paycheque or two...

Also, you need a stable clock--I'm using an OCXO, but a TCXO will work for 
shorter observing times.  So, if you are using a dongle, you'll need to replace 
its clock.








On 2016-12-01 15:19, Iain Young, G7III wrote:
Hi Marcus,

Brilliant. I am in the middle of assembling my own radio telescope,
but had not thought Pulsar reception would be possible.

I have a couple of questions on the RF Hardware. I see from some other
updates, that the antenna is essentially sets of a 4 bay HDTV antenna.

How are you phasing them all together ? Just additive combiners with
same length coax ? What amplification are you using before feeding
them to the SDR ? Or ?


Best Regards

Iain

On 01/12/16 18:45, Marcus D. Leech wrote:
One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
   pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
   observe.

See our update:

http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/

The software is available via github:

https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display

No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
pyephem.

Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...



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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[mleech]

Keep in mind also that B0329+54 is really the only one within reasonable
"reach" for an amateur in the northern hemisphere--the others are much
fainter, although if one simply added another "gulp" of antenna every
paycheque or two... 

Also, you need a stable clock--I'm using an OCXO, but a TCXO will work
for shorter observing times.  So, if you are using a dongle, you'll need
to replace its clock. 

On 2016-12-01 15:19, Iain Young, G7III wrote:

> Hi Marcus,
> 
> Brilliant. I am in the middle of assembling my own radio telescope,
> but had not thought Pulsar reception would be possible.
> 
> I have a couple of questions on the RF Hardware. I see from some other
> updates, that the antenna is essentially sets of a 4 bay HDTV antenna.
> 
> How are you phasing them all together ? Just additive combiners with
> same length coax ? What amplification are you using before feeding
> them to the SDR ? Or ?
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Iain
> 
> On 01/12/16 18:45, Marcus D. Leech wrote: 
> 
>> One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
>> Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
>> pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
>> enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
>> observe.
>> 
>> See our update:
>> 
>> http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/
>> 
>> The software is available via github:
>> 
>> https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display
>> 
>> No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
>> pyephem.
>> 
>> Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...
>> 
>> ___
>> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
>> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
>> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
> 
> ___
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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[mleech]

Yes, they are Digiwave ANT2084--available on-line through WalMart as it
happens.  But any similar 4-bay antenna will work. 

We use 6 of them in a 2 x 3 array.  I was using a commercial combiner,
but it was lossy and had poor phase balance (actually any hybrid-tree
style combiner will have issues if the split ratio isn't a power of 2). 
I built my own transmission line combiner that combines all six in one
go, transforming the 12.5 parallel impedance of all those lines into
50ohm for the LNA.  Next time I build one, I shall use a
slightly-different layout that will improve phase match a bit. 

One can, of course, calculate the line lengths required to effect any
given pointing, but using matched-length lines from each module means
that the beam is pretty much aligned with the mechanical axis. 

The LNA is prefixed with a pair of shorted-quarter-wave stubs, and it's
a TQP3M9036, using the eval board available through DigiKey.  But there
are SPF5189Z LNAs on eBay at the moment for quite cheap that would do
just as well. 

If you have an 8-10ft dish already, then use that.  We went with the
"modular" approach, since it allows us to increase antenna gain without
taking down a dish and putting up a new one, and the HDTV antennae are
fairly cheap, and readily available anywhere.  They typically usefully
cover about 300Mhz to 850MHz. 

On 2016-12-01 15:19, Iain Young, G7III wrote:

> Hi Marcus,
> 
> Brilliant. I am in the middle of assembling my own radio telescope,
> but had not thought Pulsar reception would be possible.
> 
> I have a couple of questions on the RF Hardware. I see from some other
> updates, that the antenna is essentially sets of a 4 bay HDTV antenna.
> 
> How are you phasing them all together ? Just additive combiners with
> same length coax ? What amplification are you using before feeding
> them to the SDR ? Or ?
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Iain
> 
> On 01/12/16 18:45, Marcus D. Leech wrote: 
> 
>> One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
>> Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
>> pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
>> enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
>> observe.
>> 
>> See our update:
>> 
>> http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/
>> 
>> The software is available via github:
>> 
>> https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display
>> 
>> No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
>> pyephem.
>> 
>> Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...
>> 
>> ___
>> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
>> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
>> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
> 
> ___
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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[Iain Young, G7III]

Hi Marcus,

Brilliant. I am in the middle of assembling my own radio telescope,
but had not thought Pulsar reception would be possible.

I have a couple of questions on the RF Hardware. I see from some other
updates, that the antenna is essentially sets of a 4 bay HDTV antenna.

How are you phasing them all together ? Just additive combiners with
same length coax ? What amplification are you using before feeding
them to the SDR ? Or ?


Best Regards

Iain

On 01/12/16 18:45, Marcus D. Leech wrote:

One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
   pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
   observe.

See our update:

http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/

The software is available via github:

https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display

No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
pyephem.

Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...



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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[mleech]

This is 6MHz, centered at 611MHz (a notionally-TV channel that is
allocated in North America and Caribbean to Radio Astronomy). 

I used a PFB channelizer with individual detectors, and then delay
adjustment after the detectors and then simply added, low-pass filtered,
then resampled to a precise multiple of the current topcentric pulse
rate. 

On 2016-12-01 14:28, Matt Ettus wrote:

> That's awesome work!  Thanks for sharing it.  How much bandwidth are you 
> observing and did you also use de-dispersion? 
> 
> Matt 
> 
> On Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 10:45 AM, Marcus D. Leech  wrote:
> 
>> One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for 
>> Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
>> pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright enough 
>> for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
>> observe.
>> 
>> See our update:
>> 
>> http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/ [1]
>> 
>> The software is available via github:
>> 
>> https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb [2] _display
>> 
>> No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally, 
>> pyephem.
>> 
>> Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...
>> 
>> ___
>> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
>> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
>> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio [3]
 

Links:
--
[1]
http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/
[2] https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb
[3] https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio___
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Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Probable pulsar observing success at CCERA

[Matt Ettus]

That's awesome work!  Thanks for sharing it.  How much bandwidth are you
observing and did you also use de-dispersion?

Matt

On Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 10:45 AM, Marcus D. Leech  wrote:

> One of the many goals we set for ourselves at the Canadian Centre for
> Experimental Radio Astronomy was to successfully observe
>   pulsar B0329+54 before spring.  This pulsar is the only one bright
> enough for a small observatory in the northern hemisphere to
>   observe.
>
> See our update:
>
> http://www.ccera.ca/uncategorized/success-in-observing-pulsar-b032954/
>
> The software is available via github:
>
> https://github.com/ccera-astro/pulsar_pfb _display
>
> No custom blocks required--just a modern Gnu Radio install, and ideally,
> pyephem.
>
> Doing this with Gnu Radio was so very easy...
>
>
>
> ___
> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list
> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org
> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
>
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