Hal Murray wrote:
This, and similar impressive accomplishments, has prompted some
lunchtime discussion at work (JPL).. One of us (N5BF) has been
contemplating what it would take to do an amateur EarthVenusEarth
(after some of his experiments doing EME with 5 watts)..
Perhaps a better question is: What is the bandwidth?
What sort of signal do I have to receive in order to claim contact? Is one
bit/blob of energy at the right time/frequency good enough, or do I have to
demodulate the signal and extract a few bits of data?
So, when talking about "amateur" accomplishments.. where do you draw
the line on using "big stuff". If you're an amateur who happens to
have access to Arecibo or to a DSN 70m dish, is that *really* an
amateur contact/event?
I think the traditional test for an amateur is do you get paid for it. (Yes,
it helps to be independently wealthy.)
Well, that's sort of the 18th/19th century model, certainly. Lavoisier
wasn't paid to figure chemistry out. Neither did John Strutt, 3rd Baron
Rayleigh. But is that an appropriate model for today?
Even if you build your own antenna, there is the question of where do you
start. Is it OK to buy a dish if I build the mount? Can I buy steel pipe or
do I have to start from iron ore?
I've always wanted to start with smelting, but my wife says "no cupola
furnace in the backyard" (this after I was pointing out the books on
this in the Lindsay Books catalog).
I suspect if you look at other amateur activities (say sports), there are
examples equivalent to scrounging time on Arecibo.
Sure.. and the sponging off others has historical precedent, for
DXpeditions and 8000 meter peak attempts alike.
My 2 cents... You get credit for the part that you do. Anything goes as
long as you are honest about what you do. If you buy the electronics and
build the antenna, you get credit for building the antenna. If you build the
electronics and buy (or scrounge) the antenna, then you get credit for the
electronics. ...
Some people are really good at scrounging.
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