Radio Astronomy

Now that you have built your Radio Jove Receiver and Dipole Array you should do a few basic things in preparation before attempting to take any data.

1. LISTEN TO SAMPLES OF JUPITER, GALACTIC BACKGROUND, RADIO INTERFERENCE AND THE SUN!
   -- You need to familiarize yourself with what to expect when you hear activity from your Radio Jove Receiver. Is it Jupiter? Is it a man-made station or some type of interference? Is it lightning (static)? Is it the Sun? Listen repeatedly to try to remember what Jupiter and the Sun sound like.
   
   
   • L-Bursts, S-Bursts, Galactic Background, Interference and Solar Samples (audio-mp3)
      http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~fsgc/jove/examples.htm
     
   • L-Bursts, S-Bursts, Galactic Background Samples (audio-wav)
     (Scroll down to "Sounds From Space")
      http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/vc/mm_exhibits.htm
     
   • Jovian and Solar Samples (Charts/Audio)
      http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/dal/data_samples.htm
   
   
2. ONLY RECORD JUPITER OR THE SUN WHEN THEY ARE IN THE BEAM OF THE JOVE ARRAY!
   -- If you operate your Jove Receiver beyond the limit of the useful antenna beamwidth (about plus and minus two hours from transit) you are wasting your time and recording media. For Jupiter and the Sun, ONLY RECORD WHEN THE SOURCE IS IN YOUR ANTENNA BEAM! The only exception to this is if you want to do a long-term drift scan of the galactic background (preferably after sundown). Here you leave your recording media (tape or Jove Chart) on for up to 10 hours to see how the galactic background temperature changes with time.

   The best way to determine if Jupiter or the Sun is in your antenna beam is to download Jim Sky's Radio Jupiter Pro-JOVE Edition software. This software clearly shows not only when the sources are in the beam of your Jove Array but will let you choose the orientation of the antenna (will optimize whether to use East-West phasing, North-South phasing and whether it's best to use the In Phase or Out-of-Phase configurations). The default is East-West (In-Phase) Option.
   
   

   • Jim Sky's Radio Jupiter Pro-JOVE Edition:
     http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/dal/software.htm
   
   
   
3. CHECK THE PREDICTED JUPITER STORM SCHEDULE FOR YOUR AREA.
   There will be bulletins on Jove List or check the sites below for the Jupiter predictions. http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/control/predictions.htm
   http://www.astro.ufl.edu/juptables.html
   http://www.kochi-ct.ac.jp/~imai/jup/
4. READ THE SUGGESTED RECEIVER SET-UP IN THE OBSERVER'S MANUAL.
   
5. READ THE SUGGESTED TAPE RECORDER SET-UP IN THE OBSERVER'S MANUAL.
   
6. READ THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS ABOUT SHUT-DOWN PROCEDURES FOR PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS! (Sites where you leave the Jove Receiver and Jove Antenna permanently set-up or running unmanned for long periods of time).