This seems very timely becasue my son and I are watching the NETFLIX version of "The Three Body Problem" by Cixin Liu. This deals with an entirely different war of the worlds.
Check out Chuck's CW version of the book. Thanks Chuck!
DSS-43 boasts a pointing accuracy of 0.005 degrees (18 arc seconds)—which is important for ensuring that it is pointed directly at the receiver on a distant spacecraft. Voyager 2 broadcasts using a 23-watt radio. But by the time the signals traverse the multibillion-kilometer distance from the heliopause to Earth, their power has faded to a level 20 billion times weaker than what is needed to run a digital watch. Capturing every bit of the incident signals is crucial to gathering useful information from the transmissions.
The antenna has a transmitter capable of 400 kilowatts, with a beam width of 0.0038 degrees. Without the 1987 upgrade, signals sent from DSS-43 to a spacecraft venturing outside the solar system likely never would reach their target.
Geoff N6GWB and his eldest have produced a really wonderful receiver, and have joined the elite ranks of those who have built their own receivers. Congratulations to both! ( Be sure to watch the video below.)
Geoff writes:
Though I built it, my eldest has retained naming rights. Behold the Rad Radio Receiver, an Soldersmoke inspired build. It’s a 40m DC reciever. I had planned on making this a truly 50-50 N6QW N2CQR build, but I needed to get it done for a show and tell this Wednesday. I have N6QW dual JFET RF amp and mixer modules. I have the N2CQR ceramic ocillator circuit from the 2017 DC receiver project. I had planned on including the all analog audio amp from the more recent N2CQR DC project, but alas, time got the best of me. I was hoping to make the whole thing all-analog. (I thought the all analog would get me more “hard work” kudos at the show and tell.) I ended up including a LM386 audio amp making this a bit of a cyborg.
Here is short clip of a very cool HB2HB contact on 17 meters. Thanks Jens!
Check out his QRZ page here: https://www.qrz.com/db/DL2RMM
"I have discovered spurs in the output of my transmitter. They are 60 db down, but I still can't stop thinking about them. What should I do?"
I can't help thinking that if Jean Shepherd had access to something like this, his Heising modulator trouble might not have spoiled his date with the girl from his school.
What do you guys think about the Woebot?
Click on schematics for a better view
