1.42 GHz Radio Telescope Receiver

Summary

High school science fair project. I began development of this 1.42 GHz radio astronomy receiver during the summer of 1995, and finished the project in the spring of 1997. This system was developed for the Grosse Pointe South Radio Astronomy Team (RATS as we were known). It is a triple conversion superhet receiver, with a spectrum analyzer IF. The analog (square law amplitude vs. frequency) output of the spectrum analyzer was fed into an analog signal processor designed using an array of 24 op-amps which would automatically track the four strongest signals and plot their frequency and amplitudes vs. time on a series of strip chart recorders.

Press

‘Pointer of Interest,’ Grosse Pointe News, December 1997.

Reports, Notes, and Schematics

International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 1997 Abstract.

Report on the radio telescope (this was written when I was 17 years old, so please forgive the english/technical reporting methods).

Figures from the report, schematics, and engineering notes.

Detroit Science and Engineering Fair 1997 Poster Board.

ISEF 97 Poster Board.

Elevation Motion Control System (schematics and notes).

Awards

INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR LOUISVILLE, KY MAY 1997: "Identifying and Reducing Radio Frequency Interference Through Spectrum Analysis", Grand Award Finalist, Second Place Grand Award in Engineering, the NASA Award, and Honorable Mention from the American Acoustical Society.

DETROIT SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR DETROIT, MI APRIL 1997: "Identifying and Reducing Radio Frequency Interference Through Spectrum Analysis", First place in Engineering, First place Army Award, First place Air Force Award, Most Outstanding 11th Grade Exhibit from Yale Science and Engineering Associates, First Place Grand Award from the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, Third Place from the state of Michigan and Grand Award Alternate.