Old SRT
Haystack Observatory has developed a small radio telescope (SRT) capable of continuum and spectral line observations in the L-band (1.42 GHz). This inexpensive radio astronomy kit provides everything needed to introduce students and amateur astronomers to the field of radio astronomy. A radio telescope is an excellent teaching tool as it involves the combined technologies of microwave engineering and digital computing. Its use involves astronomy, digital signal processing, software development, and analysis.
The SRT is a standard 2.3 meter diameter satellite television dish mounted on top of a fully motorized Az-El mount. This unique mounting arrangement allows the observer to perform total power measurements and contour mapping. Software has been provided for controlling the antenna and selection of sources. Data reduction can be performed using existing radio astronomy software packages or left as an exercise for the student.
Note: The manual is old (from the plots it looks like 2002) and the links in the
document are no longer functional. It is, however, still a very useful
document which may help to answer questions about the SRT not found
elsewhere on the Haystack website.
New SRT
The Small Radio Telescope was developed by Haystack Observatory to serve as an educational tool for universities and colleges for teaching astronomy and radio technology. The original SRT was popular, with several hundred being built and is still in use at many colleges. It is no longer available new, however, and advances in electronics have rendered the original obsolete. Development of a new SRT was undertaken by Haystack in summer 2012.
The primary philosophy of this new design for the SRT is that the users should build the telescope themselves from commercially available equipment, based on plans, instructions, and software provided by Haystack. It is designed to be assembled easily with minimal need for special tools or skills. This approach provides an educational opportunity to the users who build the telescope. Also, users of the SRT will be more familiar with how it works if they assemble it themselves, allowing better in-house technical assistance.
The version of the "New SRT is no longer available as a kit from Cassi Corp
SRT Assembly Information
- Hardware manual
- Parts list
- Parts list addendum
- drawings
- Rotor Manual
SRT Software
We plan to provide software, similar in appearance to the original SRT software but written in C instead of Java and running under Linux instead of Windows. A downloadable version with preliminary source code is available below:
- SRT Program Downloads
- pswriter code (source code)
- pswriter instructions (pdf)
- SRT Source Code ver 3 (gzip'd tar file)
- SRT Source Code ver 2 (gzip'd tar file)
- SRT Source Code initial version (gzip'd tar file)
SRT Publications
" which uses the TV dongle is simpler, costs less and performs well. We recommend this verison over the older version which uses a DAS-4020-12 ADC card and a custom down converter. To build the version using the TV dongle use the feed, LNA, post amplifier and filter described by Dustin Johnson (pdf). The block diagram and the details of the version using the TV dongle is described by Marc Higginson-Rollins (pdf).
While the SRT is no longer available, a version of an assembled "New SRT" might be available from Cassi Corp in the future.