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Join The Search For

Extra-Terrestri al
Intelligence
Remember SETI, the electro- appear, required the kinds of facili- night sky are other suns: "Are we
magnetic search for extra -ter- ties that not even governments alone ?" Today the search continues,
restrial intelligence? For more than could afford. By terminating gov- p'ivatized by laymen from all walks
three decades, beginning of life who cannot let that
in 1960, this quasi- govern- question go unanswered.
ment research project Around the world, dozens of
sought clear, unambiguous amateur SETT observatories
evidence of other techno- are springing up, built by
logically advanced civiliza- radio hams, microwave
tions in the cosmos. SETI experimenters, and corn-
existed under the auspices outer hobbyists who hope
of the National Radio to make up in strength of
Astronomy Observatory numbers what they lack in
(NRAO), National Atmos- government funding.
pheric and Ionospheric Today's "SETlzens" embrace
Center (NAIC), National a new wisdom: that as
Science Foundation (NSF), technology advances, SETT

National Aeronautics and begins to require the kinds


Space Administration of facilities that ordinary citi-
(NASA), other various zens can afford.
alphabet -soup organiza- Ham radio operators
tions, and several universi- call SETT the ultimate DX. In
ties. Three dozen different this article, we'll explore the
SETI programs once scann- privatization of SETT, what it
ed the skies with the world's takes in nuts and bolts and
greatest radio telescopes, ones and zeroes to seek
sifting through "buckets of out our cosmic compan-
bits" with massive comput- ions, and how you can join
ers, trying to separate the the search.
"cosmic wheat" from the
"galactic chaff." When Where Do We Look?
each search came up dry, Today's amateur SETT efforts
tax dollars funded the next scan the skies in the range
with still more sensitive of radio frequencies known
receivers, yet more massive anten- ernment- funded SETI, Congress as the microwave window, where
nas, even grander computers. SETI, reduced the federal deficit by .. . photons (the fastest spaceship
so the conventional wisdom held, 0.0006 percent! known to man) can travel relatively
required the kinds of facilities that But SETI is a science that refuses to unimpeded through the interstellar
only governments could afford. die. Driven by humankind's insa- medium. Most searches concen-
Then in 1993, Congress pulled tiable curiosity, it seeks to answer the 'rate on the 1.3- to 1.7 -GHz band,
the plug, pushing SETI away from fundamental question that has exactly where the pros started out.
the public trough. SETI science was haunted humankind since first we That's a spectral region for which
just too expensive. SETT, it began to realized that the points of light in the much inexpensive equipment

Is Earth the only planet in the u.nizJe7se°that's_ capable o077stctini7zg intelligent


life? You can help to ftnsWer that question for yourself by joining the legion
of dedicated enthusiasts who are already scanning the heavens fin- signs
of intelligent lifè-it can be an exciting as well as .,fulfilling pastime, 29
RF CABLE

MICROWAVE RECEIVER - UII

PARABOLIC REFLECTOR

AUDIO CABLE CONTROL CABLE

MOUNT
MODIFIED
FOR
VERTICAL
POSITIONING

CONNECT TO LINE
INPUT OF SOUND CARD

Fig. 1. While no two amateur SETT stations are ever exactly alike, they all have much in
common-all contain some sort of antenna, an ampler, a receiver (downconverter), and
a computer.

already exists and much amateur- They dug deep into the noise by extra-terrestrial signals. It also dic-
radio activity takes place on planet zeroing in on an incredibly small tates that each unit cut across a
Earth. Though other interesting fre- portion of the sky and surveying it swath of sky that's about 200 times
quency bands show considerable for hours on end. But the immensity wider than what its professional
promise, they generally require of the antennas, while making the counterpart can handle. So, it
equipment that is either too costly or telescope tremendously powerful, would only take about 5000 small
too complex for today's amateurs. also imparted an important limita- SETI telescopes, properly aimed
But that is changing even as we tion. The typical research -grade and coordinated, to accomplish
speak. The rule is that, since we radio telescope only sees about something NASA never even con -
don't know exactly from where ET one millionth of the sky at a time. templated-to see in all directions
might be transmitting, there are no Even if it were tuned to exactly the at once, so that no direction in the
wrong frequencies for SETT. So we right frequency, at exactly the sky could evade our gaze.
build the best equipment today's instant when the call came in, Better still, the cost of the typical
technology allows and search there would still be a 99.9999% amateur SETI station is today on the
where we can. If we get incredibly chance it would be pointed the order of $2000 US dollars. That
lucky, we'll find the definitive proof wrong way, and miss the signal means the entire global network
we seek. If not, we'll continue completely. described above can be built for a
searching, knowing that tomorrow's One solution to that dilemma is total cost of about a tenth of that of
technology will tune wider, hear far- to build a million such research - a single research -grade radio tele-
ther, dig deeper, and greatly grade instruments and point them scope. And that's individual hobby-
improve the odds. Amateurs are in all possible directions. But at a ists' money, not tax dollars, at work.
not discouraged by the primitive cost of about $100 million apiece, SETI's detractors call it a waste of
nature of their stations, because we've just exceeded the gross time and money. And agree. This is,
I

today's private SETT observatory is planetary product. Isn't there a after all, a hobby for most of us, and
fully as sensitive as the best NASA cheaper way? isn't "wasting time and money" the
had to offer just twenty years ago. The SETT League believes there is. very definition of a hobby?
And with NASA out of the game, Small radio telescopes of the type The dream of real -time all -sky
the gap is narrowing! that amateurs have been building monitoring is still a long way off, but
for years are perhaps 200 times less it is the vision of The SETT League to
Strength in Numbers. The giant sensitive than NASA's finest. That be implemented by its Project
radio telescopes from the era of means they'll be somewhat deaf, Argus search. Argus was the mythi-
30 NASA SETI were incredibly sensitive. detecting only the very strongest cal Greek guard -beast who had a
kind of antenna to scoop up weak
photons from space, an amplifier to
boost weak signals, a receiver to
shift them down (downconvert) to
audio signals, and a computer to sift
through the audio noise in search of
patterns that could not have been
naturally occurring phenomena.
Figure 1 shows a typical block dia-
gram of just such a station.
The sections below provide a
general overview of the main ele-
ments of a typical amateur SETT sta-
tion. Further details are available in
the appropriate chapter in The SETT
League Technical Manual online at
www.setileague.org or in hard -copy
from The SETT League, Inc., PO Box

555, Little Ferry, NJ 07643 USA. While


it's unlikely that the average experi-
menter can build a successful sta-
tion from either this article or the
tech manual alone, The SETI
League's worldwide network of vol-
Three dozen different SET/ programs once scanned the skies with the world's greatest unteer regional coordinators stands
radio telescopes, sifting through "buckets of bits" with massive computers, trying to sep- ready to assist any member in get-
arate the "cosmic wheat" from the "galactic chaff" ting his or her station on the air.

hundred eyes and could see in all teur -radio astronomers, all over the The Antenna. Though many other
directions at once. Mythology tells world. With their help, we'll some- antenna types have been used
us that when Argus died, the gods day see in all directions at once. successfully, by far the favored
put his eyes on the tail of the pea- antenna for amateur SETI use is the
cock. Though that's a lovely story, The Typical Station. While no two parabolic reflector (or dish). The
we of The SETT League know better. amateur SETI stations are ever chief advantage of the parabolic
When Argus died, the gods put his exactly alike, they all have much in reflector is that it operates over an
eyes in the backyards of 5000 ama- common. For example, all use some extremely wide range of frequen-
cies, limited at the low end by its
diameter (which must be a
respectable multiple of the longest
wavelength being received to pro-
vide reasonable gain), and at the
high end by its surface accuracy
(which must not deviate from the
parabolic shape by more than a
small fraction of the shortest wave-
length being received to maintain
reasonable efficiency). Typical
satellite TV dishes generally provide
reasonable performance over the
1- to 10 -GHz portion of the
microwave window.
For reception in the 1.3- to 1.7-
GHz L -band region, which is highly
favored for amateur SETI activity,
optimum dish size is about three to
five meters in diameter. In countries
such as the US and Canada, where
C -band satellite television distribu-
tion has been widely used for two
Though many other antenna types have been used successfully, by far the favored anten-
na for amateur SET1 use is the parabolic reflector (or dish). For reception in the 1.3 to
decades, suitable dishes are abun-
1.7 GHz L -hand region, which is highly favored for amateur SET/ activity, optimum dish dantly available at low to no cost.
size is about three to five meters in diameter. In other parts of the world, they're 31
harder to come by. Enterprising SET' Weight sometimes a considera-
is (Additional information on vari-
League members have acquired tion, as wind loading. If weight or
is ous SETI antenna options, along
surplus commercial telecommuni- wind concerns you, a more realistic with vendor recommendations,
cations dishes or even built their approach might be to use a mesh may be found in the "Antennas and
own from scratch. dish instead of a solid one. Feedhorns" chapter of The SETI
The size of the dish and the oper- Many of the accessories that League Technical Manual.)
ating wavelength together deter- come along with a satellite TV dish
mine antenna gain. As a first order are of limited use for SETI; therefore, The Antenna Mount. The beauty
approximation, the voltage gain of mounting a parabolic antenna
(as a ratio) is equal to the circum- for SETT use is that you just can't go
ference of the reflector, measured wrong. Since we are interested in
in wavelengths. Consider, for exam- monitoring the sky for artificial sig-
ple, a three -meter dish that has a nals from beyond, the antenna
circumference of 3 x Tr (i.e., 3 x merely need be pointed up -there
3.1416) or about 9.4 meters. At the are stars (with potentially habitable
21 -cm resonant wavelength of planets) to be found in all direc-
neutral hydrogen atoms (which tions. So mounting an antenna for
corresponds to the popular SETT fre- SETT use is considerably simpler
quency of 1420 MHz), the voltage than, for example, using the same
gain of the dish would approach antenna for satellite TV, where it
(940/21) = 45. must be precisely aimed at the
Since the power ratio equals the satellite's location.
voltage ratio squared, the power Because there are no wrong
gain of such an antenna would be directions for SETT, many SETT anten-
about 2000; i.e., a gain of +33 dBi. nas are simply set on the ground,
However, since the efficiency of "bird- bath" style, looking straight
amateur SETT antennas is generally The most common feedhorn for amateur up. But a disciplined sky survey, such
about 50 %, the actual gain realized SETT use is a metal pipe, closed off at the as The SETT League's Project Argus
is more like +30 dBi. end farthest from the dish, forming a effort, requires coordinated sky
Dish size also determines shorted cylindrical waveguide. The chief coverage, and that,
in turn, necessi-
beamwidth, thereby dictating the drawback of the cylindrical waveguide
feedhorn is its large physical size, which
tates a limited steering ability for at
degree of aiming precision
actually blocks a part of the dish surface least some of the antennas in the
required when targeting specific from the "view" of incoming signals, network.
stars. As an approximation, half- thereby reducing the effective gain of the Where steering of the antennas
power beamwidth in radians parabolic antenna. is desired, we need to consider two
equals wavelength divided by degrees of freedom: azimuth (the
antenna diameter. Thus, for our compass heading to which the
example of a three -meter dish you should not pay extra for them. antenna points) and elevation (the
operated at 21 cm, the beamwidth C -band or Ku -band feedhorns and angle that the antenna's beam
is approximately (21/300) = 0.07 preamps are only useful if you're makes with respect to the horizon).
radians or 70 milli- radians, which is going to search in C -band or Ku- In terms of celestial coordinates,
about four degrees. band (some of our members do; the azimuth of a radio telescope
If you choose to use a surplus most prefer to scan the popular L- (along with a station's latitude and
antenna, dish condition is an impor- band region). TVRO systems are longitude, and the date and time)
tant factor. The main consideration great sources of microwave corn - determines the right ascension (RA)
for the dish is surface accuracy. In ponents, but unless ET uses exactly of its target, while elevation (again,
order to perform up to expecta- the same TV transmission standards along with latitude /longitude, time,
tions, the dish surface cannot devi- as we Earthlings, they're not partic- and date) determines declination
ate from the parabolic by more ularly useful as SETT receivers. And a (Dec). Conversion between terres-
than a tenth of a wavelength. At motorized mount that tracks the trial and celestial coordinates is
1420 MHz, that's about 2 cm of Clarke geosynchronous orbital belt handled by a spreadsheet found
allowable surface error. If the dish is not particularly useful for drift- on The SETT League's Web site.
surface is dimpled, dented, or dis- scan, meridian transit -mount radio Since we live on a rotating
torted beyond 2 cm, avoid that telescopes, except if modified per sphere, the earth itself makes a most
dish! Look for something that the instructions in the following cost -effective RA rotor, as long as
approximates a smooth parabolic "Antenna Mount" section of this you are patient enough to let the
curve. If panels are missing or bent, article. proper portion of the sky eventually
performance is sure to suffer. In the final analysis, your financial rotate into view. But since (thankful-
Next, look at the mounting hard- situation is likely to be your chief lim- ly!) the earth doesn't rotate north -to-
ware. If it's rusted, expect trouble in itation, so go with what you can south, the only way to achieve Dec
getting the dish apart and even afford. Any old dish receives better control is to physically rotate the
32 more trouble reassembling it. than no dish at all! antenna along a north -south line.
That can be accomplished LNA boosts the incoming
by aligning a satellite -TV signal. Although in many
antenna's position rotor as a things "if a little is good, a lot
vertical (elevation) is better," that's not the
rotor, a s described in an case for preamplifier gain.
article on The SETT League's In fact, excessive LNA gain
Web site. can actually reduce the
(Additional information sensitivity of a SETT receiver.
on mounting SETT antennas The rule of thumb is that the
can be found in the "Antennas and High -end microwave scanning receivers gain of the LNA should equal the
(typified by the 'corn models R -7000, R-
Feedhorns" chapter of The SETT sum of the microwave receiver's
7/00, and R -8500, as well as the AOR
League Technical Manual.) noise figure (in dB) plus the RF
3000, 5000, and 7000) are multi -mode
receivers capable of receiving AM, FM, cable insertion loss (also in dB), plus
The Feedhorn. When radio waves CW, SSB, and sometimes video and digital an additional ten dB, For the aver-
strike a dish antenna, the parabolic modes. age SETT station with a short coaxial
shape of its reflector directs all the cable between the LNA and the
energy to a single point -called its wavelength. A helix feed doesn't receiver, 20 dB of preamp gain is
focus or focal point -out in front of block the aperture of the dish to usually about right. If a very long or
the dish. The purpose of the feed - the extent that the waveguide unusually lossy RF cable is used, a
horn, which is mounted at the focus horn does, but it ,s more prone to 30 -dB gain LNA might be more
facing the reflector, is to scoop up interference from signals off to the appropriate.
all that energy and route it to the side of the antenna. Both helix and Noise temperature is a measure
low -noise amplifier (LNA) and waveguide feedhorn designs have of how much additional noise the
receiver for processing. been used successfully by SETT LNA adds to your SETT system. Since
The most common feedhorn for League members. any actual signal has to compete
amateur SETT use is a metal pipe, (Additional information on vari- with a variety of natural and artifi-
closed off at the end farthest from ous SETT antenna feeds, along with cial noise sources, the lower the
the dish, forming a shorted cylindri- vendor links, can be found in the noise temperature, the better. The
cal waveguide, The horn contains a "Antennas and Feedhorns" chap- LNAs commonly used for amateur
small metallic probe (connected to ter of The SETT League Technical SETT typically have between 35
the center pin of a coaxial con- Manual.) Kelvin and 100 Kelvin of internal
nector) that is used to collect the noise. Noise sometimes expressed
is
energy and channel it to the LNA. The Low -Noise Amplifier. The LNA, not but as noise figure (in
in Kelvins,
The horn might be surrounded by a which is also sometimes called a dB) or noise factor (a unitless power
metal ring, which serves to improve preamplifier or preamp, is used to ratio). (The SETT League provides a
the efficiency of energy collection turn an impossibly weak signal into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for
from the dish surface or to block a merely ridiculously weak one. The conversion between these various
interference from entering the feed critical parameters to consider in noise units.) The noise temperature
from beyond the periphery of the selecting an LNA are its frequency of an LNA can sometimes be
dish (as described in yet another response, gain, and noise tempera- reduced by thermally cooling it.
SETT League Web site article). ture, (An additional spreadsheet allows
The chief drawback of the cylin- Frequency response determines you to calculate the improvement
drical waveguide feedhorn is that that portion of the electromagnet- achieved by lowering an LNA's
its large physical size actually ic spectrum over which a particular ambient temperature.)
blocks a part of the dish surface LNA will boost the received signal Many commercial LNAs are pro-
from the "view" of incoming signals, with minimum distortion or added vided with a choice of coaxial
thereby reducing the effective size noise. The LNA should be selected input and output connectors. Most
(hence, the gain) of the parabolic to have a frequency range consis- SETT League members prefer to
antenna. That signal loss due to tent with your particular SETT station standardize on the coax connector
blockage is most severe for small requirements. For example, C -band known as Type N, since that's the
dishes, but is almost negligible at satellite -TV LNAs cover the portion connector used on most feedhorns
the popular 1.3- to 1.7 -GHz SETT fre- of the spectrum ranging from 3.7 to and microwave receivers. To mini-
quencies when the dish diameter 4.2 GHz; ergo, they are not suitable mize losses, the LNA should be
exceeds about four meters, for use in SETI stations designed to mounted directly on the output
An alternative to the cylindrical monitor the 1.4 -GHz hydrogen line. connector of the antenna feed -
waveguide feedhorn is the helical Incorporated into some LNAs are horn, with the appropriate coaxial
feed, which consists of about three filtering circuits that reduce the over- adapter (probably an N -type
turns of heavy-gauge wire wound all range of frequencies amplified; male -to -male barrel adapter).
into a corkscrew shape with a cir- the filtering circuits can also help to An additional consideration is
cumference of one wavelength at reduce out -of-banc interference. how to get the appropriate operat-
the operating frequency, and a Gain, which is measured in deci- ing potential to the LNA. Most LNAs
34 spacing between turns of a quarter bels (dB), indicates how much the operate from a DC power supply,
typically in the +12-volt DC range. signal analysis. Selection of the
Some designs require that the appropriate receiver leaves
operating voltage be applied via more to the discretion of the
the center-conductor of the RF experimenter than any other
cable, and some LNA vendors portion of the amateur SETT sys-
give you a choice between inter- tem. Four distinct options pre-
nal and separate DC feed. DC sent themselves. In descending
feed via the transmission line The first generation of computer-controlled order of cost, they are:
requires that the microwave receivers, which were prone to RFI generated by the
receiver be designed to provide computer itself, were built on ISA cards, and 1. High -end microwave
the voltage or that an accessory plugged directly into one of the vacant slots on the scanning receivers -typified by
called a DC Inserter or Bias Tee be motherboard of a personal computer. the Icom models R -7000, R -7100,
connected in the signal path and R -8500, as well as the AOR
ahead of the receiver and tied in to microwave receiver, signal -analysis 3000, 5000, and 7000 -are multi -
an appropriate power source. computer, and related accessories mode receivers capable of receiv-
Although that's the scheme com- inside the house, with the antenna ing AM, FM, CW, SSB, and sometimes
monly used to power antenna - and LNA mounted outside some dis- video and digital modes. Various IF
mounted circuitry in commercial tance away. An RF cable -usually bandwidths are usually available,
satellite-TV receivers, most SETI exper- coaxial (i.e., "coax" cable), prefer- and these receivers are normally
imenters see direct DC feed through ably those with low loss at radio programmable to scan a selected
the coax as more of a problem than (specifically microwave) frequencies range of frequencies. They typically
a cure. It's generally preferred that a is -used to link the two halves of a tune from a few hundred kHz all the
separate DC cable be run outside to SETT station. way up to about 2 GHz, which
the LNA; the DC potential is then The stuff used for cable TV is actually exceeds our SETT needs.
applied to the LNA from inside the cheap (pennies per meter), but Prices are likely to start around
SETT station. (Caution. It is extremely pretty lossy in the 1.4- to 1.7 -GHz $2000 US, making the receivers as
important that the polarity of volt- region of the spectrum typically expensive as all other portions of
age applied to the cable be dou- used for amateur SETI. The kind used an amateur SETT station combined.
ble- checked, as reversing the posi- for, say, CB radio antennas is a little 2. Modified radio -tele-
tive and negative power-supply better, but a bit more costly. If you scope receivers. One of the very
leads can damage the LNA.) have a local RadioShack or similar few vendors of commercial radio -
Although most commercial (and store, you can probably find what astronomy receivers for the ama-
many home -built) LNAs are housed they call low -loss coax. Low -loss teur market is Radio Astronomy
in metal enclosures to provide coax is larger (perhaps cm diam- Supplies of Roswell, GA, USA. Their
1

shielding against radio-frequency eter) than the CB or TV type, costs microwave receivers, which are
interference (RFI), few reside in maybe a dollar or more per meter, designed specifically for continuum
weather-proof enclosures. To pre- and may go under such part num- radio astronomy (that is, searching
vent damage from exposure to the bers as Belden 9913, RG -8 for natural astrophysical phenome-
elements, like to put my LNAs in Polyfoam, etc. It may take special na) can sometimes be modified for
I

plastic Tupperware sandwich connectors -called Type N -which SETT use. Such modifications gener-
boxes, It is necessary to drill or require some experience to prop- ally require considerable electron-
punch holes in the plastic for the erly install. ics expertise, but offer the ultimate
input coax adapter, output cable, For any type of coax, the longer in performance. As this is being writ-
and power wiring. Be sure to seal the run, the lossier. So try to keep ten, Radio Astronomy Supplies
the openings with room- tempera- your antennas near the radio room. reports being hard at work devel-
ture vulcanizing (RTV) silicon rubber If that's not practical, there are sev- oping a dedicated SETT receiver,
(which can be purchased from eral things that can be done: Use named Seeker 2000, which is slated
most any hardware store). more gain in the preamp (to boost to sell in the $1200 (US) range.
(Information on various commer- the weak signal before it suffers 3. Computer -controlled
cial LNAs available in kit form or cable loss), mount the whole receivers. The first generation were
fully assembled, along with vendor receiver or just the downconverter built on ISA cards and plugged
links, can be found in the outside on the dish (pumping a directly into one of the vacant slots
"Preamplifiers and Filters" chapter lower frequency through the cable on the motherboard of a personal
of The SETT League Technical is more efficient), or use specialized computer. The units were prone to
Manual. For the experienced cables such as hardline or Andrew RFI generated by the computer
microwave experimenter, schemat- Heliax (which can cost upwards of itself. Later units, like the Icom
ics, component -selection criteria, tens of dollars per meter). PRC1000 and WinRadio 1500e, are
and do- it- yourself information are separate boxes that plug into a
also provided.) The Microwave Receiver. The computer via a serial, parallel, or
microwave receiver takes a small, USB port. They have many of the
The RF Cable. The most common selected portion of the radio spec- features offeréd by high -end
SETT station configuration places the trum and converts it to audio for microwave scanning receivers, but 35
since they rely on a companion
computer for digital control, they
typically cost half as much.
4. Downconverter /receiver
combinations are available to
down -shift selected portions of the
microwave spectrum for reception
via a shortwave or VHF ham -radio
receiver. Popular units are available
from Down East Microwave in the
US, and VHF Communications in
Europe. Downconverters are
appealing for those who already
own a high -performance commu-
nications receiver, which unfortu-
nately doesn't tune to the SETT fre-
quency of interest. Downconverters To accomplish their objective-to reach farther and farther out into space in the hopes
cost about half as much as the of contacting intelligent life forms-SET! stations use digital signal processing. Shown
computer -controlled receivers, but here is an example of the first candidate signal received by The SETI League in May of
require the user to couple them to 1996, which turned out to be interference from a classified military satellite.
an existing receiver.
Advanced SETT experimenters that to digitize a signal, it must be
sometimes modify their receivers for sampled no less than twice for
up to 22 kHz of instantaneous IF and every cycle at its highest frequen-
audio bandwidth, while custom - cy. With 44 -ksps (kilo -samples per
built receivers can cover from sever- second) sound cards, it's possible
al hundred kHz to a few MHz of the to digitize and analyze audio com-
spectrum at a time. ponents out of our receiver up to 22
(Information on various commer- kHz in frequency -a rather narrow
cial and kit receivers, recommend- bandwidth that even a 486 com-
ed modifications, and vendor con- puter can analyze in real time with
tact information can be found in excellent resolution. The typical DSP
the "Receivers and Converters" program chops the received audio
Downconverter/receiver combinations are chapter of The SETT League band into 2048 individual channels,
available to down -shift selected portions of Technical Manual.) each about 10 Hz wide, analyzing
the microwave spectrum for reception via a and displaying all those channels
shortwave or VHF ham -radio receiver. The Computer. Even the simplest simultaneously, in real time. Thus, the
of today's personal computers is computer turns the SETT station into
thousands of times more powerful a 2048-channel receiver.
Whichever receiver scheme is than the ones NASA used to put The required software, devel-
selected, present practice suggests men on the moon. Of course, the oped by SETT League members,
operating it in single sideband objective of SETT is not to reach the typically runs under the Microsoft
mode (either upper sideband or moon, but rather to reach much DOS or Windows operating systems.
lower sideband) and leaving it farther out into space for intelli- It is shareware, offered at low or no
fixed -tuned, rather than scanning it gently generated signals. To do so, cost to all participating SETT League
across the spectrum. The reason for a technique known as digital signal members via the software pages of
avoiding frequency scanning is processing (DSP) is used. The SETT League Web site. Its job is to
that the Earth is turning the anten- The first step in the DSP process is identify signals that exhibit the hall-
na continually, so that the spatial to feed the receiver's audio output marks of artificiality- characteris-
dimension of the observation is into the computer in a form (i.e., tics that distinguish intelligently
always changing. Only by holding binary data) that the computer generated signals from natural
frequency constant for at least one can recognize. An analog -to -digi- phenomena -and then to help
rotational period of the Earth (i.e., tal converter (ADC) is required to determine whether those charac-
one day) can we avoid the prob- accomplish that task; the ADC of teristics might have come from
lem of "too many variables." choice for amateur SETT is the PC some terrestrial source. Our civiliza-
The bandwidth of the receiver's sound card. Just about any tion pollutes its own radio environ-
audio stages will typically be the lim- SoundBlaster- compatible audio ment, so we need to sill through
iting factor, as far as instantaneous card will work with The SETT any detected signals rather thor-
frequency span is concerned. Many League's signal analysis software. oughly in order to rule out man-
SSB receivers cover as little as 3 kHz The cards sample an audio wave- made interference from our own
of spectrum at a time, which is an form 44,000 times per second. One transmitters, aircraft, spacecraft,
36 inefficient way to search for ETI. of the rules of information theory is (Continued on page 79)
JOIN THE SEARCH SOUND PARTNER Adjust the audio level for head-
(continued from page 36) (continued from page 44) phone (J1) using the volume con-
1

trol of the personal -sound system.


and orbiting relay stations. time to test the project. Note: No After that, adjust volume of head-
In addition to analyzing signals, calibration adjustments are need- phone 2 by adjusting Rl. Caution:
some SETT League computers also ed. Simply plug PL1 into the head- Never use the Sound Partner with-
control the station. Remember the phone output of the personal out a headphone connected to
computer -controlled microwave sound system and connect two 16- J1. Doing so could damage your
receivers discussed above? They
can often be tuned by software,
driven from the PC's serial, parallel,
or universal -serial-bus (USB) port.
Antennas can similarly be comput-
er- aimed, if they're equipped with
software- driven azimuth and eleva-
tion rotors. Some SETT computers
make lights flash and bells ring
whenever they detect something
interesting. And the most
advanced of the computers used
by SETI League members also dial
into the Internet when an interest-
ing candidate signal is received,
automatically alerting other partic-
ipants that their assistance in signal
verification is required.
(More SETI computer information
may be found in the "Software"
chapter of The SETT League
Technical Manual.)

Putting It All Together. When builtI


J

my first amateur dish more than 'SEE TEXT


twenty years ago, was going it
I

alone.That was frustrating, because I


Fig. 5. Assemble the Sound Partner's printed-circuit board guided by this parts -placemen diag uni.
Note that with the exception of the input and output jacks, the battery with its holder, and the VOL-
had to learn from my own mistakes.
UME control (RI), all of the components mount to the printed -circuit board.
Today there's assistance. The non-
profit, membership -supported SETT
League exists to help you become to 100 -ohm stereo headphones to personal sound system.
one of the 5000 active Argus the Sound Partner outputs (J1 and When all is working properly,
observers. Though only 1000-mem- J2). Set power switch S1 (ganged to there is nothing left to do but seal
bers strong at present, The SETI Rl) to the off position, install the the project into its enclosure, plug it
League is still a young organization, batteries in their holder, and the into your personal sound system,
just three years into its search. The Sound Partner is ready for use. and share that must -hear tune.
group's volunteer regional coordina-
tors in over 50 countries on six conti- PARTS LIST FOR THE SOUND PARTNER
nents have already helped more RESISTORS ADDITIONAL PARTS
than five dozen members to put sta- (All fixed resistors are '/4 -watt, 10% AND MATERIALS
tions on the air. The SETT League's units.) ICI, IC2 -LM386 low -power audio -
extensive Web site and various R1- 10,000-ohm dual -gang audio taper amplifier, integrated circuit
books and articles are already potentiometer with SPST switch (see B I-6 -volt battery, see text
attracting hundreds of like- minded text) -'
J1, J2 /8 -inch stereo phone jack (see
R2, R3 -10 -ohm text)
enthusiasts into the SETI community.
To come on line with The SETI
-'
PLl /K -inch stereo phone plug (see
CAPACITORS text)
League, e -mail them your postal Cl, C2-4.7 -µF, 16 -WVDC, miniature SI -SPST (ganged to R1)
address (join @setieague.org), call electrolytic Printed- circuit materials, 8- to 100 -ohm
their membership hotline (800-TAU- C3, Cat 0.01 -µF, ceramic -disc or metal - headphones, plastic knob, enclosure,
SETI), or write for a free brochure. film battery holder, IC sockets, wires, solder,
Together, amateur SETT volunteers C5, C6-220 -µF, 16 -WVDC, miniature hardware, etc.
may well end humanity's isolation in electrolytic
the universe. C7- 100-µF, 16 -WVDC, miniature
electrolytic 79

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