DSES Participation in the Annual Eads Bash

DSES will have two or three tables at the 10th annual Maine Street Bash on Maine Street in Eads, Colorado on Saturday, July 30, 2016. Please come join us. This will be our 7th time as a part of this fundraiser that benefits the Crow-Luther Cultural Events Center, which is this event’s organizer. The Crow-Luther Cultural Events Center is a dynamic non-profit that that has saved the historical Plains Theater in Eads. They are giving DSES the foyer of the theater for the duration of the Bash, along with use of the stage and their big screen projector for up to 1 ½ hours of presentations between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30.

Festivities run from 5:00 p.m. until midnight. The vendor fee is waived for DSES and entrance to the theater is free for DSES members. Our display area is in air conditioned space in the theater’s foyer, where we will display our photos, drone videos, and various Power Point based presentations.

Summertime in Eads means the Maine Street Bash, a street festival on Maine Street in front of the Plains Theater. This festival gets bigger every year. It includes live music, both local and professional, a beer garden, a movie festival, the Kidz Zone, a Food Court, vendors, a horseshoe tournament, and a street dance that starts when the sun goes down!

We can gain access to the Bash as early as 4 p.m. and you can stay as till late as you want. We will pay individually for our entry tickets, cost is $10 each.

PLEASE, will some members come over to Eads for the Bash? You don’t have to worry about a big clean up — maybe a dry shirt if it is typically hot. Lots of good food on sale on the street – rock and roll band on a 40″ flat bed – Good old small town, fun street fair. Some of our friends there are going to bring some County Commissioners and, hopefully, a couple of the Power COOP board members by to say hi. Now that we have made such tremendous progress out at the site, and with all the work on the science program, it could really help us to show off some of that hard work and the people behind it all, to these officials.

I will go to the dish Saturday morning for a while, and John Doran is flying Wayne Green and our presenter down from Denver to Eads around 1 pm. We will get the display set up before the event opens. They will start our presentation at 5 p.m. and will fly out around 8:30 p.m., assuming the weather fits. I am planning to stay at Dolores Eickenbergs guest house and spend at least most of Sunday at the site. If bad weather comes in, they will stay there and I will get them to the airport in Eads in the morning.

Thanks and see you Saturday, the 30th. Please call or text me if you can come for at least part of the show.

Michael

Upcoming Plishner Weekend trips 7/30 ~ 8/13 2016

The next trip to the Plishner site will be this Saturday, July 30, 2016. Folks wishing to join in this trip should be at the Ellicott Fire Station by 8AM. Ed Corn, Steve Plock, Rich Russel, Gary Agranat, Bill Miller and Myron Babcock are planning on making this trip. If you are going and want to add your name to the list, please email me.

The annual Kiowa County, Eads, Colorado Main Street Bash is this Saturday, July 30, 2016 from 5PM to Midnight. DSES is listed once again as one of the vendors that will be present. Michael Lowe will have a display table with lots of DSES information. Michael Lowe would like to have other DSES members join him. Call Michael, at 719-337-2112 if you can make the trip.

During the weekend of the August Perseid meteor showers, August 12 & 13, 2016, DSES will be having an open house for the purpose of educating DSES members and non-members in our current ongoing science projects. We also hope to bounce a 1296 Mhz signal off the moon and hear our echo. If all goes well with that we hope to make a few contacts with other amateur radio stations around the country or world. A few members will be going to the site on Thursday, August 11 and staying through Sunday, August 14. We also hope to have several optical telescopes available for all to use during the dark evening skies. More details to follow.

Myron Babcock

Report of July 4, 2016 Plishner Site Trip

David Molter and Steve Plock went to the Plishner site on July 4th to work on the Radio Jove antenna and to measure the length of the Azimuth data cable. They report:

When we first entered the bunker, the lights did not come on. We found the batteries sitting at 11.6 volts and the inverter cut off because of low battery voltage. There was standing water in the bunker up to 2 inches deep. The charge controller showed zero amps of current. We went out to the Solar array and saw that the solar panel wiring was disconnected from the feedline. The wire nut showed evidence of arcing and the insulation was burnt back on the feedline. We stripped the wires back and put on a new wire nut. Note: this connection needs to be in a weatherproof box.

We saw that the reconnected charge controller was reading 11 amps. We reset the inverter and it kicked off in 10 seconds. We looked into the inside sump and saw it was full. We unplugged the sump pump and the inverter stayed up when reset.

We checked the outside sump pump and heard it running. There was no water coming out of the discharge, so we unplugged the outside sump pump. After a couple of minutes of scooping water off the floor, we plugged-in the inside sump pump, which pumped the sump down and stopped.

We opened the cover to the outside sump and found it full of water. The pump would run but no water showed at the discharge outlet. We jury rigged the spare sump pump and got 2 feet of water out of the outside sump before the inverter kicked off because of too low battery voltage. We did not have enough battery power to: (1) vacuum up the standing water in the bunker, or (2) get enough water out of the outside sump to figure out why the pump will not empty the sump. We suspect that the hose came off the pump outlet.

We measured the Azimuth data cable. We also drove in the last pipe for the radio Jove antenna, but we did not pour cement around the post. The outside sump cover is not completely covering the sump. The spare sump pump is still in the outside sump, jury rigged to a hose.

The outside sump needs to be pumped out and the regular pump recovered and fixed. The bunker needs to be emptied of water.

Submitted by Dave and Steve, edited by Dan Martin.

Plishner Perseids Meteor Shower Expedition 12-13 August 2016

DSES will have its first major observing expedition at the Plishner site on 12 – 13 August in conjunction with the Perseid Meteor Shower.

The following radio telescopes will be set up for observing:
1) Hydrogen – on 60 ft dish using Ray’s new feed
2) Radio Jove
3) Meteor Scatter
4) SuperSIDS
5) Itty Bitty Telescope

Also a number of optical telescopes will be set up to watch the meteor shower + planet and star observations.
We are also trying to get a solar telescope to do some daytime observations.

Ham radio operators will use the new DSES Club call sign, K0PRT, to make radio contacts. We will have HF antennas plus SHF, UHF, and VHF using the 60 ft dish available.

The setup team will arrive about 1200 on the 12th and start observations around 1700 and throughout the night. Observers should bring thumb drives and observer journals.

Anyone participating should bring sleeping gear and food for the overnight event. The clearing next to the communications van will be available for camping or campers. Recommend anyone sleeping in the bunker bring a cot and sleeping bag.

The event will end at 1600 on 13 August.

Please RSVP to Rich Russel.

Rich
Dr. Rich Russel

Science Update 6-3-16

The Radio Jove system picked up lightning strikes very clearly on 20.1 MHz during the storm that passed through Colorado Springs on 29 May 2016, as evidenced by Figure 1. The second jpeg, Figure 2, is zoomed-in showing what lighting looks like on the strip chart.

As you can see, it is important to recognize if your radio telescope is detecting Jupiter or lightning.

CoSprings_StormLightningRcrd_5-29-16_650w
Figure 1. Radio Jove data record of 5-29-16

CoSprings_StormLightningRcrdDetail_5-29-16_650w
Figure 2. Detail of Lighting data 5-29-16

Rich
Dr. Rich Russel

Hammn’ Sams RV Club Visit to Plishner 5/21/2016

A group of 12 visitors from the Hammn’ Sams RV club visited the site Saturday afternoon. This group, all amateur radio operators, traveled 35 miles north from their weekend campout at the John Martin Reservoir camp ground on the Arkansas River to make this visit. Myron and Bob Sayers, members of this RV group, made this invitation. Dr. Richard Russel provided an impromptu briefing to the visitors and, without going up into the dish, Steve Plock helped 3 members view the dish pedestal.

PDF containing images at link immediately below:
Hammn’ Sams RV Club May-21-2016 Visit to Plishner

Plishner 5/21/2016 Weekend Trip Report

DSES members, Ed Corn, Steve Plock, Dr. Richard Russel, David Molter, Gary Agranat, and Myron Babcock made a day work trip to the site on Saturday, May 21, 2016.

Steve and Ed checked the oil sampling from the generator and determined the oil that Ray provided for the generator was indeed synthetic oil with additives. New member Gary Agranat on his initial trip to Plishner received a “start up/shutdown” check out on the propane generator set. The generator was used all day for a shake down test to check out the installation of the relief air louvers that open on the east side of the generator shed. With the entry door closed, a significant amount of air now freely flows through the generator shed. Ed worked in the dish pedestal and started laying out the wiring for both an inverter and a generator power hookup. Ed will continue this pedestal wiring project on the next several trips down. An AC hum noise was noted when a ham radio transceiver was connected to the 12 VDC bus in the trailer. It was discovered that the battery charger connected to the batteries when the generator is operating creates this hum. Ed will install a filter on the charging system to eliminate this noise.

Rich, Dave and Gary spent most of the day clearing out the communications trailer of excess coax, dish antennas, and numerous other miscellaneous items cluttering the floor and workbench. A thorough vacuuming followed making the trailer the most organized and cleanest space at the Plishner site. Now the entire inside of the trailer is available for science and radio projects.

Myron brought his Icom IC-471H 75 watt UHF multi-mode transceiver to the site to test out the UHF link between the Plishner Site and Ray Uberecken’s home near Falcon, CO. This link will be used to control various instruments being used at the site when the internet is not operational. After making contact on Single Side Band (SSB) an attempt was made on FM. No signal was heard at either end. The frequency was changed to the lower end of the FM (440.0 MHz) band and contact was made. Signal strength at that frequency was not strong enough for the CTCSS tones to make the 85 mile path to turn on and off the controlling panel. Ray indicated that he will improve his antenna at his home.

Rich installed and tested the Dell laptop on the Radio Jove and HI Galactic Source Observations using the Plishner 60 foot dish and the Spectracyber system. A camera focused on the temperature and battery voltage was installed in the trailer. This data can now be routinely accessed through the onsite cell hotspot through the free TeamViewer software. Contact Dr. Richard Russel to obtain the username and password and instructions on how to use this information.

A group of 12 visitors from the Hammn’ Sams RV club visited the site Saturday afternoon. This group, all amateur radio operators, traveled 35 miles north from their weekend campout at the John Martin Reservoir camp ground on the Arkansas River to make this visit. Myron and Bob Sayers, members of this RV group, made this invitation. Dr. Richard Russel provided an impromptu briefing to the visitors and, without going up into the dish, Steve Plock helped 3 members view the dish pedestal.

The next trip to the Plishner Site is scheduled for the weekend of June 3, 4 & 5. This may be an overnight trip for at least one night out of the 3 days. We will finalize this decision within the next several days and get this information out to all members.

Plishner 5/14/2016 Weekend Trip Report

The following Plishner weekend update was provided by Steve Plock.

Strong winds and high humidity conditions created a pretty chilly and challenging work day for Ed Corn and Steve Plock at the Plishner site this past Saturday, May 14. Thanks to Skip MacCaulay from Lacombe, Alberta for his donation of a DC-to-AC inverter that Ed installed as the primary, along with another inverter donated by Ray that Ed installed as a backup.

An Anderson Power Pole distribution unit was also installed in the communications trailer. Light fixture attachment points were installed in the upper pedestal so that future lighting can be installed. The voltage regulator circuit board for the propane generator was remoted to the North wall of the generator shed and the connecting wires were placed in conduit. Hopefully, this placement will eliminate or reduce the heat build-up and vibration at the regulator board compared to when it was mounted on the generator.

A hole was cut in the plywood of the eastern (bunker) end of the generator shed and a louver panel installed. There is now a substantial air flow created inside the shed with the louvers open and the generator door closed. Generator oil was changed on a prior visit and the 1000 gallon propane tank is now at 30%. The tank main shut off/on valve will be repaired before adding more propane to the tank.

Thanks to Ed Corn and Steve Plock for their time spent at the Plishner site this past weekend.

Myron Babcock
DSES Treasurer

Science Update 5-1-16

Radio JOVE Observations at the Plishner Radio Astronomy Observatory
Observational Period: February to April 2016
Analysis: Dr. Richard Russel

Radio Jove Configuration:

  • 20.1 MHz Receiver
  • Dual Dipole at 15 ft. oriented East-West with a 90 degree phase delay on South Dipole
    1. South dipole feed line was eaten through.
    2. North dipole feed line was damaged but intact – may have some degradation.
  • Radio Skypipe software with an audio feed from receiver
  • Latitude: 38: 45:28N Longitude: 103:16:50W
  • Power was lost around 6 April – due to primary DC-AC inverter failing
  • Note that the Sun has a dominant signature (Sunrise and Sunset times are documented)
  • Very few Jupiter related signatures were noted for this time period. This was probably related to the damaged antenna.

Recommended Follow Up Actions:

  • Compare Solar activity with Radio Jove activity. There appeared to have been enough gain on the antenna to get a good solar signature.