Earth-Venus-Earth 2025 Report

Paul Sobon, DSES President and EVE25 project manager, has written a report covering all aspects of this project. The EVE experiment was conducted on March 22, 2025.

Read the report here: EVE25 Report

EVE 25 Control Room

EVE25 Main Assembly

2025 SARA Western Conference

The 2025 Western Conference of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers was held on March 14th through the 16th. Bill Miller, DSES VP, attended and presented a talk on the DSES facilities and activities.

In his report, in addition to an overview of the conference, there are links to the presentation video recording and slides.

SARA Western Conference Report

2025 Science Fair Awards

Bill Miller provided this report on the DSES team judging at the Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair:

On Saturday, February 22nd the DSES team consisting of Barb McAllister, Roger Oakey, Bill Thomas, and Bill Miller participate as special awards judges for the Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

We judged the senior and junior projects by splitting them into two-person teams. For time savings with so many projects to cover, we tried to judge only those projects that had some relevant aspect to what we do in our society involving, space science, radio, computers, engineering, energy, and other technically relevant areas.

For the full report click here: 2025 Science Fair.

Science Meeting 1/27/25

The first Science Meeting of the year included two interesting topics:

“Cascade Noise Figures” by Ray Uberecken

“System 1 Tracking Modifications” by Lewis Putnam, Glenn Davis and Phil Gage

The video presentation can be found on the DSES YouTube Channel here.

Las Animas High School Visit

Doug Leber provided the following report on the recent Las Animas High School Visit to the DSES site:

The Deep Space Exploration Society (DSES) hosted its first high school field trip on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, when seventeen Las Animas High School students and three staff members toured the Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center outside Haswell, CO.  About half the students will participate in this year’s Colorado Science Olympiad competition. Jennifer Pointon, Science Olympiad coach, and Las Animas High School counselor, said she wanted students to see the Plishner facilities and learn how DSES can provide opportunities for research and mentorship in astronomy, radio, electronics, and engineering. Joshua Japhet (Las Animas HS Dean of Students and Science teacher) and Cody Hines (Las Animas HS Instructional Coach) also helped make this visit successful.

Bill Miller, DSES Vice President, gave an overview of the organization’s history and the years of effort required to revive the 60-foot-diameter radio telescope at the Haswell site. He introduced radio astronomy and some of the studies DSES members have conducted since restoring the telescope, including detecting pulsars and masers, observing solar and planetary radio emissions, and mapping the hydrogen line to show which galaxies are moving toward or away from Earth.

DSES Board member Ray Uberecken and DSES member Roger Oakey showed students how we control the dish to track and focus on deep space objects as Earth revolves. Mr. Japhet said students enjoyed watching how the huge dish moved.  Mr. Uberecken also showed different ways radio frequency signals are represented, using an oscilloscope to show a signal’s waveform in real-time (the frequency and shape of an electrical signal) and the same signal in a waterfall display, which shows its intensity and relationship to other signals nearby on the radio spectrum.

Students then braved the intense winds and cold to venture to the bunker location of the DSES amateur radio station, where Board member Paul Sobon demonstrated how long-distance contacts are made using high-frequency (HF) transceivers. Under his supervision, several students learned to call ‘CQ,’ the amateur radio shorthand for “I’m here and ready to take your call!” Unfortunately, because band conditions were poor, no student got a response. Later, Paul Sobon reached a radio amateur in the Canary Islands, and students observed two-way HF radio communication between stations over 5,000 miles apart.

Since 2009, society members have devoted hundreds of hours to rebuilding the Plishner site. In 2023, a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) provided funds to complete a new building suitable for hosting groups.

DSES President Myron Babcock noted that this field trip visit to the Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center reflected the dreams of Michael Lowe, former Board DSES Board President, who sought to create a center for radio astronomy and space science education in Southeast Colorado. Over the next year, DSES hopes to host more school trips to the Plishner Center and work with area middle- and high-school students to advance their studies in science and radio.

 If you are a parent, teacher, or school representative interested in learning more about DSES and how the society can support your students, please contact Doug Leber, the DSES education outreach coordinator.

Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair Judging Report

by: Bill Miller  Feb 24, 2024

On Saturday, February 24th the DSES team consisting of Floyd Glick, Dan Layne, Roger Oakey, and Bill Miller participate as special awards judges for the Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

We judged the senior and junior projects by splitting into two 2 man teams.  For relevance and time savings with so many projects to cover, we tried to judge only those projects that had some relevant aspect to what we do in the society involving, space science, radio, computers, engineering, energy, and other related areas.  

We planned to give a 1st and 2nd place award in both senior and junior divisions for a cash award in an amount decided by the DSES BOD and a certificate from the DSES.  However, in the senior group, we found one additional and unconventional research project for this age group and believe that it also deserves a special award, so we have added one additional award in a tie for senior division second place.

Here are the projects and award levels:

Senior 1st Place Special DSES Award:    SD 2 – Waste to Watts: Converting Locally Sourced Organic Waste into Activated Carbon Based Supercapacitors.  Shrey Rohilla,   Grade 11  The Classical Academy High School

Senior 2nd Place Special DSES Award:   SC 5 – Strength of EMF Waves Radiating from High Powered Electrical Lines.  Jessa Book  Grade 10,  Miami Yoder High School

Senior 2nd Place Special DSES Award:   SC 1 – Can Quasars create “dark” Stars using the Dark Matter they Absorb?   Rhianna Williams  Grade 12  Palmer High School 

Junior 1st Place Special DSES Award:   JD 2 – Shopcart 2050.  Advait Jadhav  Grade 7   Chinook Trail Middle School

Junior 2nd Place DSES Special Award:   JD 6 – Object Detection with Raspberry Pi to Help Blind Mobility  Angelina Won  Grade 7  Challenger Middle School