Posted on July 1, 2012 By Web Master



Lewis Longmont Laboratory, Longmont, Colorado
Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center, Haswell, Colorado

DSES members hard and dedicated work in this first half of 2012 may have the dish at the Paul Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center operational by September! Much work is still in progress, however, so this is just a target. Electrical power at the site is still an issue, so continuous, lengthy observations will not be possible. However, under generator and solar power, we hope to begin beam characterization studies in late fall to early winter. In the meanwhile, there is still much work to be done, so jump in and get your hands dirty!

Figure 1: Plishner dish, Haswell, under spacious skies, on fruited plains, rising to purple mountain majesties. Photo courtesy of Paul Berge, 2011.


Plishner activity in March included Paul Berge and Adam Glazer seting up a HI radio and computer receiving system in the Operations Trailer. Paul installed the HI receiver and down converter at the feed. After getting everything ready to record data, they detected no signals. After deciding the pre-amp was compromised, attempts were made to acquire another. Don Lewis later picked up a FEDEX package in Haswell from John Ewan with a new preamp. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem. Upon testing the receiving system back at the Lewis Lab, they discovered that the receiver problem was caused by low voltage to the down converter. All was not lost as much work went in to cleaning, repairing, manufacturing, and administering at Plishner.

In May, Adam reported high winds of up to 60 MPH, as recorded on our Plishner anemometer. Along with the wind came a proportionate amount of dust that needed removing. Adam installed the Plishner sign at the entrance to the Plishner site. Paul and Adam removed the 3″ coax that was in danger of falling from the dish. Paul tipped the dish and installed a new DC power cable to the pre-amp.

Paul Berge and Don Lewis reconfigured Rodney Howe’s dish antenna to allow elevation changes to more closely track the sun for a daily 10.7cm readings. There is evidence to suggest the fluctuations in 10.7cm power levels associate to corresponding fluctuations in sunspot numbers.

The 2nd Sunspot NumberWorkshop attended by Rodney Howe and Jamie Riggs was sponsored by the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB), the National Solar Observatory (NSO), and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). While the first workshop in September, 2011, at Sunspot, New Mexico offered a panorama of all issues in the sunspot number series, the Brussels workshop focused on the progress and additional evidence addressing the key problems in understanding solar activity indices. Invited were additional European experts in the field of long-term tracers of solar activity. The goal was to make an archive of data, and progress in defining solar indices to define and update the action list in view of the next workshop, which will be in January 2013, Tucson Arizona.



(a) AAVSO sunspot data collection and archiving.(b) Les Tourelles, lodging for conference attendees.
Figure 2: Photos courtesy of Rodney Howe, 2012.




Many talks were on how past and present observatories count sunspots and sunspot groups. Much of the archived data are of drawings and logs kept in university and observatory libraries. These need to be digitized and made available as has been done by the Royal Greenwich Observatory. There were questions about AAVSO’s current method for calculating the American Relative number. To some extent statistical processing for sunspot numbers is new. The AAVSO Ra has only been adjusted once during the mid-1990s mainly to correct for what was believed to be inflation in the yearly estimates of Observer’s K factors, which adjust sunspot counts for individual observer variance. Looking back with a 15 year perspective, we can see that corrections for the AAVSO Ra number have been shown to match the Solar Influences Data Center (SIDC) international index.

DSES members attended conferences, gave presentations on DSES activities, and published papers. Rodney Howe presented on AAVSO sunspot data collection and archiving to the 2nd Sunspot Number Workshop, SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels. Jamie Riggs gave a

(a) The solar dome at the Royal Observatory of Belgium.(b) A generalized linear mixed model for enumerated sunspots.
Figure 3: Photos courtesy of Rodney Howe, 2012.


presentation on the statistics of sunspot enumeration, A Generalized Linear Mixed Model for Enumerated Sunspots, first to the University of Northern Colorado Research Day in Greeley, Colorado (April 12, 2012), and then at the 2nd Sunspot Number Workshop, SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium, on May 22, 2012, Brussels.

DSES Organizational Opportunities

The DSES is an organization of amateur radio operators, astronomers, scientists, radio hobbyists and plain old “big equipment” nuts. Whether you like to help with organization and management, work on a keyboard, try to pull in the weak signals, want to try your hand at digital signal processing or just wonder “what is out there” and you want to see for yourself, the DSES has a place for you.

We still need your help.

The DSES wants to renew its relationship with its members and bring in some new ones as well. In addition to dish improvement projects, we are always looking for projects that use the capabilities of the dish such as radio astronomy, Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), satellite ground station uses, etc. Do you have something you think we should be adding to our abilities? Come and re-join us! Membership for a full voting member is $50/year and for an associate, non-voting member is $20/year.

Thanks to all who have joined or renewed!

Thank you for your interest in the Deep Space Exploration Society! For further information you can send email to the board members at inquire@dses.org or see our website at www.dses.org. Our newsletter and activity reports are available on this website.

Posted on January 1, 2012 By Web Master

Lewis Longmont Laboratory, Longmont, Colorado
Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center, Haswell, Colorado

In the second half of 2011, members made great strides restoring the DSES 18m dish in Haswell, CO, where we have the Paul Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center. On October 23, we had first light in the form of a drift scan at 21 cm. This was possible when the elevation drive system was activated so the feed could be installed. Though this is exciting, we sadly said farewell to the Table Mountain Field Site where DSES held court for over twenty years. We hope one day to return. In the meanwhile, we are fully engaged in getting the Plishner center into full, on-site tracking.



Figure 1: Adieu for now, old friend. Photo courtesy of Jim Widlar, 2011.




On Saturday and Sunday, the sixth and seventh of August, many DSES members removed DSES property from the Table Mountain Field Site, building T22. The bulk of the inventory was loaded onto a forty-foot trailer for storage in Boulder. Several items were loaded onto smaller trailers for hauling to Haswell. These items were needed to get the Plishner site operational. Those helping were Paul Berge, John and Ines Ewan, Adam Glazer, Pete Goldman, Don Lewis, Jamie and Jordan Riggs, Leonard Sitongia, Patricia Sheridan. Jim Widler, and Joseph Zonfrelli.



(a) Photo courtesy of Leonard Sitonga, 2011.(b) Photo courtesy of Jim Widlar, 2011.
Figure 2: Staging for loading the trailer (a). Adam Glazier, Paul Berge, and Jordan Riggs taking a photo op (b).




Don Lewis offered his office/workshop for DSES use, and we have coined it “Lewis Lab”. It is located in northwest Longmont. To use Lewis Lab, you will need to contact Don to schedule a date and time. DSES small group meetings may be arranged as well. The days and times are reasonably flexible. There are two workbenches and enough equipment to enable project development. A drill press and bench also are available. Thanks, Don for your generosity!

(a) Photo courtesy of Don Lewis, 2011.(b) Photo courtesy of Don Lewis, 2011.
Figure 3: Some of the work space and equipment available for DSES member use.




DSES member trips to the Plishner site have resulted in facility clean-up and repairs of the dish. Michael Lowe has been working with the local Haswell electric cooperative to get power installed at the site. Paul Berge, Don Lewis, and Michael Lowe have spent several weekends at Plishner, and with the efforts of local residents, have made a rewarding collaboration between DSES and Kiowa County.

The August Plishner excursion was conducted on the 16th through the 21st. Those making the trip were members Paul Berge, Don Lewis, Adam and Joyce Glazer, Michael Lowe, and Horace Martin. The work was varied, and much progress was made on both dish restoration and infrastructure refurbishment.

A heavy duty trailer was loaded with three 250 gallon, food-grade tanks and one in Adam Glaziers truck for the September trip. Don had arranged to pick up a 250 watt solar panel in Niwot. Michael Lowe had arranged for the Lab Trailer to be located at his house and it was moved from there to the Plishner site. The living trailer tank was filled with water from the tank in Adam’s truck. The process of moving the new water tanks to the bunker required draining the tank in Adams truck, moving it down and then filling it with the tanks on the trailer one by one. The scaffolding was unloaded, benches and other items were unloaded from the trailer.

Paul Berge determined a solution to the motor mounting problem for getting the elevation motor installed in the Plishner dish tower. Paul continued work on the elevation motor mount and additional clean up of the tower, which resulted in operation of the both the elevation and azimuth motors.



(a) Photo courtesy of Paul Berge, 2011.(b) Photo courtesy of Paul Berge, 2011.
Figure 4: First axes movement at Plishner.




The goal of the second October trip for Michael Lowe and Robert Slate was to Audit the equipment at the rail yard in Eads and to talk to various officials and people in Eads regarding our activity. The post-audit trip made by Adam Glazier, Rod Johnson, Don Lewis, Michael Lowe to the Eads railroad yard Oct 31 – Nov 4 2011 was to discharge the equipment and material inventory. The V&S RR allowed us to salvage materials from their yard. There was a large amount of structural aluminum and still more of railroad steel. Almost 4 T of aluminum and 8 T of steel were delivered to the scrap yard, while usable materials were delivered to Plishner.

One of the best results of this trip was meeting several good folks in Eads who now know of the Plishner site, who have some really good ideas about developing our site, working with the local population, and connecting with the local and at-large science and education population. On the way to achieving full tracking capabilities by summer, 2012, Peter Goldman has been steadily planning and designing interface hardware and software to connect the motor drives and absolute encoders to the University of Colorado Aerospace Engineering COSMOS team computer controller. Peter’s interface will accommodate other controller options as well, thus allowing for future developments and enhancements.

In March of 2011, an informal goal was set to try to achieve at least a fleeting first light (the dish is not yet commissioned) at Plishner in October of 2011. First light is the term astronomers use to describe the first data produced by a newly commissioned telescope. A small group of members managed to use the Haswell dish to collect data from a Hydrogen line receiver (1420.406 MHz) for the first time on Sunday Oct. 23 at about 6:30 PM (see Figures 5(a) and 5(b)). This is a remarkable milestone for DSES and the Plishner project. We have met our goal! Huge thanks to all the participants and all the members who have supported the effort in many ways.



(a) Photo courtesy of Paul Berge, 2011.(b) Photo courtesy of Paul Berge, 2011.
Figure 5: First light at Plishner on 21 cm!




DSES members Rodney Howe and Dave Mynatt are recording data on the Solar Flux with a 2.8 GHz (10.7 cm) receiver on a 90 cm satellite dish (see Figure 6(a)). This radio uses two soup cans as a wave guide. At the same time as the sun peaks in the 90 cm offset dish, readings are taken with a H. LUNT telescope shown in Figure 6(b). This optical scope is used to count the sunspot groups and sunspot numbers. The idea is to correlate the radio solar flux unit with the sunspot numbers (Figure 7(b)). As the 10.7 cm line peaks in this drift scan we get a temperature reading of 131, which has a linear relation to the Solar Flux Unit. This is compared with daily readings for the sunspot group and number counts, as seen in this Sun Entry program in Figure 7(a) and 7(b). All these data are used by solar scientists in predicting the sun’s solar cycle and space weather.

Rodney Howe and Jamie Riggs are collaborating on a redesign of traditional sunspot counting data collection and analysis methods used by the American Association of Variable Star Observers. See the research page of the DSES website: http://dses.org/research.shtml for additional information. DSES members attended conferences, gave presentations on DSES activities, and published papers. Jamie Riggs gave a talk on DSES activities to the Denver Astronomical Society on July 15, 2011, on the campus of the University of Denver. Jamie and Don Lewis gave a similar talk to



(a) Photo courtesy of Rodney Howe, 2011.(b) Photo courtesy of Rodney Howe, 2011.
Figure 6: Solar flux at 2.8 GHz (a) and optical Hα (b).




the Kiowa County Economic Development Foundation on July 19, 2011, in Eads, Colorado. Jamie gave a presentation on the statistics of sunspot enumeration first to the University of Northern Colorado Applied Statistics and Research Methods Department in Greeley, Colorado (September 7, 2011), and then to the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) 100th Annual Meeting on October 8, 2011, Woburn, Massachusetts.



(a) Solar flux at 2.8 GHz.(b) Optical Hα
Figure 7: Monitoring radio and optical solar emissions.
(Click images for larger view.)



DSES Organizational Opportunities

The DSES is an organization of amateur radio operators, astronomers, scientists, radio hobbyists and plain old “big equipment” nuts. Whether you like to help with organization and management, work on a keyboard, try to pull in the weak signals, want to try your hand at digital signal processing or just wonder “what is out there” and you want to see for yourself, the DSES has a place for you.

We still need your help.

The DSES wants to renew its relationship with its members and bring in some new ones as well. In addition to dish improvement projects, we are always looking for projects that use the capabilities of the dish such as radio astronomy, Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), satellite ground station uses, etc. Do you have something you think we should be adding to our abilities? Come and re-join us! Membership for a full voting member is $50/year and for an associate, non-voting member is $20/year.

Thanks to all who have joined or renewed!

Thank you for your interest in the Deep Space Exploration Society!

For further information you can send email to the board members at inquire@dses.org or see our website athttp://dses.org. Our newsletter and activity reports are available on this website.

Table Mountain Field Site, Longmont, Colorado
Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center, Haswell, Colorado

The verdict is in and DSES will be vacating Table Mountain in Boulder County near Longmont, Colorado. DSES submitted a proposal for use of Table Mountain, but due to the National Telecommunications Institute and Administration, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) decision to instigate a two-year site assessment, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement was declined. On the bright side, refurbishment of the facilities at the Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center in Kiowa County near Haswell, Colorado, is in full swing.

Photograph by Don Lewis, 2011.


DSES member trips to the Plishner site have resulted in facility clean-up and repairs of the dish. Michael Lowe has been working with the local Haswell electric cooperative to get power installed at the site. Paul Berge, Don Lewis, and Michael Lowe have spent several weekends at Plishner, and with the efforts of local residents, have made a rewarding collaboration between DSES and Kiowa County.

The following is but a sample of the activities at Plishner. Steel door and a rectangular steel panel were welded in place on the dish tower. The tower was secured with a stout lock and keys are in the possession of Mike Lowe and Paul Berge. The door and panel were painted grey. A folding ladder was left in the tower to allow access to the upper decks. Other material was stored in the tower for future use such as wire, etc. Debris was removed from the ramp on the east of the underground structure to allow opening the door. Dimensions of the door were taken to facilitate replacement. A walk through survey was done of the underground structure to note problems and condition. Pictures were taken. OSB board was cut and used to cover some openings in the roof structure.

The winds repeatedly bring enough tumbleweeds to completely obscure the entry door to the station. They can be cleared simply by throwing them upward at which point the wind takes them to the south fence in less than 20 seconds! Clean up of the station (underground) is about all that can be done during high winds, so its looking right tidy. There now is a very nice lab table with casters and slide out shelves that Don Lewis obtained. Paul Berge got lighting circuits activated for use with the generator.

Michael Lowe and his wife routinely provide building materials, generators, tools, and, well, the list is very long. Plywood from the building material was used to cover the 4-foot opening at the southwest corner main skylight, ventilator, and fire exit door. Local residents removed most of the scrap metal, cleaned off the entry ramp into the station, and mowed the flora. The dish tower was cleaned out, a generator was installed, and a ladder was provided to access the upper reaches. Even as this newsletter is being written, motors and controllers are finding their way into the tower. Great work everyone!

Rodney Howe (DSES) and John DuBois, Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA), are building a horn antenna and radio to monitor the Solar Flux Index (SFI). The Solar Flux Index is used to assist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) modelers in predicting solar cycles. See Building a 10.7cm horn for monitortng the Solar Flux Index by R. Howe and J. DuBois for further details.

Joint DSES/Front Range Community College (FRCC), Boulder campus public “astronomy night” continued successfully, even with cloudy nights. The astronomy night gatherings featured both radio and optical observing. DSES members assisted with the Small Radio Telescope (SRT), giving short presentations on what radio astronomy is, and demonstrating the operation of the SRT. As the FRCC facilities are undergoing renovation during the summer months, public astronomy night will resume in October of 2011.

Adler Planetarium (http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/) astronomers and Jamie Riggs worked on understanding what column densities in star-forming regions lead to either intermediate mass stars or high mass stars.

DSES members attended conferences, gave presentations on DSES activities, and published papers. Wayne Green attended the Society of Astronomical Sciences 30th Annual Symposium on Telescope Science May 25-28, 2011, in Big Bear, California. Jamie Riggs attended the 2011 USNC-URSI National Radio Science Meeting in Boulder, CO. Jamie gave talks to the University of Northern Colorado Applied Statistics and Research Methods Colloquium on February 3, 2011. The presentation was “Comparing the Distributions Resulting from Selected Additive Combinations of the Real and Imaginary Components of the Signal Spectral Density Function.” She also presented Intermediate-and High-Mass Star-Forming Regions: Making Stars at Mass Column Densities < 1g/cm2, at the University of Northern Colorado Research Day. Jamie Riggs attended the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Innovations in Data-Intensive Astronomy, Greenbank, West Virginia.



Solar Flux feed (10.7 cm) for monitoing sunspot cycles. Photograph by Rodney Howe.




DSES Organizational Opportunities

The DSES is an organization of amateur radio operators, astronomers, scientists, radio hobbyists and plain old “big equipment” nuts. Whether you like to help with organization and management, work on a keyboard, try to pull in the weak signals, want to try your hand at digital signal processing or just wonder “what is out there” and you want to see for yourself, the DSES has a place for you.

We still need your help.

The DSES wants to renew its relationship with its members and bring in some new ones as well. In addition to dish improvement projects, we are always looking for projects that use the capabilities of the dish such as radio astronomy, Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), satellite ground station uses, etc.

Do you have something you think we should be adding to our abilities? Come and re-join us! Membership for a full voting member is $50/year and for an associate, non-voting member is $20/year.

Thanks to all who have joined or renewed!

Thank you for your interest in the Deep Space Exploration Society!

For further information you can send email to the board members at inquire@dses.org or see our website at www.dses.org. Our newsletter and activity reports are available on this website.



Semiannual Project and Activity Review
July through December 2010

Table Mountain Field Site, Longmont, Colorado
Haswell Site, Haswell, Colorado

The second half of 2010 was intriguing. The upper dish at T22 achieved tracking capabilities sufficient for both astronomical sources and many earth-obit satellites. The lower dish had manual control restored. Haswell restoration plans took on new life. However, as of the end of December 2010, DSES has not had a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Telecommunications Institute and Administration, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS). However, talks with ITS have been encouraging.

Haswell. Photographed by Paul Berge, 2010.


Joint DSES/FRCC first joint public “astronomy night” on 21 October 2010. As a result of discussions between John Minors, Science Chair of the Front Range Community College (FRCC) Boulder Campus, and Jamie Riggs, the first monthly joint FRCC/DSES Astronomy Night held on the FRCC Boulder Campus in Longmont, CO. DSES members assisting were Paul Berge, Wayne Green, Michael Lowe, John Minors, and Jamie Riggs. Wayne and Michael set up a Radio Jove system, John ran the FRCC optical observatory, and Paul and Jamie operated the FRCC SRT, a 2m dish. The size of the public attendance at the gathering was considered a success. The FRCC administration was quite pleased.

Adler Planetarium ( http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/) astronomers and Jamie Riggs worked on understanding what column densities in star-forming regions lead to either intermediate mass stars or high mass stars.

DSES trips to the Haswell site have resulted in preparations for refurbishing the Haswell dish. Michael Lowe has been working with the local Haswell electric cooperative to get power installed at the site. Much work by Michael and others is still needed to obtain an overall refurbishment plan.



DSES acquired a US Government surplus trailer, built in 1959 as a mobile office. It contains equipment racks, heat, air-conditioning, power conditioning, carpet, sound reduction acoustic ceiling, etc. The tires are in reasonable shape. The undercarriage needs some work. Ownership paperwork needed. DSES currently has John Ewan’s license tag. Rex Craig has a desk, and work benches donated by Michael Lowe, now stored at T22, can be utilized. Paul Berge suggests hooking-up power and get systems working while the trailer is on Wayne Green’s property. The roof may leak. There is no plumbing.


Jamie Riggs began tracking accuracy tests of the upper dish after celestial source track file generation was enabled on the upper dish controller by Sam Krenning. She and Dennis Akos have been using this controller for satellite tracking. Sam’s code for celestial sources works very well, and the tracking accuracy studies are well under way. Jamie began beam characterization studies to determine, initially, beam shape.

DSES members attended conferences, gave presentations on DSES activities, and published papers. John Ewan, Rodney Howe, and Jamie Riggs attended the 2010 USNC-URSI National Radio Science Meeting in Boulder, CO. Jamie gave talks to the University of Northern Colorado Applied Statistics and Research Methods Colloquium on November 3, 2010. The presentation was Intermediate-and High-Mass Star-Forming Regions: Making Stars at Mass Column Densities < 1g /cm2. Jamie Riggs attended the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Twelfth Synthesis Imaging Workshop in Socorro, NM ( http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/synthesis/2010/ ). Her description of her experiences at the workshop may be found at http://dses.org/edu.shtml.
DSES Organizational Opportunities

The DSES is an organization of amateur radio operators, astronomers, scientists, radio hobbyists and plain old “big equipment” nuts. Whether you like to help with organization and management, work on a keyboard, try to pull in the weak signals, want to try your hand at digital signal processing or just wonder “what is out there” and you want to see for yourself, the DSES has a place for you.

We still need your help.

The DSES wants to renew its relationship with its members and bring in some new ones as well. In addition to dish improvement projects, we are always looking for projects that use the capabilities of the dish such as radio astronomy, Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), satellite ground station uses, etc.

Do you have something you think we should be adding to our abilities? Come and re-join us! Membership for a full voting member is $50/year and for an associate, non-voting member is $20/year.

Thanks to all who have joined or renewed!

Thank you for your interest in the Deep Space Exploration Society! For further information you can send email to the board members at inquire@dses.org or see our website at http://dses.org. Our newsletter and activity reports are available on this website.