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Originally appeared in Spectrum Monitor

May, 2016

Radio Astronomy by Stan Nelson

Revisiting Radio Jove with a Low Cost Computer

Jupiter has been known for many years to generate radio emissions generally in the 20 MHz

range. They are caused by the interaction of Jupiter and its moons. They were discovered in the

1950s and are known to produce a variety of spectrum patterns called L (long) and S (short)

waves. To successfully detect Jupiter requires a good antenna gain and a sensitive receiver

without any AGC (automatic gain antenna.) The Radio Jove project has been around for several

years and is an excellent way to explore the radio astronomy hobby on a budget. Since the Radio

Jove receiver is a project designed for use in schools, the kit is relatively easy to assemble with

good soldering skills. The kit and other resources are available at the Radio Jove site:

http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/. A good source of details on the Radio Jove receiver and other

projects is covered in a book by Steven Arnold titled ‘Getting Started in Radio Astronomy’,

published by Springer.

I have written about the Radio Jove receiver in past columns and have monitored the 20.1 MHz

frequency using the Radio Jove kit. I had detected several solar storms with it but I never

knowingly recorded any Jovian storms using the twin-dipole kit. The antenna took up backyard

space and I had discarded it after a year or so. Since then, I have installed a LWA designed

antenna which operates between 20 to 80 MHz with 35 dB gain preamps. I decided to hook up

the Radio Jove radio recently and try recording the Jupiter’s signals using Skypipe II. The setup

is straightforward.

The PC

Since I monitor a number of frequencies with numerous PCs the electric bill tends to climb. I

started looking for low cost PCs that would allow me to overcome using the old power hungry

desktops. I recently saw an advertisement for the Azulle Quantum Access Mini PC Stick with

Windows 8.1, Intel Atom Z3735F, and 2GB RAM+32GB storage. I ordered one since it offered

a fairly small footprint and power requirements. The power supply is rated at 5 volts and 2 amps.

Hooking up the Mini PC was easy but I found it somewhat inconvenient to plug it into a HDMI

TV port. That may be a problem for some monitors. I used a DVI to HDMI adaptor and later

added a short HDMI extension cable to allow the mini-PC to be moved around.. There is only

one USB port so I used a powered USB hub to connect a keyboard and a mouse. The audio is set

up to feed through the HDMI port to the TV. There is no microphone or line input to input to the

software. I used an audio-microphone USB sound card by Syber SD-AUD20101 to feed the

audio from the Radio Jove.

Summary of content (9 pages)

PAGE 1
Originally appeared in Spectrum Monitor May, 2016 Radio Astronomy by Stan Nelson Revisiting Radio Jove with a Low Cost Computer Jupiter has been known for many years to generate radio emissions generally in the 20 MHz range. They are caused by the interaction of Jupiter and its moons. They were discovered in the 1950s and are known to produce a variety of spectrum patterns called L (long) and S (short) waves.
PAGE 2
Above, the Quantum Access mini-PC looks like an overgrown USB stick. The video output is a HDMI video/audio connector that plugs directly into a TV/monitor HDMI port. In this picture I added a right-angle adaptor and then into a DVI/HDMI adaptor so it pointed up. The antenna is for the wireless LAN. You can see two ports on the side. One is for a micro-SD card. I stuck in a 32 GB card for storing the charts. The other is a micro-USB port. The mini-PC comes with Windows 8.1.
PAGE 3
The LWA antenna is a dual dipole with dual preamp that provides 35 dB of gain. The antenna is designed for 20 to 80 MHz operation. I have been using it for feeding a number of receivers for meteor, WWV, and other activities successfully using a couple of amplified splitters. However, to receive Jupiter with Radio-Jove, a dual half-wave dipole antenna is typically used and can be purchased with the Radio Jove kit.
PAGE 4
The Radio Jove is a fairly low powered box. The box on top is a 25 K (kelvin) noise source when turned on and becomes a band-pass filter to reduce SW broadcast interference. I used a HP signal generator to verify the settings and the weak signal response. I could see a signal as low as a 0.1 microvolt. To avoid power noise, I also use a well-regulated 12 volt DC wall-wart power supply to drive both units.
PAGE 5
Radio Jupiter Pro 3 can be obtained from Radio-Sky Publishers for $20. It allows you to keep track of Jupiter’s travels and predicts the best time to monitor potential storms. You can input your antenna parameters to show the approximate antenna pattern of your antenna. Keep in mind the Radio Jove receiver is designed for 20.1 MHz and will detect solar storms during the day. The lower chart shows the path Jupiter is taking in relation to the moons and the potential hot spots.
PAGE 6
When I first hooked up the setup I started the Radio Jupiter Pro and saw that Jupiter was in the middle of an Io-B potential hot spot. Jupiter was above the horizon.
PAGE 7
chart and saw a rise at the same time Radio Jupiter Pro indicated 92 % probability of a storm. See the Radio Jupiter Pro chart below. Here’s the chart that shows the increasing signal at about 01:11 UT. I haven’t confirmed the activity was indeed a Jupiter storm. Here’s a link to some contributed data for March, 2016: radiojove.org/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar.cgi?month=3&year=2016. There are some observations for the previous day.
PAGE 8
Spectrograph. It also works well with RF-Space’s SDR-14 but they have become somewhat obsolete. After working with the Quantum Access PC I think it is a good option for low powered operation but when you add up all of the options, I believe a new low-end laptop is cheaper. You’ll get a hard drive, monitor, keyboard, etc. And more than one USB port. The newer PCs are certainly getting more energy efficient except the Windows versions are mostly Windows 10.
PAGE 9
If you are new to the hobby or just contemplating giving it a try, you will generally find we love to share what we know or help you find answers. I often mention the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. Drop by their web site at radio-astronomy.org. They are the premier amateur radio astronomy group and they meet at great locations and get tours of facilities led by professionals. Check them out.