2-Disk Set on the Itty Bitty Telescope (IBT)

By Jon Wallace and Kerry Smith WB3CAL

A DVD and CD set full of information about using and even making your own IBT is now available. Members can purchase the 2-disk set for the following price:
Members $15 postpaid in US; $20 postpaid elsewhere; non-members: add $5.

Read the following information from Jon Wallace about the tools you will find on this set.

After the SARA conference, Kerry Smith and I set out to make a manual of operation for the Itty-Bitty radio Telescope (IBT) and Enhanced Channel Master Meter (ECMM) that Kerry had designed for use with the Navigators. We have completed the project and it has been approved for distribution.

We ended up producing a two-disk set: One is a DVD with video clips created by Kerry to show you how to operate the ECMM and IBT. This is not a "professional" movie but it is intended to help you set-up and effectively use your ECMM and IBT - this it does very nicely! The other is a CD with a Manual for the ECMM and IBT (basically the video in hard copy with lots of pictures), advice on creating PowerPoint presentations, many PowerPoint presentations, advice on presenting radio astronomy to a group (including demonstrations and other materials), as well a few other goodies.

I set the disk up with a hyperlinked document called "Read This Document First." This document was created to link you with other documents on the CD and to offer brief abstracts of the various documents on the CD. To use this menu, simply click on the title/link and it will open the document you seek (you may have to press Ctrl-Click to access the link). The links are made assuming you are using the D-drive for CDs, if you are using a different drive you will need to change the hyperlinks. It would be easiest to do this by copying the files to a folder on your hard drive, opening this document again and right clicking on each hyperlink and Edit Hyperlink, browse until you find the file. (If you need help, contact me at fjwallace at net dot net).

The CD includes the following items:

ECMM/IBT Manual with Video Clips

• The Quick Start Guide
• Initial Set-Up of Your IBT
• Activities and Ideas for Your IBT
• Schematic and Parts Layout
• Parts Listing
• Contact Information
• Links

Presenting Radio Astronomy

This document provides many hints for presenting to groups and includes additional activities that could complement your ECMM/IBT demonstration. It includes the following:

• How I (Jon) give a radio astronomy presentation
• Hints - dos and don'ts of presenting
• Article on "Safely Observing the Sun" written by me for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and observation sheet
• Amplifier/speaker applications and notes I developed to allow you to use the ECMM's amplified speaker for other applications/demonstrations
• Simple demonstration devices you can build - includes a great solar system to scale activity and some demonstrations you can use with your PowerPoint presentations

NRAO Navigators Presentation (by Tom Crowley)

• This PowerPoint details some of the goals, member qualities and equipment available to Navigators.

Making PowerPoint Presentations

This document details:

• The most common features of PowerPoint
• How to use the presentations I created to make your own, personalized presentation
• A few hints for better presentation creation.

PowerPoint Presentations

These are grouped to allow you to "pick and choose" your own sections to make a presentation tailored to your group's interest (or your own). Several of these presentations have sound clips, so be sure the links work. If you need help, contact me.
These PowerPoints include (please be sure to use the title PowerPoint so you can give some credit to NRAO and SARA!):

• Radio Astronomy Title
• AAVSO Radio, Whistler Radio and Voyager
• Amateur Projects
• History
• Imaging Radio vs. Optical
• Interference and Radio Astronomy
• Telescopes
• What is Radio and Electromagnetic Radiation
• Why Radio and Observable Radiation
• Jon's Version of a Short Radio Astronomy Talk

Radio SkyPipe

Kerry included a copy of the installation program for SkyPipe. This program allows you to link your IBT and ECMM with the cable provided to your computer to record charts.

These charts can then be smoothed (to remove some of the spikes you might get from AC power, etc.) and then downloaded to Microsoft Excel (using the Export to Delimited File choice under Tools) where you can create charts and analyze your data. (If you need help with this, contact Kerry or Jon.)