by– Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer
It’s now the biggest single-dish radio telescope on Earth. Settled down in the bumpy karst of China’s Guizhou province, about 1200 miles southwest of Beijing, this newest instrument for studying the heavens is very similar in design to the famed Arecibo dish, renown both for its science accomplishments and its performance in two popular films, “Contact” and “Goldeneye.”
But FAST, the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, is Arecibo on steroids. The latter has a dish diameter of 300 meters, so FAST is, in principle, almost three times more sensitive. Put another way, it can reach 70 percent farther into space with the same sensitivity, which could increase the number of “targets” within its purview by roughly 4.6 times.
These are merely brute-force consequences of FAST’s size, however. This new telescope, which is younger than its Puerto Rican cousin by more than a half-century, is also able to see more of the sky – up to 40 degrees from its “straight overhead”, or zenith, pointing. While Arecibo can track objects for as much as 40 minutes, FAST can do this for as long as 6 hours. That would gain it another factor of three advantage in sensitivity…..READ MORE
Review
TOP 10 ACCESSORIES FOR IC-705
This week Jonathan goes through his top 10 must-have accessories for the IC-705! Read more
Traditional Amateur Radio Contesting Faces a Demographic Cliff
Frank Howell, K4FMH, followed up his two-part National Contest Journal (NCJ) series, “The Demographics of Contesting,” with a post to his Social Circu... Read more
Yaesu FTDX-10 Menu and Feature Overview with W9FFF Ham Radio Dude
New from Yaesu, the FTDX-10 HF Transceiver – today I’ve invited Sean, W9FFF, from the Ham Radio Dude channel to go though all of the menu... Read more
Renewing Your Amateur Radio License thru FCC Universal Licensing System
Renewing Your Amateur Radio License thru FCC Universal Licensing System Read more
News
WX4BCA – Sylvan Grove Hospital gets new ham station
Sylvan Grove Hospital Butts County ham radio operators Ken Wallis, left, and Darlene Ragon set up the amateur radio purchased with grant money and ins... Read more
SAQ in Sweden Receives More than 300 Reports on Alexanderson Day, July 1
SAQ, the old Alexanderson alternator transmitter at the World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden, received 321 listener reports in response to... Read more
The November Edition of Digital QST is Now Available
The November Edition of Digital QST – our Product Review issue — is now available! Read reviews of the Yaesu FT-991 HF/VHF/UHF transceiver; Ico... Read more
N1KDO Wins May QST Cover Plaque Award
The winner of the May 2016 QST Cover Plaque award is “A Field Portable Multi-Band Rotatable Dipole Antenna” by Jeff Otterson, N1KDO. The QST Cover Pla... Read more
App - Mobile
RS-MS1A – Remote Control Android App
Ray Novak and George Thomas show you how to control the ID-51A with the RS-MS1A Android app. Read more
Wizkers:Radio APP
Wizkers:Radio is a controller for various Amateur Radio equipments. At the moment, it supports several Elecraft radios and amplifiers, as well as the... Read more
iSDR for Iphone and Ipad
iSDR is a software defined radio application compatible with the iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad™. iSDR is designed for experimenters, shortwave... Read more
Ham GeoTool APP
A tool all-in-one for the radio amateur in Portugal and Spain created for personal use but at the last JOTA / JOTI, was released at the request of som... Read more
Antenna
80M Antenna with HOA Constraints
Welcome to the 400th Ask Dave video! Ken, VE7ZY, is having trouble with an 80m dipole mounted very closely to the roof flashing. He is seeking other a... Read more
Can I Put One End of a Dipole Next to my VHF Antenna?
Nick, KC3PWJ, has a flagpole and also a pole that holds up his VHF/UHF discone. He’d like to string a 20m dipole between the two poles, but is w... Read more
Wideband Antennas for SDR Radios
Flip, W4FLP, asked about options for wideband antennas for the popular RSP-DX software defined radio from SDRPlay. We cover three that should work fin... Read more
Bushcomm Horizon Multi-Band Loop Antennas LOOP-20
Antenna, Loop, Magnetic, 20-10M, 125 W PEP, Each Magnetic- loop antennas have existed almost since radio began. The recent resurgence of interest in t... Read more
Chameleon EmComm II Amateur Ham Radio Antenna Review
A slightly different form of hybrid is the Chameleon Emcomm II.The Emcomm II is a portable antenna, which can also be very good to use as a base stati... Read more
Dual Band Moxon Antenna 10m/6m
Dual band Moxon antenna (2 + 3 elements) for 10m and 6m, ideal for Sporadic-E or DX. Dualband Moxon Antenna for 10 and 6m Not only for Sporadic-E QSOs... Read more
CompacTenna VHF/UHF Stealth But EFFECTIVE antenna, Review and On-Air Test
Check out this CompacTenna dual band ham antenna, only 7.5″ tall and can be used for mobile OR base applications. I also have the CompacTenna Sc... Read more
CHA TDL (TACTICAL DELTA LOOP)
The Tactical Delta Loop antenna (CHA TDL), is a portable High Frequency (HF) antenna specially designed for transportability, quick setup, a... Read more
Inflating The Dual Band 2m/70cm version of the Air Antennas, opening up repeaters 23 miles away
Inflating The Dual Band 2m/70cm version of the Air Antennas, opening up repeaters 23 miles away Read more
Little Tarheel II | Mobile HF 80-6 Meter Ham Radio Antenna
The Little Tarheel (TH-1L), when properly installed on your vehicle, will provide continuous coverage from 7.0 to 54 MHz with the supplied whip. The L... Read more