{"id":11005,"date":"2014-10-12T13:46:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T17:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=11005"},"modified":"2014-10-12T13:46:04","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T17:46:04","slug":"dxpedition-at-a-radio-astronomy-observatory-want-to-join-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/dxpedition-at-a-radio-astronomy-observatory-want-to-join-me\/","title":{"rendered":"DXpedition at a radio astronomy observatory: Want to join me?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PARI-West\"<\/a>Yesterday evening, prior to my presentation at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI)<\/a>, I took the opportunity to do a little portable shortwave listening on the PARI campus.<\/p>\n

\"Shortwave-Radio-Astronomy-PARI\"<\/p>\n

One of the great things about listening to shortwave, mediumwave or longwave at a radio astronomy site is the blissful absence of any<\/em> radio noise. Radio astronomy requires seriously RF-quiet conditions, and\u00a0all the better for SWLing, too. My little Tecsun PL-380 receiver easily detected most everything on the 31 meter band; All India Radio (and the Voice of Korea on the same frequency), for example, was as strong as a local station.<\/p>\n

DX among the radio telescopes: \u00a0Sound fun\u2013?<\/h2>\n

Next year, in October 2015, I might just organize\u00a0a radio listening\u00a0DXpedition at PARI. It would be a wonderful opportunity to DX in an RFI-free environment\u00a0in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina,\u00a0on the 200+ acre campus of an active radio astronomy observatory and former NASA tracking station. (Really, how cool is that?!?)<\/em><\/p>\n

PARI has agreed to\u00a0handle all of the arrangements, and even provide some\u00a0dorm rooms and camping space to the first registrants. There will be a fee for the event (to pay for the facilities and PARI staff time)\u00a0but any profit would benefit PARI’s science\u00a0education mission. The fee would be based on the number of attendees and how many nights we operate\u2013I’d aim for\u00a0two nights, on\u00a0a Friday and Saturday (October 9 & 10, 2015).<\/p>\n

If you would be interested in a shortwave listening DXpedition at PARI in Rosman, North Carolina, USA<\/a>, please contact me<\/a> or comment below. \u00a0Click here <\/a>to track\u00a0the distance to PARI.<\/p>\n

Note: the autumn foliage, for which the NC mountain region is\u00a0famed, will be at or near its peak during the time of the DXpedition.<\/p>\n

PS–Bonus:\u00a0A dish in motion<\/em><\/h2>\n

As I\u00a0departed\u00a0the PARI site late Friday, an\u00a0astronomer\u00a0programmed the rotation of\u00a0the East radio telescope,\u00a0an awe-inspiring 26-meter parabolic antenna. \u00a0I snapped\u00a0a couple of shots\u00a0with my iPhone. \u00a0It was truly\u00a0impressive, this massive radio telescope slowly turning\u00a0to some distant star or galaxy\u00a0to acquire new data. \u00a0See\u00a0for yourself (for a sense of scale, see the fence at the base):<\/em><\/p>\n

\"PARI-East-26M-Antenna\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PARI-East-26M-Antenna-3\"<\/a>\"PARI-East-26M-Antenna-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday evening, prior to my presentation at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), I took the opportunity to do a little portable shortwave listening on the PARI campus. One of the great things about listening to shortwave, mediumwave or longwave at a radio astronomy site is the blissful absence of any radio noise. Radio astronomy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,399,2436,433,43,1409,854],"tags":[2224,2280,2281],"class_list":["post-11005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-dxpeditions","category-longwave","category-mediumwave","category-shortwave-radio","category-specials","category-updates","tag-dxpedition","tag-pari","tag-pisgah-astronomical-research-institute"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2Rv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15717,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/video-shortwave-listening-and-radio-astronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":11005,"position":0},"title":"Video: Shortwave listening and radio astronomy","author":"Thomas","date":"November 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On Thursday I attended an event at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI)--location of the 2015 SWLing Post DXPedition. During a break, I had a couple of free hours, so I reached in my messenger bag and pulled out the Sony ICF-SW100: a radio that has quickly surpassed all others\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EDC"","block_context":{"text":"EDC","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/edc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sony-ICF-SW100","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sony-ICF-SW100-576x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sony-ICF-SW100-576x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sony-ICF-SW100-576x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31361,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/interval-signals-radio-astronomy-bliss\/","url_meta":{"origin":11005,"position":1},"title":"Interval Signals + Radio Astronomy = Bliss","author":"Thomas","date":"March 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I spent part of the better part of the day at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI): a place that has begun to feel like a home away from home. As you might imagine, radio astronomy observatories are places with very low levels of radio frequency interference. Since I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediumwave"","block_context":{"text":"Mediumwave","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/mediumwave\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10925,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/october-10-lets-talk-shortwave-and-astronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":11005,"position":2},"title":"October 10: Let’s talk shortwave…and astronomy","author":"Thomas","date":"September 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been invited to speak at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI),\u00a0a non-profit educational radio astronomy observatory (and former NASA tracking station as well as one-time\u00a0NSA installation), in the mountains of western North Carolina. I'll be speaking about shortwave radio, of course\u2013both its technical and cultural aspects\u2013on October 10, 2014,\u00a0at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PARIdish","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13512,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/swling-post-dxpedition-at-pari-is-all-systems-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":11005,"position":3},"title":"SWLing Post DXpedition at PARI is all systems go!","author":"Thomas","date":"June 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of you may recall a post I published last year regarding a shortwave and medium wave DXpedition at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI),\u00a0a 200-acre radio astronomy observatory and former NASA tracking station located deep in the mountains of western North Carolina. Since this is the first event of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DSC_0884","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0884-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0884-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0884-1024x678.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27633,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/solar-eclipse-2017-in-the-path-of-totality\/","url_meta":{"origin":11005,"position":4},"title":"Solar Eclipse 2017: In the path of totality","author":"Thomas","date":"August 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow, we will be experiencing a total solar eclipse here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Instead of enjoying the eclipse at home, I will be volunteering as a docent at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Rosman, North Carolina. Post readers might recall PARI as it was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/PARI-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/PARI-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/PARI-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15085,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/swling-post-dxpedition-at-pari-this-weekend\/","url_meta":{"origin":11005,"position":5},"title":"SWLing Post DXpedition at PARI…this weekend!","author":"Thomas","date":"October 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've registered for, and plan to attend, the PARI DXPedition, please make sure you've joined our Yahoo Group.\u00a0 This is where we're finalizing details and communicating about the DXpedition, noting any changes, updates, etc. \u00a0 If you've tried to contact me recently and haven't gotten a response yet (sorry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PARIdish","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}