This is great. There must be unused dishes all over that could be useful to amateurs and radio buffs.
https://www.amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2019-August/074520.html
From the link: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A group of GNU Radio community members has permission to evaluate a dish installation in Huntsville, AL near the Space Center. If you've ever been to the Space Center (where the Saturn V is suspended from the ceiling) then this dish is right outside the main entrance. Anyone attending Symposium last year should recognize it!
Here's a set of photos:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1d_Oi3hrIi49JxmaoNuUA-pvUXOs7vSz1
We're looking for technical information, identification of what you recognize in the photos, recommended next steps, and what to watch out for, prioritize, or avoid. We already know we want to take the paint off all the ID plates and see what's under there.
We want to see if we can get this working for *amateur radio operators to access over the internet*, ideally with a GNU Radio flowgraph to control it from an SDR. Our priority is to make this work for amateur satellite.
This type of setup is similar to what GNU Radio Foundation is working on with the Allen Telescope Array. We have the go-ahead from the Space Center curator to do this study and make recommendations.
I have fully restored several basket-case British sports cars and then successfully raced them. My other team members have restored things even more challenging. We are not dumb, naive, or easily deterred. We know this may turn out to be something that requires way more work than we can do in any time frame we can manage. Documenting that is still of great value, and that is why we are asking for your help. Right now, no one knows much of anything about it. This sort of installation, if available for amateur radio, is well worth the effort.
Some of the people involved have been driving past this installation for 20 years and want to see it back in service at whatever level we can achieve. It will be discussed at GNU Radio Conference, and everyone at the conference will have the opportunity to see it up close and in person, since it's literally across the parking lot from the venue.
Want to attend or find out more about GRCon? https://www.gnuradio.org/grcon/grcon19/
If you know of someone off-list that might know details that will help, then please pass this along!
-Michelle W5NYV + Corps of Operation Flashlight