From: MarcusJohn@aol.com
Date: Thu Aug 15 2002 - 14:34:31 PDT
Several on this list have proposed that one of the signals that we might hear
from an ET civilization was planetary defence radar. Arecibo is now doing
this for a Near Earth Asteroid for the next 5 days. Arecibo is expecting
amateurs to listing for the signal and report back to them. I have enclosed
some of the news release from the ARRL web site. It struck me that an Argus
station is uniquely situated for this work. I am sure that this news story is
available from any web search engine. The asteroid has only been known for a
few weeks, so it will not show up in old software.
John Marcus
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 15, 2002--Amateur Radio operators have been invited to
listen in as scientists bounce radio signals off an asteroid that's about to
make a "flyby" of Earth. The so-called 2002 NY40 asteroid will come close
enough to Earth that it will be visible to sky watchers using binoculars. But
because asteroids reflect but a tiny fraction of the light that strikes their
surface, a team at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico will attempt
to "ping" the satellite with radio signals as it approaches Earth. telescope
at Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico.
"We will be transmitting about 900 kW with 73 dB of gain towards the
asteroid," Mike Nolan of the Arecibo Radio Observatory told ARRL. "The
transmitted signal will be such that the received signal comes back centered
at 2380.0000000 MHz at the ground station we're aiming for--usually either
Arecibo or the Green Bank Telescope." Nolan said the signal would be either
CW or phase-coded at a bandwidth of up to 20 MHz. "We will be transmitting
most of the time when the asteroid is within 20 degrees of zenith at Arecibo
on August 15-20."
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