Inspire VLF Receiver Kit

Affiliation
None
Sat, 07/13/2013 - 15:54

 

I have wanted to get involved with the SID project and ordered one of the Inspire Kits at http://theinspireproject.org/

I sent money via PayPal on 1 July 2013. I have not received the kit and all mail to them has bounced. It is supposed to be a NASA sponsored project. Has anyone else done business with them>

Thanks.

Jeff

Affiliation
None
Inspire VLF Receiver

 

My Inspire VLF receiver kit finally came, 4 weeks after the order. I assembled it and it seems to work well. I also have the SuperSID receiver. I constructed a square loop antenna, 4' diagonals, with about 400' of wire. I'm still eperimenting and testing.

Jeff 

VLF SID Monitoring

Jeff,

The Inspire receiver looks to be ELF (extreme low frequency).  Good for whislters and aurora storms. 

If you're interested in submitting SID events to the AAVSO solar bulletin you'll need to capture data with the SuperSID radio.  The SuperSID receives signals (from Naval transmitters) up to 40 kHz.  

http://sidstation.loudet.org/stations-list-en.xhtml

You'll have to submit monthly data in the AAVSO format:  http://www.aavso.org/solar-program-reducing-data-and-email-format

I have programs that will format your entries correctly if you decide to be an observer.   

Rodney

Affiliation
None
VLF

 

Hi Rodney,

Thanks for the information. I am currently in the testing and calibrating stage. I have a couple unused laptop computers I may use for fulltime monitoring. It will probably be Fall be for I am ready. I will contact you before I start serious recordings and check out the AAVSO formats. This looks like it could be exciting and much easier than spectroscopy or photometry.

Jeff

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
VLF

Nor subject to cloudy skies!

Jeff, I didn't realize you had the SuperSID receiver as well.

Following Bill Lord's advice I'm building a 1m square antenna (wife is happer I downsized from a 5' version!).  I have the PVC frame ready, just waiting for the 400' 24 AWG wire.  Couldn't find it locally or even on Amazon so actually ordered it from Bill.  They (SARA) get it in super bulk so it was a great price.

Already have a dedicated laptop.

Rodney, once I've validated my data with the SuperSID, in addition to submitting it to Standford I'd be happy to submit it to AAVSO if it would be of value.

Wayne

New design for VLF receiver

Hi Wayne,

Perhaps you're good at building radios?  Here is a new design for a VLF receiver which does not use a sound card, but like the older Gyrator series puts out voltages for an Analog/Digital recorder.

John DuBois designed this circuit. It would be nice to others build and test it.  

Rodney.

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
New design for VLF receiver

Hey Rodney,

Looks Greek to me!  Actually, from my IT background it looks more like a flow chart with lots of decision nodes!

Seriously though, Jeff would be the engineer you're seeking.  Only radio I ever built was one of those Radio Shack ones with the springs on the breadboard you use to connect the wires - that was nearly 40 years ago when I was 10!

This is why I was interested in the Standford / SARA SuperSID project.  Provided you follow their antenna design specs the SuperSID comes pre-tuned.  Or hopefully "close enough".

Take Care,

Wayne