: Hi, : I am totally new to this subject...I just want to spend some time nights, weekends talking to the stars...terrestial and extra terrestial radio signals...Is the basic equipment too expensive...If not what should I get, where to get it, and how to get started?? : Thanks. : Sanjay

Hi Sanjay The trick with radio astronomy is to measure the phase delay between two or more signal from a steller object. Stars and gas cloud emit two kinds of signals in general. One is black body and the other is emission from energy state changes in atoms. There is also the cyclic emission from pulsars. Hydrogen is a good atom to look for. It has a stong emission in the radio spectrum ( I don't remember the frequency but it is in the low HF someplace ). One builds multiple antennas or a single directional antenna. With the multiple antannas, you need at least two recievers that you can select from the various antannas and a variable delay line. You feed the signals together in such a way that they subtract. When you have the delay that nulls the signals, you can calculate the angle of the incoming signal with simple trig. Dwight