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The Northern Utah WebSDR
and Scientific Research |
Scientific Research and the Northern Utah WebSDR:
The Northern Utah WebSDR is uniquely situated in an RF-quiet
environment such that one of the side-benefits is the collection of raw
data pertaining to the interaction of the Sun and ionosphere - and
other aspects of our geophysical environment. This raw data,
which includes noise data related to such interactions and the
measurements of signal levels contribute to a large data set that does
- and will, in the future - contribute to our understanding of the
still-mysterious effects that the Sun and our space environment have on
our planet. These interactions not only include effects on our
natural environment, but they can have impact on things like our power
grid, telecommunications, and satellite-based navigation.
While we know of some of the uses to which this data is currently being
put, today's contributions - and tomorrow's - add to an ever-growing
pool of never-before available raw data that may provide insights into
the nature of these effects and interactions that we have yet to
consider.
What is being recorded today:
Use of existing WSPR and FSW4-W transmissions:
Currently, WSPR and FST4-W transmissions are received and decoded
on all amateur bands from 2200 through 10 meters using GPS-stabilized
receivers and on a typical day, 25-35% of all
WSPR transmitters worldwide are detected at the Northern Utah site.
This data is currently being used to analyze propagation, but
work is underway to add information related to Dopper-induced frequency
drift and to provide absolute (GPS-locked) frequency measurement capability.
Also recorded is the background noise at WSPR frequencies which may be
used to determine the current state of the ionosphere and the energy of
natural noise sources (e.g. noise induced by solar activity, lightning, etc.)
Future plans:
- Spectral recording:
For selected frequencies ranges, spectral recordings will be made
and archived. Initially, these will be for narrow bandwidths
surrounding WSPR/FST4-W frequencies, but the scope may be widened.
- Wide-bandwidth time-stamped spectral recordings for special events: For special events (e.g. eclipses, time surrounding solar flares and similar events) we are looking into higher-bandwidth (hundreds of kHz up to a few MHz)
time-stamped I/Q recordings. Due to the massive amount of data
accumulated, the acquisition and storage of this sort of information
would necessarily be of rather short duration and dissemination of such
data is complicated, but will be handled as seen appropriate on a
case-by-case basis.
We are open to proposals:
If you have a reasoned, well thought-out proposal with a solid scientific basis
for observations that you think may be facilitated by the resources
available at the Northern Utah WebSDR, please let us know!
Who's behind all of this?
The installation and maintenance of this WebSDR system is a joint
effort of amateur radio operators in
Northern
Utah with many others offering support by donating equipment, their
time and money. We are not
associated
with any
particular
amateur club and are based around a non-profit IRS 501c(3) organization set up
specifically to support the WebSDR.
Contact
information:
If you wish to find out how you can contribute to this project, or if
you have any questions/comments that weren't answered on the "latest
news", "FAQ" or "technical
info" pages, you may
send an email to the following address:
sdrinfo@sdrutah.org.
Alternatively, you can send email/snail-mail to KA7OEI
using the information found at QRZ or the FCC database.
Important:
If you wish to contact us,
please avoid using an email
service that has one of those "Please fill in this form to reply" type
of SPAM filters.
If you really
want a reply, please have the courtesy to allow us to do so without
having to fill out a form and supply extra personal
information to who knows where, etc. - we weren't planning to sell or
give out your
email address, anyway!
Additional information:
- For answers to possible questions, visit the FAQ
page (link).
- For more information about the WebSDR project in general -
including information about other WebSDR servers worldwide and
additional technical information - go to http://www.websdr.org
Go to the Northern Utah WebSDR
landing page