Satellite receiving equipment in the school classroom, brief notes for teachers.

I have been contacted by several school teachers who are keen to put satellite weather receiving equipment into their classrooms.  The most famous example of school-based satellite receiving equipment, is that of Kettering Grammar School, Northamptonshire, UK.  A quick Google search will reveal zillions of references to this remarkably successful project, and its inspired teacher, Geoffrey Perry MBE.  Kettering School achieved extraordinary notoriety during the Cold War, mainly for it's remarkable success in detecting Soviet satellite activity.  A 1968 paper by Geoffrey Perry entitled, "A school satellite tracking station as an aid to the teaching of physics", is as relevant today as it was in 1968.
 
My only caveat with building a NOAA weather image receiver, is not to underestimate the problem of radio interference, particularly within urban environments.  The presence of nearby powerful commercial radio transmissions, such as TV broadcasting and communication with pagers, can be a complete Show Stopper for NOAA APT image reception.  Before getting too excited about receiving signals within the 137-138MHz space band at your particular school, it is worth carefully monitoring this band with a scanning receiver, trying to identify any particularly nasty interference (particularly within 100kHz of the frequencies of 137.50 and 137.62 MHz).  Some interference to APT reception also comes from extraterrestrial sources, but fortunately this is unusual.  Identifying these local and extraterrestrial sources can, in itself, be an interesting educational exercise.

If you are a teacher who is keen on the concept, but unfamiliar with the equipment, it's worth trying to locate someone who is familiar with VHF antennas and receivers, and associated bits and pieces.  Out in the community there are many people for whom this technology is a much loved hobby, and who are often keen to share their knowledge, and who generally have a commitment of service to the community.  I'm thinking particularly of Radio Hams.  But trying to hook up with suitable folk who have the time and interest is the tricky bit.  Radio Hams who are particularly interested in satellite communication are likely to be associated with AMSAT Australia, AMSAT New Zealand, AMSAT USA, or AMSAT UK organisations, and a friendly brief email may return valuable advice, or the nearby whereabouts of someone willing to demonstrate their equipment.  Actually seeing real hardware in operation usually speaks more than reading volumes of literature.  In fact I got my start in satellite communication from a kind Adelaide Radio Ham who showed me his setup; "That  looks pretty straight forward",  I thought... and the rest is history.  Ham Radio folk often identify each other by their radio callsigns, and if the callsign is known, an associated contact email address can often be found using a callsign server.

Incidentally, I'm a Radio Ham myself (callsigns ZL3AW and VK2AAP), and should any teacher be swinging by Coonabarabran NSW, and wish to view our NOAA weather receiving station, please contact me beforehand.

There are already some keen Australian teachers successfully using satellite communication equipment in the classroom.  Notably the The Schools in Space Project website by Matt Ryan contains a number of useful articles relevant to teachers (I first became aware of Matt's activities when reading a Sydney Morning Herald article).  Matt's interests extend beyond just listening to satellites, and during June 2005 he and his students at Brigidine College had an extended voice communication with the International Space Station as it was passing over Sydney.  The conversation was recorded into an mp3 file, and the event was fully described in a media release.

The Bathurst Observatory hosts several educational Radio Astronomy projects, which includes NOAA weather satellite reception.

Of more general Aussie educational Space Science interest are:
If you know of other similar Web sites relevant to school teachers, please email me.

As a final note, I have a general interest in environmental remote sensing, especially weather monitoring and lightning detection.  Whilst some sensing devices are expensive and complex, some are delightfully simple and cheap.  Recently I built a highly sensitive barometer using a discarded domestic electric hot water cylinder, and this particular project is worth mentioning as its construction is within the scope of school kids, and easy for them to understand.  And for this particular Big Kid, it was a lot of fun to make.

2005-06-09