terrestrial beings. Given that no human effort can impact this particular factor, : what can we do to maximize our chances SETI for SETI success? For a brief time (admittedly a mere eyeblink in human history), the govern- ments of planet Earth threw their prestige The Role of the and fiscal resources at the SETI problem, sponsoring any number of scientific searches. But it is amateurs who have made, and continue to make, the most sig- nificant strides toward contact. Dedicated Amateur An amateur, as defined by science and the Olympics Committee alike, is one Dr H. Paul Shuch, N6TX who strives to excel without financial compensation. The motivation of the ama- teur is revealed by the Latin root of the word: an amateur works for love. Ask any contemporary SETI scientist The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence or technologist why he or she strives against incredible odds. The answer is al- is moving forward on a number of fronts, ways the same. What modest salary he or she may draw is almost incidental. Any thanks in large part to amateurs who skilled SETIzen could always make more money by diverting the requisite effort in volunteer their time and expertise. a different direction. It is indeed for the love of the game that the best and the brightest choose to compete in the SETI Olympiad. ince its emergence as a respectable interpretation. Like the amateur scientific discipline nearly a half athlete competing in an Olympiad, the The Athletes century ago, the electromagnetic amateur SETIzen can expect to struggle Not all SETI pioneers are licensed ra- Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelli- for survival, absent commercial or insti- dio amateurs (though those I will discuss Sgence (SETI) has been dominated by tutional sponsorship. Grassroots amateur here are, or were). Not all of the work three classes of practitioners: government efforts can nevertheless supplement the described here was pursued as a strictly agencies, academic institutions, and non- accomplishments of the professional amateur endeavor (though some of it profit organizations surviving on a com- SETI community, bringing us all closer was). What these SETI players share is bination of private contributions and to the day of Contact. the spirit of amateurism that marks their research grants. Recent technological ad- science as being of truly Olympian stat- vances have brought a new group of play- The SETI Olympiad ure. These representative examples, by no ers into the SETI game—dedicated The challenge of interstellar contact, means inclusive, show how the world’s amateurs with a personal passion for no less elusive than the quest 50 years ago dedicated radio amateurs competed, and achieving interstellar contact. to break the four-minute mile, is continue to compete, for SETI glory. This article explores the contributions demanding of human skill and persever- such nonprofessionals are making to ance. Unfortunately, success in this par- , W9GFZ SETI science, in the realms of experimen- ticular arena is also a function of one When the Father of the Radio Tele- tal design, equipment construction, soft- significant factor beyond human control: scope (SK, December 20, 2002) built the ware development, direct observation, the very existence, in the proper time- world’s first modern in sky coverage, signal analysis and message frame, of technologically advanced extra- 1937, a 10-meter-diameter parabolic re-

A roomful of interested amateurs share insights and ideas at one of The SETI League’s annual SETICon Technical Symposia. Dr Malcolm Raff, WA2UNP, assembles a low-noise microwave preamplifier at a SETI League Hardware Workshop. Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL. September 2005 43 COURTESY VE3MDL

SETI League member Marcus Leach, VE3MDL, built his own software-controlled receiver for wideband SETI scanning.

SETI League members use a variety of digital signal processing software tools to examine candidate signals in the time and public as Kent Clark, the character based frequency domains. upon him in the popular film Contact. The first (and probably still the only) blind in- dividual to earn a PhD in the highly vi- flector in the backyard of his mother’s John Kraus’ grad student Bob Dixon, sual discipline of astronomy, Kent house in Wheaton, Illinois, he was work- W8ERD, succeeded him as Director of developed the signal detection algorithms ing strictly as an amateur, and under the the OSU Radio Observatory. Dixon is for the late NASA SETI program, and authority of his ham radio license. Grote now leading a team of dedicated amateurs later for The SETI Institute’s Project Phoe- produced the first radio map of the Milky in the design of the omnidirectional Argus nix targeted search. If he has seen farther Way Galaxy, though it took years for his radio telescope. than other men, it is because Kent Cull- amateur accomplishments to gain accep- ers stands on the shoulders of some very tance from the world’s astrophysics pro- Paul Horowitz, W1HFA clever code. fessionals. His subsequent low-frequency Still active on the Amateur Radio research from Tasmania bands, a passion he has pursued since Seth Shostak, N6UDK continued in the amateur tradition of in- childhood, Horowitz heads Harvard Seth’s face is familiar on television, dependent research for its own sake. University’s SETI efforts, and designed and his voice a fixture on broadcast ra- Never one to shy away from controversy, the Project META and BETA searches dio, in his professional role as public pro- Reber’s last published paper was titled funded in part by the Planetary Society. grams scientist for the SETI Institute. That “The Big Bang is Bunk!” He is the author of the world’s most popu- voice is less often heard on the ham radio lar Electronics Engineering undergradu- bands, but it is there that Shostak first Phil Morrison, W8FIS ate textbook. Lately he has been turning gained exposure to the technologies he Undeniably one of the patriarchs of his interests and expertise toward Opti- routinely exploits as a senior SETI scien- SETI, Professor Morrison had long since cal SETI. tist. He encouraged The SETI League in gone inactive on the ham bands when in the construction and testing of its W2ETI 1959 he coauthored the first serious sci- Kent Cullers, WA6TWX Microwave Moonbounce Calibration entific SETI paper. His boyhood interest A world-class leader in digital signal Beacon, and was the first radio amateur in Amateur Radio had motivated his in- processing, Cullers is better known to the to detect its weak signals reflected off the terest in exploring the feasibility of mi- lunar surface (albeit with the 305-meter- crowaves for interstellar communication. diameter Arecibo Radio Telescope). During SETI’s Golden Age he has in- spired a whole generation of engineers Richard Factor, WA2IKL and scientists. On a personal note, my own If SETI is truly the science that refuses SETI interests were motivated by follow- to die, that is due in large part to this New ing in Phil Morrison’s footsteps (albeit Jersey industrialist. An active ham since from a distance of 30 years). As an EE boyhood, Factor was dismayed at Congres- undergraduate at the Carnegie Institute of sional cancellation in 1993 of the NASA Technology, I had the privilege of oper- SETI program. Then, putting his money ating W3NKI, the campus ham radio sta- where his mouth is, he founded the non- tion he had founded three decades prior. profit SETI League, to involve the world’s radio amateurs in privatizing the search. John Kraus, W8JK Though not as active as he would like to be Arguably the most creative antenna in Amateur Radio astronomy, Factor’s designer of his generation, Kraus (SK, greatest contribution has been his leader- July 18, 2004) is best remembered for the ship role as SETI League president and pri- late Big Ear radio telescope that he de- mary source of financial support. He can signed and built at Ohio State University. Dr John Kraus, W8JK, was an inspiring claim much of the credit for the 126 Ama- teacher, prolific author, prominent Big Ear conducted the longest running antenna designer and one of the fathers teur Radio telescopes that SETI League continuous SETI sky survey in history. of modern radio astronomy. members now operate all over the world. 44 September 2005 The Organizing Committee cess them in a suitable microwave re- Founded by Richard Factor in 1994 as ceiver. Amateur Radio astronomers have a response to the demise of the NASA modified military and government surplus SETI program, The SETI League, Inc is equipment, employed commercial receiv- a grassroots Amateur Radio club of glo- ers produced for the ham radio and tele- bal scope and galactic span. It coordinates communications markets, and, more the SETI activities of 1450 experiment- recently, designed their own dedicated ers in 66 countries on six continents. Its SETI receivers from scratch. Every year members design hardware and software at its SETICon Technical Symposium, for a coordinated all-sky survey, publish The SETI League hosts a microwave cir- articles, conduct conferences, construct cuit construction workshop, to train its and operate equipment, and collectively members in the skills necessary to pro- control more radio telescopes than exist duce a workable hydrogen line receiver. in the rest of the world, combined. Funded entirely by membership dues and The Binathalon individual contributions, The SETI The output of the typical microwave League currently has no paid employees, receiver is analog baseband, generally in with all its functions being performed by the audio range. This signal is converted volunteers. The SETI Horn of Plenty, a waveguide to a string of binary digits for signal analy- horn antenna for 1.3 to 1.7 GHz designed sis, often in a personal computer sound The SETI League’s main medium of by the author, has been duplicated by communications is its extensive Web dozens of SETI League members around card. More advanced analog to digital presence (see www.setileague.org), the world, for classroom demonstrations conversion at a receiver’s intermediate fre- along with half a dozen specialized e-mail as well as observational radio astronomy quency stages is recently becoming a pre- and SETI. discussion lists, whereby members can ferred method of preparing the receiver’s pursue a variety of collaborative projects. analog output for digital signal process- The organization also publishes Contact ing (DSP). Amateur Radio astronomers In Context, an on-line peer-reviewed sci- are working on the next generation of entific journal, and provides Webmaster DSP hardware, software and algorithms, services for the SETI Permanent Study to ferret out the hallmarks of artificiality Group of the International Academy of buried in receiver and cosmic noise. Astronautics—all on an operating budget of just a few thousand dollars per year. In Synchronized Scanning addition to their scientific and engineer- With over 100 Amateur Radio tele- ing activities, SETI League members are scopes now engaged in a coordinated all- involved in publicizing and popularizing sky survey, it is necessary to efficiently SETI, having conducted hundreds of allocate the search space among partici- media interviews and having appeared in pants, in terms of sky coverage, frequency dozens of television documentaries. spectrum, and time. A major challenge for The backbone of The SETI League is The SETI League has been to develop its Field Organization, a cadre of 65 means of ensuring maximum spectral and volunteer Regional Coordinators around sky coverage, with minimal overlap, con- the world, who offer their expertise and strained by the equipment capability and assistance to SETI enthusiasts, whether location of each individual participating SETI League members or not. station. Real-time coordination via the Internet turns a hundred individual instru- The Events ments into a zeroth-order interferometer SETI amateurs are challenged by and of impressive capabilities. Still, the chal- Tommy Henderson, WD5AGO, shows involved in a number of technological off two horn antennas used for radio lenge remains to automate the coordina- pursuits. A brief sampling: astronomy. The larger of the two (on an tion process, especially as more stations az-el mount) is optimized for 1.4 GHz are added, growing the Project Argus sky The Discus hydrogen line observations. Tommy is survey toward its eventual goal of 5000 holding a smaller horn for 5.7 GHz The antenna of choice for amateur methanol line measurements. participating Amateur Radio telescopes backyard radio astronomy is the discarded and real-time all-sky coverage. C-band home satellite TV dish. These 3 to 5-meter-diameter parabolic reflectors The Broadband Jump exhibit in excess of +30 dBi of gain in nas as their basis. A suitable L-band The typical commercial communica- the Waterhole spectrum between 1.4 and feedhorn can be readily fabricated out of tions receiver has an instantaneous band- 1.7 GHz, and provide modest resolution hardware store materials and tin snips by width on the order of a few kilohertz. with their 2 to 4° beamwidths. They can any experimenter reasonably skilled in Given the enormity of the spectral space generally be had for the asking in com- sheetmetal working techniques. across which valid ETI signals are likely munities where TVRO technology has to be dispersed, the time factor to analyze been replaced by digital Direct Broadcast The 21 cm Closed Circuit a reasonable portion of spectrum is inor- Satellite television distribution. Several Once those L-band photons falling dinate. New receiver designs are needed, hundred Amateur Radio telescopes are from the sky have been captured by a which can process and digitize hundreds already on-line or under construction suitable antenna, it remains for the dedi- of kilohertz, or preferably many mega- around the world, using just such anten- cated amateur to amplify, filter and pro- hertz, of bandwidth in real time. SETI September 2005 45 League members have recently been ap- to verify the proper operation of his or plying new components designed for the her equipment. To date the W2ETI bea- wireless telecommunications industry to con (identified by the assigned call sign the challenge of seeking out narrow-band of The SETI League’s Amateur emissions across broad chunks of the Radio club station) has been used as a test electromagnetic spectrum. source by the Arecibo Radio Observatory, at the Telescope in Jodrell The High-Frequency Hurdles Bank, United Kingdom, and by a hand- Although there is a certain romance ful of Project Argus stations around the associated with searching for ETI across world. We hope it will become the cali- the traditional Waterhole frequencies bration standard for all Amateur Radio spanning the spectral emission lines of astronomers observing in L-band. neutral hydrogen and hydroxyl (the dis- Dual -helix arrays for 1296 MHz, association products of water), four de- one right-hand and the other left-hand The 5 Million CPU Relay cades of SETI in this portion of L-band circularly polarized, are part of The SETI The SETI@home project run by the League’s W2ETI Moonbounce Calibration have thus far failed to produce positive Beacon. University of California, Berkeley, is un- results. The higher frequency reaches of doubtedly the world’s most successful dis- the electromagnetic spectrum are a ripe tributed computing experiment, though area for SETI exploration, and a number arguably its most dubious SETI experi- of Amateur Radio astronomers are now can turn to the more experienced and nu- ment. The strength of this well-known equipping themselves to monitor across merous amateur optical astronomers for project lies in its 5 million participants, S, C, X and Ku bands, and in some cases guidance. all crunching data from the SERENDIP clear into the millimeter waves. It is axi- receiver at Arecibo, the world’s most sen- omatic that, whereas there are interesting The Pole Vault sitive radio telescope. The weakness is magic frequencies to be explored, there With hundreds of Amateur Radio tele- that all 5 million users are crunching data are no wrong frequencies for SETI re- scopes at work around the world, a from the same sensitive radio telescope. search. The current push toward ever commonly available calibration and vali- Where is the weak link in this chain? higher frequency coverage can be ex- dation means became a necessity. Four Nevertheless, SETI@home has done pected to continue, with Amateur Radio years ago The SETI League constructed more to raise public consciousness about astronomers “searching where no man has its Lunar Reflective Calibration Beacon, SETI than any other project, and SETI searched before.” a continuously operated transmitter, League members are eager and active par- locked to an atomic frequency standard, ticipants. The project has demonstrated The 500 nm Dash and driving antennas that track the moon how a large-scale task can be broken Optical SETI, though proposed as under computer control. Microwave sig- down into manageable chunks, and early as the 1960s, is only now beginning nals reflected off the Moon can be re- parsed out to a cadre of participants. What to be regarded as a serious and potentially ceived by amateur and professional radio remains now is to marry the distributed productive branch of SETI science. Ama- telescopes alike, any time the Moon is processing aspects of SETI@home to the teurs have pioneered the search for high- above the horizon at the transmit and the distributed observing network of The energy pulses in the visible and infrared receive location simultaneously. SETI League’s Project Argus all-sky sur- spectra, helping that pursuit to gain legiti- These weak but stable moonbounce vey. The result will be the most powerful macy among SETI professionals. As aca- signals, at a frequency adjacent to those SETI project ever, a net stretched wide demic institutions and governments begin for which most Amateur Radio telescopes to capture that elusive fish in the cosmic to invest resources in Optical SETI, they normally operate, enable the experimenter pond.

COURTESY N6TX

The SETI@home project run by the University of California, Berkeley, though not a SETI League initiative, has stimulated SETI League members gathered last year at the Starkenburg the interest of SETI supporters around the world. SETI League Observatory in Heppenheim, Germany, for the EuroSETI04 members are among the several million users who lend their Conference. The SETI League has sponsored meetings around spare computer cycles to the analysis of archival data from the the world, to encourage collaboration and cooperation among in Puerto Rico. its more than 1400 members in 66 countries. 46 September 2005 The Uneven Parallel Bars A mere 46 days after his momentous References accomplishment, Bannister’s record was Bannister, Sir Roger. The First Four Minutes, In 2001 the SETI Institute started the 50th Anniversary Edition, Sutton Publishing, design of the One Hectare Telescope beaten by another distinguished amateur, Gloucestershire, UK, 2004. (1HT), a dedicated SETI array of unprec- his Australian rival John Landy (later the McRae, Donald, “Interview, Sir Roger Bannis- edented sensitivity. Later renamed the governor-general of Victoria). Since then, ter,” The Guardian, April 26, 2004. nearly a thousand runners have turned Shuch, H. Paul, “2001: A Moonbounce Odys- (ATA) in honor of sey,” QST, Nov 2001, pp 38-43. a major contributor, this instrument is now sub-four-minute miles. Similarly, once the Shuch, H. Paul, “One Hundred Up, 4900 to under construction at the University of first substantiated evidence of ETI is pre- go!” 51st International Astronautical Con- California’s Hat Creek Observatory sented, we expect others to strive for still gress Preprints, IAF, Oct 2000. more news of our cosmic companions. Shuch, H. Paul, “The Only Game in Town, facility, at a projected cost in the tens of Journal of Futures Studies (Taiwan), Feb millions of dollars. Just as aviation activities did not cease 2004, pp 55-60. once Lindbergh had flown the Atlantic, At around the same time, The SETI Photos by the author. League, Inc began work on its Very we expect that first SETI success to be Small Array (VSA), a significantly more only a beginning. Whether that first de- Dr H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, serves as vol- unteer Executive Director of The SETI modest SETI array of much more limited tection is made by an amateur or a pro- fessional, one can expect numerous League, Inc. A long-term engineering pro- performance, but budgeted at mere tens fessor credited with designing the first com- 1 of thousands of dollars. The ironic par- amateurs to contribute to the efforts that mercial home-satellite TV receiver, he is allel between these two disparate projects follow. the author of more than 400 publications, is that, at present, each is funded at a level On the 50th anniversary of his most has received numerous honors and awards of about a third of its ultimate cost. Thus, famous run, Bannister told an interviewer, and (as N6TX) has operated in 20 ham the leading professional and the leading “the race taught us we could do most bands between 1.8 MHz and 24 GHz. You amateur SETI organization both find things we turned our minds to in later life. can reach the author c/o The SETI League themselves in the position of having to And it made us friends.” Inc, PO Box 555, Little Ferry, NJ 07643; expend a significant fraction of their One can ask no more of SETI success. [email protected]. scarce resources on fund-raising, to com- plete the construction of their respective next-generation SETI instruments. The Future of the Sport As public and private funding for SETI science continues to wane, its greatest untapped resource is the dedicated ama- teur. Thousands of Amateur Radio enthu- New Products siasts, and millions of personal computer users around the world, promise to the WIN-TEST CONTEST LOGGING QPACK LOW POWER TUNER SETI enterprise more observing and ana- SOFTWARE š The QPack Precision Tuner, described lytical power than had ever been imag- š Win-Test is a contest logging software, as a deluxe manual portable tuner, is avail- ined in the days of government-sponsored developed in C++ by Olivier, F5MZN, able from Miracle Antenna. The QPack SETI. The challenge facing us is to focus father of DxNet and the Editest DOS uses Miracle’s own flatpak variable ca- their energies and coordinate their activi- contest logging program. This software, pacitors, said to be compact sealed and ties in the most efficient way. This is the based on the K1EA’s popular CT syn- gasketed units providing high maximum charter of The SETI League Inc, and the tax, has been used since 2003 at the capacitance and low loss. The QPack de- direction that other organizations will FY5KE contest site. sign incorporates modified link coupling likely take to ensure the survival of SETI Win-Test requires a 166 MHz or faster designed to provide matching capabilities as a respectable science. Pentium based PC with 32 MB of RAM. to 15:1 from 3.5 to 56 MHz. The Qpack All the 32 bit Windows versions are sup- Precision will feed balanced lines, coax, Conclusions ported. Win-Test does not require any random wires and whips. In his biography The First Four Min- specific hardware, except a standard in- The unit is built into an extruded alu- minum enclosure. The controls are driven utes, Sir Roger Bannister writes that, upon terface to generate CW. A trial version is available at www. by Rogan soft-touch knobs designed for a completing the first four-minute mile, win-test.com. For full capability beyond smooth, weighted feel without backlash. “pain overtook me. I felt like an exploded the trial period, a registration fee is re- The tuner is rated at 30 W maximum. Price, flashlight with no will to live.” One can quired. See the Web site for details. $149.95. The tuner can be ordered from only speculate as to whether SETI suc- your local dealer or from Miracle Antenna. cess will be as draining. I expect elation For information contact Miracle Antenna, to dominate the mood of those detecting 2705 Bates Rd #303, Montreal, QC, H3S the first valid signal, but only after the 1B4, Canada; www.miracleantenna.com; weeks or months of follow-up verifica- tel 866-311-6511. tion activities which responsible science demands. In the athletic Olympiad, suc- cess is immediately evident at the finish line. In the scientific arena, definitive re- sults take a little longer.

1P. Shuch, “The Very Small Array,” QST, Sep 2002, pp 28-30. September 2005 47