I’ve been looking to add radio astronomy capabilities to the PTO. As a first step out of the optical arena I have acquired a kit to assemble a radio receiver that monitors selected VLF radio frequencies. By monitoring received signal strength you can detect changes in Earth’s atmosphere due to the tremendous energy put out by solar flares. These atmospheric changes are known as SIDs (Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances).
The kit was designed by the Stanford Solar Center at Stanford University and supported and sold by the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA). Although it is a kit, the only assembly necessary was to construct the structure to support the antenna and winding the antenna wire onto the support.
 SID monitor receiver and cabling. |
 SID monitor antenna. |
The signal measurements made by the monitor are saved and automatically sent daily to the Stanford Solar Center. The measurements will be sent monthly to the AAVSO manually. I have written software that combines the strength measurements, data downloaded from the GOES-15 weather satellite, and NASA solar flare event reports to generate the chart below. The daily chart is on the Observatory->Solar Conditions menu.
PTO solar conditions chart for Dec 15, 2018. Notice the class B1.0 flare indicated at about 1349(UTC).