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SETI: THE WOW! SIGNAL

By James New, KJ4OEN

The "Wow!" signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected on August 15, 1977 at 11:16pm during a Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project using the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University.

The signal was believed to originate from deep space. It lasted 72 seconds and has not been detected again. The signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar transmission.  An observer circled the signal's waveform on a computer printout writing the comment "Wow!" in the margin. This comment led to naming of the signal.

Dr. Jerry Ehman determined the Wow! signal frequency to be 1420.4556 MHz.  This frequency is very close to the hydrogen atom line frequency of 1420.40575177 MHz. with a differential of .04984823 MHz (49,848.23 Hertz).  The 1/2 sub-harmonic of this differential is 24,924.115 Hertz. Rounded, these frequencies are 50 and 25 KHz.

In my project using these two frequencies, I will use both as Intermediate Frequency(IF) values.  Also these may work in "A-Doppler Shift" or as an "A-Time Duration" matrix.

The bandwidth of the Wow! signal was 10 KHz at each of the two feedhorn locations that received the signal apparently from the constellation of Sagittarius in the star group Chi Saittarii. The closest star is Tau Sagittari.

I believe that this signal demonstrates a way that advanced physics can be used in my project.  

If you take our solar system as an example, the sun converts hydrogen into helium and that helium can be used in a plasma ion vacuum chamber as the gas medium through which a signal might be generated.  This would look like white noise to an ordinary radio receiver. But, phototransistors could be used outside the glass to decode the signal.

Then, the erratic signal output going into a three-phototransistor network would be smoothed.  Waveguides made of copper, zinc and tin and using an amorphous structure on the glass will help keep plasma streams focused on the three phototransistors.

The IF mixer frequencies will be 49.848 KHz. and 24.924 KHz.  An A-shaped aluminum foil ring will be used as capacitance for the IF mixer frequency.

The Wow! Signal originated on August 15, 1977 from deep space at Right Ascension 19h, 22m, 24s and Declination -27 degrees 03m. Converted into Epoch J2000.0, the coordinates become RA 19h25m31s and declination -26°57' ± 20'

This region of the sky lies in the constellation Sagittarius, roughly 2.5 degrees south of the fifth-magnitude star group Chi Sagittarii. Tau Sagittarii is the closest easily visible star.

My project involves superimposing the 49.842 KHz frequency on top of the 1420.40575 MHz fundamental Wow! frequency to produce 1420.4556 MHz from the Plasma Ion Vacuum Chamber.

The book "Optical Propagation In Linear Media, Atmospheric Gasses and Particles" by Michael E. Thomas states that light frequencies start in the microwave region at 10 cm. and extend through the Super High Frequency (SHF) and Extremely High Frequency (EHF) ranges all the way up into the Infrared ranges.

When I was in elementary school, I got catalogs from Edmund Scientific. My friend Tommy built a telescope so I started to make one.  Mine was an 8-inch Newton Reflector using plans from "Sky & Telescope" and "Astronomy" magazines.  

I also used "All About Telescopes" by Sam Brown.
Edmund Scientific is still in business: 60 Pearce Ave.; Tonawanda, NY 14150-6711 Phone 1-800-728-6999 www.scientificsonline.com

Also, for mirror supplies, Willman-Bell Inc.; P.O. Box 35025; Richmond, Va.  23235  Phone 1-800-320-7016 www.willbell.com

They have mirror kits and abrasives for 4.25", 6.00", 8.00", 10.00" and 12.50" sizes and also books.

Tommy and I also made amateur model rockets patterned after Esteis and Century rockets.  We would launch them in the back of a church yard where there was a lot of room.  The wind would carry the rockets down range.  We had a miniature Cape Canaveral.

FREQUENCY SPECTRUM

The basic electromagnetic spectrum is:

1  VLF= Very Low Frequency  3 KHz-30 KHz

2  LF= Low Frequency  30 KHz-300 KHz

3 MF= Medium Frequency 300 KHz-3 MHz

4  HF= High Frequency  3 MHz-30 MHz

5  VHF= Very High Frequency  30 MHz-300 MHz

6  UHF= Ultra High Frequency 300 MHz- 3 GHz

7  SHF=Super High Frequency 3 GHz- 30 GHz.  

8  EHF=Extremely High Frequency 30 GHz-300 GHz.

Audio frequencies are 20 Hz-20 KHz

The analog VHF TV channels 2 through 4=54-72 MHz spaced 6 MHz apart.

VHF TV Channels 5 and 6 are 76 to 88 MHz spaced 6 MHz apart

FM Radio is 88.1 to 108 MHz. spaced 200 MHz.

VHF TV channels 7 through 13= 174 to 216 MHz spaced 6 MHz. apart

UHF TV Channels 14-69=470-806 MHz. sopaced 6 MHz apart.AM Radio is 540 to 1710 KHz.
Sometimes frequencies above 300 GHz are called LHF=Ludicrously High Frequencies.
The microwave band designations are:

1 L Band 1-2 GHz.

2 S Band 2-4 GHz.

3 C Band 4-8 GHz.

4 X Band 8-12 GHz.

5 Ku Band 12-18 GHz.

6 K Band 18-27 GHz.

7 Ka Band 27-40 GHz.

8 V Band 40-75 GHz.

9 W Band 75-110 GHz.

E-Band is 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-95 GHz.

Source: Planar Microwave Engineering: A Practical Guide to THeory, Measurements and Circuits by Thomas H. Lee, Cambridge University Press.

In the list above, I summarized the electromagnetic spectrum up to 300 GHz. Frequencies above that I call Ludicrously High Frequencies (LHF).  I start at the end of radio frequencies at 300 GHz. and continued upward, making up additional letter groups of four letters, then five, then 6, then 7 letters, as I thought appropriate to do so--coming up with these designations:
300 GHz to 3000 GHz (3 THz)= Ultra, Extreme, High Frequencies (UEHF)
3 THz to 30 THz= Super Ultra Extreme, High Frequencies (SUEHF)

30 THz to 300 THz= Extremely Super Ultra Extreme High Frequency (ESUEHF)

300 THz to 3000 THz (3 PHz)= Light Extremely Super Ultra Extreme High Frequencies (LESUEHF)

These ranges include light frequencies.  The light groups are:
A (Infrared)  .3 THz (300 GHz) to 400 THz.

B (Visible Light)  400 THz to 760 THz.

C (Ultraviolet) 760 to 800 THz.

Hz=Hertz, KHz=Kilohertz, MHz=Megahertz, GHz=Gigahertz, THz=Terahertz, PHz=Petahertz.

A good reference which I use as a source is Practical Electronics for Inventors, 2nd Edition by Paul Scherz  (McGraw-Hill) ISBN 13:978-0-07-145281-6

SETI ANTENNAS

Two big antenna installations used in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) are described on page 19-41 of the ARRL Antenna Book. The Areciba, Puerto Rico dish antenna is 1000 feet which is 304.79 meters. The dish antenna at Greenback, West Virginia is 300 feet or 91.44 meters.

Another parabolic dish antenna is shown in the International Microwave Handbook by Andy Berter, G8ATD on page 49. You will find helpful tables and formulas there. On page 50 in Table 3.5 are parabola calculations of metric units. Dimensions are found for 1297 MHz. and 2305 MHz. antennas on page 51.

Ten and 12 foot diameter dishes work good on the SETI 1420.40575 MHz frequency and also on EME frequencies. With homemade dishes, the main problem is designing and constructing the center plate. To mount, I plan to use 1 1/4 inch pipe flange and set screws.

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From the October 2016 Balanced Modulator

WOW! II?  

Via  http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/08/the-promising-seti-signal-probably-isnt-aliens

A recently detected SETI signal could end up being this generation's version of the famous "Wow!" signal of 1977: an intriguing mystery that keeps astronomers guessing for decades.  

In May 2015, a team of researchers using a Russian radio telescope spotted a strong radio signal coming from the vicinity of the sunlike star HD 164595, which lies 94 light-years away from Earth.

The signal is consistent with something an alien civilization might send out, astronomers have said. But that's just one scenario, and not the most likely one, researchers cautioned; the signal may also have resulted from a natural celestial event or terrestrial interference of some sort.

Without a follow-up detection or confirmation, humanity may never know the signal's true origin, said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

That's pretty much all that astronomers can say about the Wow! signal, a 72-second-long event picked up by the Big Ear radio observatory at The Ohio State University in August 1977.

The 1977 signal received its name after a volunteer astronomer named Jerry Ehman wrote "Wow!" on a computer printout of the signal's transmission record. Ehman made the comment after finding the radio signal was 30 times stronger than background emissions.

Astronomers never discovered any evidence linking the Wow! signal to an alien civilization, and, despite recent efforts from the SETI Institute, a repeat detection of that signal has not been made. Researchers did conclude the signal was coming from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

There are going to be signals that you see once and don't see again," Shostak added. "It's like people who see ghosts. If you see it once, but when you go back, with a camera and all that, it's not there, what do you conclude from that?

The May 2015 and Wow! signals are analogous in another way, Shostak said: Both seemed to appear and then disappear quite quickly. This doesn't seem consistent with a signal from an orbiting satellite, which would be in range of the radio telescope for longer stretches.

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