Astronomical objects give off electromagnetic waves.   We are able to detect some of these waves as light, but most of them are invisible to us.   From Karl Jansky's first discovery of radio waves from the centre of the galaxy in 1932, the radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum has revealed many secrets of the universe to astronomers.

Although this part of the website contains lots of information, our main aim, as usual, is to get you making hands-on observations.

We started by asking Bob Greef of the Breckland Astronomical Society to come to a club meeting and demonstrate his handheld loop antenna setup.  The plan is to now make a couple of these and equip them with radio cassette recorders.   So far the biggest problem is tracking down reasonably priced shortwave radios with cassette recorders.   We may have to build our own.

There is also some dissention on the net as to whether the loop antenna works.   This will be a great opportunity for some members to build a dipole and a loop and test them side by side.   You should be able to use the project for GCSE science and/or astronomy coursework. A good link to explore is the National Radio Astronomy Observatory