TY - Generic T1 - Incorporating HamSCI Project into a College Physics Course T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2024 Y1 - 2024 A1 - Hyomin Kim A1 - Lindsay Goodwin A1 - Gareth Perry A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Gary Mikitin AB -

We report citizen science activity in a physics course to engage undergraduate students in a HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) project. The New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Physics Department has been offering a senior-level lab course, "Advanced Physics Lab" in which the students are expected to gain experience with experimental techniques, instrumentation, theoretical and applied electronics, solid state electronic devices, experiments in modern physics by performing quantitative measurements of fundamental physical parameters. Students perform lab experiments in a mostly unstructured setting, in which students are given the equipment and related manuals and perform experiments with very minimal instructor's supervision. Historically, the students have been given a pre-set lab equipment by following the manuals accompanied by the equipment. While this may be suitable for providing an opportunity for the students to relate the results in the lab with the known physics theories/principles, the impact to the students is limited as there is still insufficient "hands-on" components and demonstration of real-world applications. The HamSCI PSWS project is a good example in which students build and test science instruments and use them for scientific investigations to address this issue. We present undergraduate class activity and evaluate their impact on future workforce training utilizing the HamSCI resources. 

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2024 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - Generic T1 - e-POP RRI observations of the April 24, 2020 ARRL Frequency Measuring Test T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2021 Y1 - 2021 A1 - Brian O'Donnell A1 - Gareth Perry AB -

One of the science objectives of the Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI) on the CAScade, Smallsat, and Ionospheric Polar Explorer/enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (CASSIOPE/e-POP) satellite is to study ionospheric influences on high frequency (HF) radio wave from low Earth orbit. RRI is made-up of 4, 3-m monopoles which can be electronically arranged into a crossed-dipole configuration.  On April 24, 2020, RRI tuned to measure the ARRL frequency measuring test (FMT) on 40 m, and successfully recorded part of the “call up” and all of the “key down” segments of the test.  The FMT provides a unique chance to study the effects of the ionospheric plasma on stable and reliable radio signals at frequencies that are close to the ionosphere’s critical frequency, a frequency regime in which the influence of the ionospheric plasma on radio wave propagation conditions is most pronounced.  In this presentation, we give preliminary results of our analysis of RRI’s FMT measurements which include an examination of the FMT’s Doppler characteristics, and the identification tell-tale signatures of ionospheric effects on the transmitted signal such as Faraday rotation and propagation mode delay.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2021 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA (Virtual) UR - https://hamsci2021-uscranton.ipostersessions.com/?s=34-2B-1B-32-C8-FC-4A-0B-5B-51-B9-1D-10-4E-F2-7F ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI Campaign Co-Design (Panel Discussion) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2021 Y1 - 2021 A1 - Kristina V. Collins A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - Laura Brandt A1 - Elizabeth MacDonald A1 - Michael Black A1 - Gareth Perry JF - HamSCI Workshop 2021 PB - HamSCI CY - Virtual ER - TY - CONF T1 - HF Doppler Observations of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances in a WWV Signal Received with a Network of Low-Cost HamSCI Personal Space Weather Stations T2 - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Y1 - 2021 A1 - Veronica I. Romanek A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Dev Joshi A1 - William Liles A1 - Clair Trop A1 - Kristina Collins A1 - Gareth Perry AB -

Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) are quasi-periodic variations in ionospheric electron density that are often associated with atmospheric gravity waves. TIDs cause amplitude and frequency variations in high frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) refracted radio waves. We present observations of TIDs made with a network of Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Low-Cost Personal Space Weather Stations (PSWS) with nodes located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio. The TIDs were detected in the Doppler shifted carrier of the received signal from the 10 MHz WWV frequency and time standard station in Fort Collins, CO. Using a lagged cross correlation analysis, we demonstrate a method for determining TID wavelength, direction, and period using the collected WWV HF Doppler shifted data.

JF - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) PB - CEDAR CY - Virtual ER - TY - CONF T1 - Novel methods for characterizing ionospheric irregularities in the high-latitude ionosphere (ePoster) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2020 Y1 - 2020 A1 - Lindsay V. Goodwin A1 - Gareth Perry AB -

Plasma structuring in the high‐latitude ionosphere impacts over‐the‐horizon radio communication and global navigation systems, and is an important space weather effect. Therefore, characterizing the formation and evolution of these structures is critically important. It is useful to create ``irregularity spectra", which quantify the sizes of plasma structures in the high‐latitude ionosphere.  The shape of the spectra (and other characteristics) can provide insight into the source of the irregularities. From this information it is then possible to forecast the occurrence of irregularities and predict their impact on radio wave propagation and communications. We are able to compute irregularity spectra by leveraging the phased array design of several incoherent scatter radars (ISRs), and using some unique properties of the F‐region plasma at high‐latitudes.  In this presentation we will describe how we develop and apply a novel technique for ISR measurements to resolve high‐latitude ionospheric irregularity spectra at a finer resolution than has been previously possible with ground‐based instruments. We will motivate the newly developed ISR technique, describe its methodology, and provide some first results demonstrating its effectiveness. This technique will enable future studies that will directly link high‐latitude ionospheric plasma structure drivers to their impact on radio wave communications.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2020 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - CONF T1 - e-POP Radio Science Using Amateur Radio Transmissions T2 - Fall AGU - Poster Presentation Y1 - 2015 A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Gareth Perry A1 - Ethan S. Miller A1 - Alex Shovkoplyas A1 - Magdalina Moses A1 - H. James A1 - Andrew Yau AB -

A major component of the enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e-POP) Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI) mission is to utilize artificially generated radio emissions to study High Frequency (HF) radio wave propagation in the ionosphere. In the North American and European sectors, communications between amateur radio operators are a persistent and abundant source source of HF transmissions. We present the results of HF radio wave propagation experiments using amateur radio transmissions as an HF source for e-POP RRI. We detail how a distributed and autonomously operated amateur radio network can be leveraged to study HF radio wave propagation as well as the structuring and dynamics of the ionosphere over a large geographic region. In one case, the sudden disappearance of nearly two-dozen amateur radio HF sources located in the midwestern United States was used to detect a enhancement in foF2 in that same region. We compare our results to those from other more conventional radio instruments and models of the ionosphere to demonstrate the scientific merit of incorporating amateur radio networks for radio science at HF.

JF - Fall AGU - Poster Presentation PB - American Geophysical Union CY - San Francisco, CA ER -