Horn Antenna Workshop
(ACE–HornWorkshop2023)
A workshop on fabricating a horn antenna was organised for teachers by ACE IUCAA from 03 to 06 April 2023. The resource persons were Avinash Deshpande (IUCAA), Prakash Arumugasamy (IUCAA), Jameer Manur (IUCAA), Ashish Mhaske (IUCAA), Dhruba J Saikia (IUCAA), Neeraj Gupta (IUCAA), Ruta Kale (NCRA), and Bhal Chandra Joshi (NCRA).
On the first day, lectures covered the basic principles of antennas, radio astronomy, receiver chain, and observations using the horn antenna and HI observations of the Milky Way galaxy. On the second day participants assembled the horn antenna and tested the receiver chain in the ACE Astro Lab. On the third day, participants took observations of the HI line of the Milky Way galaxy using the horn antenna they had assembled and installed the software required for the observations and analyses. Semi-informal discussion sessions with experts on the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and radio astronomy techniques and instrumentation followed these.
The workshop's hands-on activities included:
- Assembling the pre-fabricated parts of the horn antenna and its receiver chain;
- Observing neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) in emission from the Galactic plane,
- Analyzing the data to obtain the Galactic rotation curve.
There were 12 participants from different parts of the country who worked together in groups, actively interacting and learning. The participants presented their analysis and results and shared their experiences in a follow-up presentation session held after the workshop on 3rd June 2023. The ACE IUCAA Team coordinated the Horn Antenna Workshop.
