Youngsters Build Antennas at Goonhilly

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Year 11 students have recently spent a week's work experience at Goonhilly Earth Station learning about radio and satellite receivers

They researched and built a low-cost receiver using the FUNcube Pro+ SDR Dongle.

Goonhilly Earth Station - http://www.goonhilly.org/

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Software Defined Radio - http://FUNcubeDongle.com/

Blue Heritage Plaque for Radar Pioneer

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A blue UK Heritage plaque has been unveiled recognising the work of Edward Bowen who built a transmitter in 1920 when aged just 9 

Edward Bowen 1911 - 1991

Edward Bowen 1911 - 1991

Professor Bowen managed to miniaturise radar, from a nationwide network of 15m tall masts in 1935, right down to something which by 1943, could be fitted into the noses of planes during the Battle of the Atlantic. This meant that while Allied fighters could detect Nazi U-Boats from a range of up to 160 km, the U-boats were unaware of their presence until the planes were virtually on top of them.

The breakthroughs which Prof Bowen made during his career led directly and indirectly to a string of other developments:

  • Modern air-traffic control systems
  • Cathode ray tube television sets
  • Microwave ovens
  • Insulated electrical cable
  • Rain-making
  • The radio telescope which received the first images of the Moon landing in 1969

Full story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-34660799