120 Dipoles on 400 Acres: Grote Reber’s Final Legacy

Back in the 1930s, Grote Reber, W9GFZ,1 used his ham radio skills to build an unusual antenna to pick up even more unusual signals—radio signals from outer space. Today Dr. Reber is recognized as the father of radio astronomy. In late 2002, Jack Najork, W5FG, visited Dr. Reber just a few days before his death. Here is Jack’s story, based on his visit and additional information from Dr. Reber’s friend, Jim Davis, VK70W.

JACK NAJORK

Since this issue’s offering from Contributing Editor-at-Large PT2ZDX/LU9EFO is about a billion-year-old signal detected by a radiotelescope in Canada, we thought it would be fun to go back in time (not quite a billion years, just 20) to reprise W5FG’s November 2003 report on visiting the father of radioastronomy — Dr. Grote Reber, ex-W9GFZ — in Tasmania shortly before Reber passed away in late 2002. As a young ham in 1937, Dr. Grote Reber built one of the world’s first radio telescopes in his back yard in Wheaton, Illinois. Dr. Reber died last December 20 in Tasmania, two days shy of his 91st birthday. Born in Chicago, Reber studied radio engineering and worked for various radio manufacturers from 1933 to 1937. During this time, he applied for a job with…

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CQ Amateur Radio (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2023

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