Building a decametric radio telescope array

This paper discusses the process of constructing a decametric radio telescope array, the first of its kind in the Gulf Cooperation Council area, using 4 dual-dipole antenna units. The main aim is to construct a system to initiate undergraduate students to radio astronomy research. The receiver of the telescope is designed to operate at 20.1 MHz to conduct observations of specific celestial activities such as Jupiter-Io interactions, solar bursts, and the background radio emission of the Milky Way. Simulation results of antenna beamwidth for the array, performed using EZNEC Antenna Software, are included. The total gain of the array is found to be 12.36 dBi. The results of the simulations were further used to generate the beam patterns of the prototype and the array using Radio-Jupiter Pro Software. The array showed variant levels of radio noise of different combined stages of the array. A test was performed to show the response of the array to artificially generated signals. The array is located at Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST) at 25^o17'09.6''N, 55^o27'48.1''E, in Sharjah, UAE.