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why are radio observatories built at valleys?

why are radio observatories built at valleys, and not on mountains like optical observatories?

For radio observatories, there are no advantages to putting them on top of mountains and many disadvantages. An advantage to putting them below a hill line is pollution. Pollution from nearby cities in the form of radio interference and noise. Also, if you are going to suspend something from cables, you need a valley underneath to allow for the sag in the cables. Either that or very high towers.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 5:22 pm and is filed under valleys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “why are radio observatories built at valleys?”

  1. hamrrfan Says:
    March 6th, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    The valley floor helps form a dish to collect the incoming radio waves in a fashion similar to a TV dish or microwave dish on the roof or tower.
    References :

  2. Numbat Says:
    March 6th, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    For radio observatories, there are no advantages to putting them on top of mountains and many disadvantages. An advantage to putting them below a hill line is pollution. Pollution from nearby cities in the form of radio interference and noise. Also, if you are going to suspend something from cables, you need a valley underneath to allow for the sag in the cables. Either that or very high towers.
    References :

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