So it's not likely to be CW ops making contact with life forms from other planets, unless they are pounding the brass on 6 or 2 meters.
You are right, Voltair.
Yesterday I fired up the 6M array and aimed it 90 degrees skyward. I suceeded in contacting extraterrestrial life. I sold the story to the Enquirer.. [not the Inquirer] Watch for it.
The fella's name was the "Rubber Duck" from the MoonRaker Star system, caw mawn.
But, seriously... think of how much energy the sun puts out in an omnidirectional pattern. Go out 20-30 light years and it is gone for all practical purposes. A pulsar is a different story. But we would need a lot of BIG mawls to be heard anywhere even with the Arecebo dish with 73.5 db gain at 1.5ghz.. Couple that with our's or other civilization's brief RF existance envelope and the odds of being heard are about as slim as the prime minister actually going to NJ to kick Irb in the gawd damn balls..
There's a BIG difference between receiving black hole generated gamma rays or pulsar or super nova signals compared to a radio wave from some PW civilization. [unless they're using a Moonraker, of course]
But, then again, check out the new ETI's optical 109 db spec advantage over old microwave technology below. Here's looking at you, kid.
T
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Some Interesting Info:
Optical SETI 101
Gain of Arecibo-type microwave dish (300 m aperture) uplink at 1.5 GHz = 73.5 dB
Gain of full Cyclops array (3 km aperture) uplink at 1.5 GHz = 93.5 dB
Project Cyclops
Gain of an infrared telescope (10 m aperture) uplink at 10,600 nm (10.6 microns) = 129.4 dB
Gain of a visible telescope (10 m aperture) uplink at 656 nm = 153.6 dB
Difference in gain between visible telescope and Arecibo dish = 80 dB (100 million)
Difference in gain between visible telescope and full Cyclops Array = 60 dB (1 million)
Arecibo dish with a 1 MW (60 dBW) continuous wave transmitter (late 20th century technology)
Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) = 73.5 dB + 60 dB = 133.5 dBW
Equivalent of a 10 m visible telescope with 1 GW (90 dBW) continuous wave laser (ETIs' futuristic technology)
Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) = 153.6 dB + 90 dB = 243.6 dBW
EIRP advantage of ETIs' optical uplink to that of the 20th Century terrestrial microwave uplink for continuous wave beacons = 243.6 dBW - 133.5 dBW = 109 dB (nearly 100 billion times!)