How do i know if i have a signal?

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donniedarko1970

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Message 1453851 - Posted: 14 Dec 2013, 10:47:17 UTC

I have recently downloaded & am running the seti@home screensaver helping to look for alien signals & even though i know it's probably a billion to one chance how do i know if i have a signal,what are the signs to look for?
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Message 1453994 - Posted: 14 Dec 2013, 21:33:10 UTC

The short answer is - you won't.

The way SETI@Home works is it looks for long term repeating patterns that are not of either local or know stellar origin (pulsar type events). It does this by taking data from radio telescopes and looking for possible signals, then correlates that data with another sample from the same place at another time, repeating by repeating the same observation several times it is possible to sort out which signals are possible candidates.
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John McLeod VII
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Message 1454025 - Posted: 14 Dec 2013, 22:49:41 UTC

If a signal is found and verified, we have been promised that the people that worked on the signals would be informed by email. (Keep your email address up to date).


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donniedarko1970

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Message 1454072 - Posted: 15 Dec 2013, 3:12:59 UTC - in response to Message 1453994.  

Ok thank you.
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donniedarko1970

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Message 1454073 - Posted: 15 Dec 2013, 3:13:36 UTC - in response to Message 1454025.  

I will do that thank you.
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Joe Marshall

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Message 1468387 - Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 19:09:36 UTC

I am brand new with few computer skills and joined because I follow the TV coverage of SETI and got the impression I could contribute to the effort by volunterring my computer. I down loaded SETI and the recommended other program "Bionic?" but I cannot find instructions on what to do next. Do you have a primer or manual on how to get started? Thank YOU, Joe Marshall
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Message 1468398 - Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 19:23:14 UTC - in response to Message 1468387.  

BOINC (not bionic) is the project management system that allows you to connect to several science projects and divvy up your computer time between them.

SETI@home is just one of the projects you can join. Once you've joined a project, there's nothing else that is really necessary to do as everything is completely automated! BOINC will automatically return the results of tasks you've processed and fetch more tasks to be processed.

The only thing you need to do is make sure your computer is running in top condition from time to time, such as opening up the case (if it is a desktop) and blowing out all the dust bunnies out of the computer, or the side vents if you have a laptop.

That's all there really is to it. If you have questions about anything, most people are more than happy to answer as best they can.
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Message 1476990 - Posted: 14 Feb 2014, 8:21:11 UTC - in response to Message 1453994.  

>The way SETI@Home works is it looks for long term repeating patterns

that looks like seti looks for special signal send to cosmos, and regularly repeated? i thing, it is not the best way to search ET?
some time ago i readed, a SETI also try to analyze signals who was get from alien civilization tv, radio and so on broadcasts, who definitely not be repeat one signal tens, hundreds and millions times. i think, it is be much more real searching strategie, if we consider all factors. in exampe, in a way who you describe no one can detect our civilization, because we sent only few short special signals to space many years ago, and in a very narrow direction....
but our communuication and brodcast radio runs every day, every hour for decades, and is a omnidirectional...
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Message 1477099 - Posted: 14 Feb 2014, 12:45:55 UTC - in response to Message 1476990.  

>The way SETI@Home works is it looks for long term repeating patterns

that looks like seti looks for special signal send to cosmos, and regularly repeated? i thing, it is not the best way to search ET?
some time ago i readed, a SETI also try to analyze signals who was get from alien civilization tv, radio and so on broadcasts, who definitely not be repeat one signal tens, hundreds and millions times.


You misunderstand what SETI@home is doing and you're thinking too broad. SETI@home is looking for any noise that does not match the natural noise of space within a specific frequency (a.k.a. the "waterhole" frequency). Things in this frequency could be anything, from a purposefully sent signal to things like radio and TV broadcasts.

We're not looking for the same episode of the same TV show; we're simply looking for anything that is not natural. That is to say, we're looking for something that would have been put there by an obvious intelligent source.
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Questions and Answers : Getting started : How do i know if i have a signal?


 
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