I really do believe that as time goes on it will be necessary to use
software and SETI like intercept technology to intercept and decode 
Voyager
31 and 32 (craft launch numbers) data. (http://cbc.am/dsn.htm)

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SETI is trying to detect the existence of signals, where the signals
are assumed not to be detectably present in most directions and on
most frequencies.  Deep space probe communication is about communicating
with something whose position, frequency and signal characteristics are
very well known.  They are very different problems.

== Reply ==
Yes, I do know this -- a lot of the SETI algorythms will need to be 
discarded or put in reserve for charaterizing the microwave transmitters on 
the Voyager craft. One craft transmitter has a substantial, but tolerable 
fault. One craft's reciver has a similar fault -- one that leads to only 75% 
of commands reaching it over optimal conditions.

The hardware Viterbi decoders can only sustain signal interception for so
long, as signal interception is more or less at the limits of current
hardware receiver design.

 =====================================
Viterbi decoding is an algorithm (its about error correcting
codes), so a move from custom hardware to software wouldn't make any
difference to the performance.  Receiver limitations apply to SETI
applications just as much as deep space network ones.  (In fact,
S@H has a signal that has been degraded compared with signal from
the receiver.)

== Reply ==
The reciver conditions you speak of are holding in the early 2000s, but 
there is no guarentee that these conditions will hold.
Reciver conditions immedatly impact Viterbi docoder performance -- thus the 
need for backup software decoding.

The actual receivers used will be very similar to those used for microwave
SETI, as are the antennas.

The real solutions to Voyager detection are, to some extent lower noise
receivers, but the total noise is now within about a factor of
three of the sky noise, and not all of the excess over the sky noise
is actually from the receiver, and larger antennas.

== Reply ==
The SETI-DSN reception similarities are assumed to be almost identical, 
except we have a known signal that can be parsed and decoded on screen for 
the general public that would be interested in the craft.

The amount of processing will increase over time as Voyager craft increase 
their distance from the solar system. The signals will continue to reach the 
[sky] noise floor as time passes.