Doctor Roger Roger, Dean of Radio and Communications at the University of Rylstone-Kandos, having formerly been nominated for a Nobel Prize for establishing conclusively that the Sun was still radiating, has been perfecting his theory concerning extraneous factors impacting adversely on operation SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence).
Dr Roger's Wiruna experiments had convinced him that the accumulation of bird droppings on radio dishes had degraded signals sufficiently to seriously affect data collection and that the degree of degradation was inversely proportional to the guilty species' dropping size.
Thus, the robust droppings from Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos had a more significant effect than the dainty leavings of Rosellas or Galahs.
He also demonstrated that zonal cleanings, that is, removing droppings only from selected zones on the dish, could be used to phase-modulate results, while comparing signals from the same area of the sky observed with a totally clean dish, a Rosella afflicted dish, and one with Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo coatings could add a semi-interferometric element to measurements.
Dr Roger had been first alerted to this phenomenon when he had for the first time detected signals which he thought were the only genuine intelligent transmissions from another planet.
Alas, he was wrong on both counts as careful analysis established that these signals were only repeats of distorted broadcasts from Rylstone Community Radio reflected by the Oort Cloud, having been precisely focussed by a lens of sub-micron lime dust hovering above the Cement Works of nearby Kandos which happened to be in phase with the scattered cometary bodies in the Oort Cloud and reflected precisely back to near their point of origin, even if many hours later.
Dr Roger plans to establish a longer baseline for future observations by fitting a chicken wire dish to the Hills Hoist clothes line at his property near Rylstone while coating the one at Wiruna with Rosella droppings and the other with those of Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos.
Experiments are currently underway to establish the right mix of parrot seed to attract the appropriate targeted species to the respective dishes. Soaking sunflower seed in beer seems to work best with the larger parrots.