Making Radio Astronomy Accessible: A Case Study of a Reproducible, Low‐Cost, Portable Table‐top Radio Telescope at the IAU GA 2024

Urban environments, daytime conditions, and limited resources typically prevent live astronomical demonstrations – but this case study shows that they no longer have to. We deployed a reproducible, low‐cost, portable Table‐top Radio Telescope (TTRT) during the IAU General Assembly 2024 in Cape Town to test whether meaningful hands‐on radio‐astronomical observations could be achieved in real outreach settings. The TTRT detected the Milky Way’s 21‐cm hydrogen line within 30 seconds, even in cloudy weather and under strong urban radio‐frequency interference(RFI), enabling live demonstrations that would have been impossible with optical instruments. Across universities, schools, and a science centre, participants engaged directly with real‐time spectral data, Doppler‐shift measurements, and hands-on operation, while construction activities deepened conceptual understanding and ownership. The deployment revealed clear lessons learned for urban outreach – managing RFI, selecting effective pointing strategies, and coordinating logistics at large venues – and informed practical recommendations for future1implementations. These results demonstrate how compact, accessible radio‐astronomy instruments can transform participation in observational science.