Too bad I found this link a bit late. I wish the dishes at Stanford could have been saved.
This request is for temporary permission to operate a 144 MHz amateur transmitter with a peak power output up to 2500 watts on CW and SSB modes. Transmissions will be confined to the EME (earth-moon-earth, or moonbounce) mode.
A summary is enclosed of my equipment and experiments over the past few years using this mode of communication at the 1000 watt average power input level. Also enclosed is a series of EME notes I have compiled and mailed to over 300 VHF enthusiasts to help them learn about this fascinating method of amateur radio communication. A photograph of my present 144 MHz moonbounce antenna installation is also enclosed.
The moon is approximately 2160 miles in diameter and orbits the earth at a distance that varies from 221,463 to 252,710 miles. The reflection coefficient of the moon is 7%, 93% of the energy that strikes the moon being absorbed. The re-radiated signal is mainly diffused through space as the earth, as viewed from the moon, subtends an angle of only 2 degrees.
The VHF signal that returns to earth is spread over a surface area of about 98,470,000 square miles. Of this area, only a very small portion is taken up by the receiving antenna. Thus, only a small fraction of the transmitted signal in an EME circuit is picked up by the receiving antenna. This problem has challenged the ability of many of the world's most skilled VHF amateurs.
Under the best of conditions, using the maximum legal power, the most sensitive receiver and the largest possible antenna array, two-way EME communication is a marginal operation. A boost in the EME circuit by 3 t0 6 decibels would improve chances of communication immensely and raise the level of interest among amateurs who do not have the time, space and money to erect the large antenna array necessary for effective EME communication. ... continue..
The April 2004 Tube Collector Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 2 has a SK article about Dad. Page 11 and 13 have the Ham TV photos that I posted earlier in the blog. There's a nice description about my dad's radio and Eimac history. The information was provided by Mike Bach, WB6FFC.
The Perseids meteor shower is here again. As kids we used to lay outside on the grass watching for meteors while dad was in the ham shack working the radio. Even when we got older my sister and I used to get the cots and sleeping bags out every August to watch the shooting stars. This year's show is supposed to be a great one!
My dad had a big map on the wall by the radios. He tracked contacts made by meteor scatter, by tropo and by EME. I made the little flags he pinned into the map that showed the origins of his contacts.
http://www.ok2kkw.com/eme1960/eme1960eng.htm
WHICH HAS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE MOONBOUNCE ENDEAVORS.
The following pictures are from the Varian Associates Magazine dated April 1977. On the cover is the cartoon of my father which was taken from the photograph of him sitting at the radio in the next picture.
On July 17, 1960, Eimac (San Carlos) radio station (W6AY) made the first-ever amateur two-way 'moon-bounce' contact with the Rhododendron Swamp Radio Club (W1BU) in Massachusetts. Dad directed the connection from San Carlos, California.
This is the crew involved in this EME endeavor.
Standing: Robert Sutherland W6UOV (now W6PO), Hank Brown W6HB, Bill Eitel W6UF, George M W Badger W6RXW (now W6TC), Al Clark W6MUC and Bob Morwood K6GLF.
Sitting: Ray Rinaudo W6KEV (was W6ZO then back to KEV), Charlie Anderson W6IVZ (now W6VW), Allan Beer K6GSO.
My sister and I along with Mike Bach (WB6FFC), a very good friend of my fathers, went to clean some of the accumulation of radio equipment and parts out of the ham shack this past weekend. Up in the loft, pushed back under the eaves was part of the TV Camera equipment used in 1949. (See above picture) A lable down in the lower right corner was really all that was left to indicate what the piece of equipment was used for. I'll have to get a picture to post here in the future.
My dad went to school at UC Berkeley with Bob Melvin. Bob Melvin built a black & white TV camera at the end of 1948 and put it on 420/450 MHz ham band in early 1949. My dad built a receiver and received TV pictures from Berkeley at his home in Oakland, CA. Dad later build a camera and had it on the air for a short time.
( See June 1950 QST)
Here are a couple pictures of the TV endeavor.
I decided to create a web log about my father to record the interests he had and the contributions he made in the Amatuer Radio world. When my father died on January 11, 2004, the amateur radio community responded very quickly in sending letters of condolence and personal rememberances of how my father helped others personally in their HAM endeavors and how they respected him as a person. The letters to our family helped lift a bit of the sorrow we felt. For me, the letters made me proud and made me smile with happiness that people cared so much about my father. Thank you very much everyone.!!
Janice