EME

As I was getting going again with amateur radio, I had thoughts about one day managing to get going with EME (Earth-Moon-Earth, or Moonbounce) communication. Basically, bouncing amateur radio signals off the Moon, and managing to receive them. This is not easy!

By 2011 I had converted an old Nokia Dolphin power amplified (used in the Tetra system) for use as a PA for 70cm. This was more power than I had ever had before; normally I work with batteries, low power, and at remote sites. Really this weight of PA can only go in the car at best, or preferably at a fixed site with mains power. It did mean that I could start to think about EME, and so wanted to try some tests once I had proved the use of the PA.

So in December 2012 I was ready, after building a long version of the DL6WU 70cm Yagi I already had in 8 element form. The long version has 15 elements; the gain should be about 16dBi. I mounted the antenna outside, between the ground and a wooden stepladder, roughly pointing at the Moon!

screenshot of EME signals

Using the WSJT software I was able to detect, and I believe decode, at least one signal, either DK3WG or someone in contact with him. The screenshot shows a signal in the waterfall, with single tones in alternate minutes, so I’m sure I was seeing a real moonbounce signal. This was really quite exciting, and made me think that there would be a chance of making contacts sometime. At that stage I was not in any position to try transmitting myself.

The EME trail went a bit cold, as I was also in the early stages of getting going properly at 10GHz since it was only 3 months since my first 3cm contact, and I had many improvements to make to the equipment.

I have kept EME in the back of my mind (alongside the reception of deep space probes, which has a similar attraction at microwave frequencies). Just recently we had a talk at the Lothians club which made me start thinking again; Paul Dobie GM0PJD described getting started on 23cm EME. It was a great talk, and made me think that I really ought to have another go.

So, this is the plan. I will go back to 70cm (432MHz) where I have already had a very tentative start, but have equipment that might just make it work, especially with a bit of tweaking!

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