[HN Gopher] Open-source communications by bouncing signals off t...
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       Open-source communications by bouncing signals off the Moon
        
       Author : fortran77
       Score  : 14 points
       Date   : 2025-11-02 14:44 UTC (6 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (open.space)
 (TXT) w3m dump (open.space)
        
       | gus_massa wrote:
       | I started reading thinking it was impossible but it has been done
       | with other devices
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Moon%E2%80%93Ear...
        
         | cactacea wrote:
         | Not impossible, just extremely difficult. I'm a ham and getting
         | some contacts over moonbounce is a personal goal of mine.
         | Historically this kind of thing has required some pretty large
         | antenna arrays and very high power though:
         | 
         | https://hamradio.engineering/eme-moonbounce-bouncing-signals...
         | 
         | http://www.g4ztr.co.uk/app/download/13284489/RaCcom_Feb14+EM...
         | 
         | http://www.g4ztr.co.uk/app/download/13300096/Radcom_Mar144+E...
        
       | cactacea wrote:
       | Expected array gain: ~39.3 dBi / EIRP: ~63.1 dBW
       | 
       | Tx power: 1 W per antenna
       | 
       | Yeah... so free space path loss at legal frequencies for hams
       | this thing can transmit on is ~283dB. Neat idea but consider me
       | skeptical. Having said that I can see some interesting
       | applications for this kind of gear, EME seems overly optimistic
       | though.
        
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       (page generated 2025-11-08 23:00 UTC)