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Ham (amateur) radio has always been the place for the electronics/radio/hobby
person who wonders "Is this possible ?" to go try and find out.
Starting from the time when the government spectrum regulators first gave great
gobs of frequency bands to amateur radio ... because nobody knew how to use
them yet, and they were thought to be relatively worthless for communication.
Today, that region of the spectrum begins roughly at the upper frequency edge of
the AM broadcast band !
The evolution of radio equipment and the expansion of RF communication, from the
very beginning up until about World War II, was accomplished mainly by ham radio
people. Communication techniques that include 'short wave', voice, FM, 'teletype',
single sideband, TV, phase modulation, and data packet, were developed, built, and
first used by hams, before they were picked up by 'mainstream' industry.
During roughly the past 20 years, two of the main challenges that have been tackled
by amateur radio operators ... many using home-built electronics and antennas ... are:
-- communicating through artificial satellites carrying amateur radio repeaters
-- communicating by reflecting their signals from the moon.
Both methods share two of the same purposes:
1). Use the satellite or the moon to extend the range of communication between
me and somebody in a distant place, when we could not normally hear each other
over the usual ground or ionospheric signal paths.
2). Find out for myself whether I can do it !
What else can I help you with?
The moon blocks radio signals sent from earth?
The moon does not block radio signals sent from Earth, but it can cause disruptions in the signals due to its influence on the Earth's ionosphere. Radio waves can still reach the moon and be reflected back to Earth. NASA and other organizations have successfully sent signals to spacecraft on the moon and beyond.
What can an amateur become?
An amateur radio operator is one who can do anything legal with radio communications, but is not paid to do them.Some hams have been very successful at putting up ham radio satellites into orbit, the first of which was the OSCAR series in the early 1960's.(OSCAR = Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio.)My ham friend and I became somewhat proficient at reflecting radio communications from mountains, the Moon, and so forth. (He did the Moon-bounces 'cause it is too expensive for me!) But, Hey, I had a nice, tall mountain 5 miles away that did splendid work in reflecting my measly 10 watts of VHF radio signals to much farther than if I had simply aimed the beam antenna toward the city I was trying to 'Hit'.An amateur can usually become a professional.
How far does ham radio work?
Some amateur radio operators regularly communicate with each other by reflecting their signals off of the moon, so we know that amateur radio communication is possible over distances of at least a half-million miles ... something like 19 times the distance around the earth We don't know how much farther it might work, because there aren't any hams out there to talk to.
Is there bounced light in the Moon?
yes
Does the far side of the Moon receive signals from a greater area of the sky than the near side?
The far side of the moon would receive the same signals with the exception of Earth originating signals. The radio equipment would not be subject to interference from the Earth signals on the far side so space originating signals would be easier to study.
Did we land on the near side of the moon?
Yes. There was no choice; if they landed on the lunar far side, their radio and TV signals would not reach Earth (with the Moon itself in the way!).
How did NASA get live feed television communications to and from the Moon surface?
They sent cameras and microphones to the moon with the astronauts and used radio to stranmit the signals back the receiving stations on Earth.
Why do astronauts have radio transmitters when they are on moon?
So they can talk to each other and Earth, even though there is no air.Astronauts have radio transmitters on moon as they cannot communicate with each other.Sound cannot travel if there is no air. As there is no air on the moon astronauts need radio transmitters when they are on moon.
Is it possible to bounce a radio signal off the moon?
No. Not directly. Radio waves move in line of sight (a straight line). This is the reason there are so many communications satelites orbiting the Earth. Radio waves are bounced off them to other parts of the globe. If there were two to three satelites in geosynchronous orbit in the L-positions over the moon, we could have essentially obstruction free communication with Far Side.
How long does it take radio signals to reach Triton?
Radio signals travel at the speed of light, which is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (about 186,282 miles per second). Triton, Neptune's largest moon, is about 4.3 billion kilometers (2.7 billion miles) from Earth on average. Therefore, it takes radio signals roughly 4.3 hours to reach Triton from Earth, depending on the relative positions of the two bodies in their orbits.
What happens when they go behind the moon?
When a spacecraft goes behind the Moon as observed from Earth, it enters into a temporary radio blackout period known as a lunar occultation. This occurs because the Moon blocks the line of sight between the spacecraft and Earth, interrupting communication signals. Once the spacecraft emerges from behind the Moon, communication is reestablished.
What happened when Apollo 8 orbited the far side of the moon?
When Apollo 8 orbited the far side of the moon, the crew lost communication with Earth because radio signals were blocked by the moon. They became the first humans to see the "dark side" of the moon and took iconic photos of Earth rising over the lunar horizon.
