Moon Bounce

The only long distance communication mode that I see possible post pole shift that is currently practiced by a few well equipped hams is moon bounce. It works exactly like it sounds. You transmit your signal at high power (2000 watts) using a very high gain and narrow beam width antenna system at the moon. The signal travels to the moon, bounces back, and is received by anyone else that can also see the moon. Of course, the receiving station requires the same sort of equipment as described before. This is pretty exotic stuff compared to your normal, everyday ham setup; but it can and is being done every day by the few that are into it.

You can get a good idea of the State of the Art in moon bounce, but note that this web site isn't quite up to par as the initial links that are inside the main page don't seem to work, but just keep scrolling and you'll find some really interesting stuff, including pictures of the required antenna systems and recordings of actual moon bounce signals. All the signals I've listened to so far use CW (Morse code) and are very weak compared to the noise level, but the time domain signal analysis photos indicate that the signals are quite strong enough for digital modes.

You will also find that there are a tremendous number of hams actually using moon bounce on a regular basis. They seem to be sticking to the mode of CW, which is, by the way, the best mode for any type of weak signal work. The mind is still the best computer.

Offered by Ron.
WB5KAN - General Class