A few words over morning coffee

After a long break from this blog I am back posting a few listings. Just a little time killing as I have my morning coffee.

All good things must come to an end. Yesterday Saturday May 12th W8KT Bob travailed a great distance to help disassemble my EME (moon bounce) antenna system. After two hours of hard work Bob pulled out of my driveway on his way home to his new EME adventure. I hope he can enjoy the great fun that I experienced making contacts via the moon.

Also yesterday I taught a traffic handling class to ARES members local and surrounding counties. The class went very well and I'm sure we (including myself) all learned a few things. It was fun.

A great and memorable day

After more hard work a friend and I added two more 15 element antennas and an "H" frame to my EME (moon bounce) array. This morning was my first chance to be on the air with the new antennas. Twelve stations were contacted in Europe, Asia, & Africa believe it or not I even had a pile-up with three stations calling at the same time. The photo shows what a big antenna it takes to transmit and receive signals reflected from the moon, about 480,000 average miles round trip..... Jack WB9OTX
See my EME Logbook

WB9OTX Makes Moon Bounce Contact

11:50 EDT (15:50Z) July 3, 2011
Today at about noon I worked my first moon bounce EME station. It was UA3PTW located in European Soviet Union. All the expense, problems, work, and sweat finally paid off. I have dreamed about this for many years and today it has come to be. This is one of the hardest contacts to make in Ham Radio and also the longest distance. It is 240,000 average miles to the moon and another 240,000 miles return. It takes 2 1/2 seconds for the signal's round trip. I have a very modest station consisting of two 15 element Yagi antennas and the power of 300 watts. A big thanks to my wife Betty for reheating all the meals that I have missed trying for this contact........... Jack Demaree WB9OTX

*** Update ..... I have now contacted Spain, Italy and the USA. I am adding 2 more antennas on a "H" frame, 7/8 inch hard line, and a quad input power divider as soon as all the parts come in. Look out moon !