[50mhz] [Moon-Net] Old Eimac Moonbounce notes [KA9Q]

[Lance Collister]

Thanks for sharing this David!

I am glad someone archived these.  W6PO was instrumental in building an EME 
population around the world, thanks - in large part - to his "Moonbounce Notes"!  
Remember, this was decades before any internet, so it was very difficult to share 
ideas on how to solve problems facing would-be EME-ers.  And as you pointed out, one 
of the fundamental problems facing everyone at that time was trying to figure out 
where the moon was going to be for them - let alone for somebody else at the same 
time!  That is why I started working on my first computer program to solve this 
problem in 1973.  The first TRACKER program was in BASIC using the DTSS ( Dartmouth 
Time Sharing System), as few people had access to DOS-based computers themselves.   
The following year, I re-wrote the program in FORTRAN so it could be used on DEC 
PDP-11 computers that were making their way into businesses.  K1CA was very helpful 
in providing access to a computer where he worked for this project.  Many of us 
relied on a stack of annual moon position printout that we obtained from a generous 
ham at such a business! It is hard to believe how far we have come over the last few 
decades, now that virtually every EME-er has access to his own (much more powerful) 
personal computer!   The original program has evolved over the years and is still 
used around the world by hams on Windows operating systems today:

http://bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/GJTRACKER.zip

Another of the other very helpful features of the Moonbounce Notes was to share 
photos and diagrams of how people were constructing elevation systems, amplifiers, 
preamps, etc. - none of which were available commercially in those days.   Many of 
the same questions about antenna systems are being asked today by new EMEers, and it 
just may be that some of the old issues of the Moonbounce Notes could help spark some 
ideas on how they could solve their mechanical problems.

Perhaps the most valuable offering of the publications was showing that is was 
possible to work EME with the antennas pictured.  EME was no longer an unreachable 
dream - these many stations were proving it to be a reality!  And if they could do it 
with THOSE antennas, YOU could have success too!  That was the reason I started 
posting some photos of the antennas I have worked on 6m EME:

http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/6mEMEstns.htm

It was my hope that newcomers would again have the same response as to the original 
Moonbounce Notes photos, and realize that 6m EME was not so far from their reach, 
either!   Nowadays, which JT65, EME is within reach of many more people.   And its 
additional sensitivity has even made it possible to operate EME on 6m with a modest 
station.   Last August, I worked 37 stations on 6m EME from V6M during 3 moonrises 
and 4 moonsets with my single 6M8GJ yagi!  All random contacts without access to the 
internet. A few decades ago, nobody would have imagined such a thing was possible!  
With the predicted declining activity of future sunspot cycles, 6m EME is undoubtedly 
going to continue to become more widespread among 6m DXers!

Continued GL and DX to all!  VY 73, Lance

On 10/19/2015 7:55 AM, David Anderson wrote:
> I thought some of you might like to see this note from this week's AMSAT news:
>
> + Eimac Moonbounce Notes collection
>
>   Way back in 1980 when I first got interested in amateur satellites
>   and AMSAT, I wrote off to Eimac Corporation for their "Moonbounce
>   Notes" collection.
>
>   While on a household paper eradication campaign I came across them
>   and scanned them. I thought others might enjoy a look back at some
>   bleeding-edge ham activities from the mid-late 1970s. It's
>   particularly amusing to see how much effort was spent just tracking
>   the moon with the technology then available.
>
> http://www.ka9q.net/moonbounce-notes <http://www.ka9q.net/moonbounce-notes>
>
>   This is a raw collection of pdf files, but the file names are pretty
>   descriptive. Collect the entire set!
>
>   If anybody has any notes missing from my collection, please let me
>   know.
>
>   [ANS thanks Phil KA9Q for the above information]
>
> I somehow got hold of a number of those Eimac notes in the late 70's, and it was 
> the computer listings for moon position calculation by Lance WA1JXN (W7GJ) that got 
> me started in computing myself, typing it into some automatic test equipment at 
> work and getting output on line print paper, years before I had a Moonbounce 
> station myself. It became a dream and an obsession to make a Moonbounce contact 
> after that.
>
> 73
>
> David GM4JJJ
>
>
>
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-- 
Lance Collister, W7GJ
(ex WA3GPL, WA1JXN, WA1JXN/C6A, ZF2OC/ZF8, E51SIX, 3D2LR, 5W0GJ, E6M, TX5K, KH8/W7GJ, V6M)
P.O. Box 73
Frenchtown, MT   59834-0073
USA
TEL: (406) 626-5728
QTH: DN27ub
URL: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj
Skype: lanceW7GJ
2m DXCC #11/6m DXCC #815