[Moon] HARP Reception this weekend

[Doug McArthur]

Peter et all !
Here is a copy of email I sent to VK3WP who has, 
in the past done considerable experiments (in 
association with a prominent G), measuring 
cordial and round the World HF echos.
(An engineer of considerable note! .. and an old school mate buddy)
No ... I heard zilch echos here .. I had no noise 
(just band noise which was quite low) .. no QRM 
.. no EME signal .. heard or seen ... Given their 
beam width, elevation angle etc, I still cannot 
fathom why they picked those times. I must be 
missing something? Also I simply cannot believe 
some of the reports. Did you notice the 'key up 
splash' on odd occasions ... also they ceased 
transmission for about ~30 seconds at one stage. (note my listening period).
Some seem to believe you will hear the echo if 
they do not have coincident Moon .. they must be 
using Deep Search !!!  ... Probably using the JT CW 'decode' option !!
Cheers
Doug VK3UM


Hi Brian
Have a look at this ... http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/index.html
Thats a serious installation.
I listened tonight (Sunday 20/1/2008) from my 
moon rise (0755z) until it ceased transmission at 
0830z (precisely) but heard no echos (audibly) 
nor were ant detectable with spectrum.
Their direct transmissions were s8 to > s9 and 
the transit delay was quite distinct (measurable) 
as I would assume they were transmitting precisely on the second.
I detected several 'splashes' at the end of their 
keying sequences on the odd occasions as well. (like an arcing break contact)
There was at times some idiots trying to mimic 
the echos (very poorly) but zilch was heard or 
seen here. I would think (off the top of my head) that
the Moon was too high for their beam-with at the 
time (given their 15° el as stated). If they were 
to have transmitted for another hour I think I would
have been in business. Some of the reports I have 
seen are dubious to say the least, given the 
maximum signal level that would be expected. Their selected times
do not make a great deal of sense to me given 
their radiation angle and the position of the 
Moon but I am obviously missing something.

Nice to have a set up to create your own 
propagation .. I seem to recall discussing this 
with you (way back) that there was similar 
research done during or post war on this approach
at the time of your Croydon Wood pecker 
experiments. You can Google Earth it and see most 
of it quite clearly but it is right on a High/Low resolution break point.

And it is stated in their goals etc, that one of 
its purposes is to 'detect weapons of mass 
destruction'.. now thats the way to get funding!

Cheers
Doug

At 04:45 AM 21/01/2008, Peter Sundberg wrote:
>Hello Chris,
>
>I was listening for one hour on 7407.5, and heard the skywave signal very
>well. At no time did I notice any echoes. The moon was at 3 deg elevation,
>in az 345-355, and I was beaming right at it with my vertical array.
>
>Interesting to hear that Mike JH1KRC heard them, maybe a bit more elevation
>would have helped. Also, HF conditions here were pretty ok on 7 MHz,
>probably making EME a bit more difficult.
>
>73 de Peter SM2CEW
>www.sm2cew
>http://blog.sm2cew.com
>
>
>At 16:39 2008-01-20 , Christoph Petermann wrote:
> >Hi all
> >
> >For me it was clear that there was no chance here, as the Moon was already
> >VERY low above the horizon or had set already in any case of the tests.
> >The "direct" HF signal was up to 59+20dB here. Really strong with very fast
> >fading on it. It came in better at 7407.5 kHz 
> than on the lower frequency. I
> >have a monoband dipole for 7 MHz at about 12m above the ground which works
> >fairly well for me.
> >
> >Interestingly I have seen "positive" cluster reports by stations where the
> >Moon definitly must have been below the horizon at that time...
> >
> >73 de Christoph
> >
> >--
> >
> >Gruss, Greetings, 73 de Christoph Petermann
> >
> >-------------------------------------------
> >Christoph Petermann DF9CY | http://www.df9cy.de
> >
> >* 144 MHz EME : 1*DK7ZB 9ele full elevation 350W (WSJT) / 550W (CW)
> >* Magic Band 50 MHz
> >* Astrophotography
> >* Folkmusic
> >
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