Is It Possible To Go Above Low Earth Orbit? We Have Been Lied To.

[mjlabadia]

Wait,....WHAT??? We bounce Mid V.H.F. through Microwave off the Moon all the time.

(Google; Earth-Moon-Earth, Amateur Radio.) Yes,..you need moderate power and a high gain antenna to overcome the path loss, but I'm talking from 500 to 1,500 watts.
Maybe an antenna gain of 13 db or more. (Transmit and Receive).

(Your local Radio Station transmits with 1,000 to 50,000 watts,...depending on the license class. Some of the "full Class C" F.M. stations use 100,000 watts E.R.P.)

Guys, I'm a Radio Engineer. I design Broadcast Stations and Communications equip.

The gentleman in the video, in his reference to his bouncing signals off the Ionosphere, is talking about a certain range of frequencies. usually from about 600 kilohertz to 30 Megahertz. (Medium-wave and High Frequency).

The shortwave stations I build are designed with this in mind. It is how we achieve Large Region or Worldwide Coverage.

However, we have to very carefully pick the frequency based on the time of day, and where we are in the 11 year sunspot cycle.
If we pick a frequency too high, the density of the Ionospheric Layers is not enough to refract the signals back to earth, and they go out into space. These layers are not Opaque, and they vary in density from day to day, day-to-night, season-to-season, and in an approximate sinusoidal pattern every 11 years.

Using the Moon as a reflector, we have Hemisphere coverage using from 144 MHz through 30 GHz. We can even hear our own reflection for a second or so when we stop transmitting. The delay time is predictable to the distance from the moon.

I'm stunned this Veteran didn't understand fully the mechanics of the system he was using. And didn't sense what was happening when the Automatic Link Establishment system would consistently pick lower frequencies at night.
(Most H.F. military grade communications systems, have "Handshake Software", which sends out a pulse, or data on different frequencies to test the best frequency for the time of day, and distance to be covered.
However an experienced Radio Operator knows instinctively what frequency to choose.)

What I've posted here is Radio 101. The predicting of the frequencies is more complex than I've outlined above, but you get the idea.

Weird coincidence, as I'm here in Nashville working on a Shortwave Transmitter now, which uses the very mechanics he referenced.

The Van Allen belt is relatively invisible to most radio frequencies. I WISH it was a reliable reflector, or ABSORBER for that matter.
Guys, think about this,....how many times have you had your DishNet drop out or Cable lose a handful of channels due to Sunfade? This is caused by the Sun lining up directly behind the geo-stationary satellite your Dishnet/Hughes or the satellite the cable company uses.
The broad band of frequencies the sun radiates just overpowers the 10 to 100 watt down-link signal from the satellite.

Cosmic radiation in the V.H.F./U.H.F./Microwave spectrum, as weak as it is, makes my work very difficult when dealing with satellites crossing in front of the Galactic Center.
This signal is coming from far beyond the Van Allen Belt. (Understatement).
Still, it causes compromised noise figures in Communications Links.

Oh, as a bit of trivia, a group of German Amateur Radio Operators just achieved the first Earth-Mars-Earth bounce. (Not a two way communications yet. They just received their echo.)

Everyone, I apologize if I came on rather strongly on this. I was just aghast at what the gentleman in the video was stating as "fact". As a fellow Vet, I would have thought he'd be more responsible, and more learned in his M.O.S. (25 Charlie)

Best Regards
Michael

PS)- "You can't put anything on the internet that isn't true"...................."Bon Jour"