8 Jul
2008
8 Jul
'08
8:23 p.m.
Hello All,
For those who would like to try and experience a signal from a moon orbiter, the Kaguya lunar probe is transmitting a carrier around 2263.6MHz. I use a medium size BBQ grill on a camera tripod, a noisy MMDS downconverter that has filtering against this frequency (it's tuned for 2300-2400MHz) and a PCR1000 as IF on 312.5MHz (6kHz filter on USB). It shouldn't work, but it does, and I get a 6-10dB spike above the noise using DL4YHF's spectrum lab software. It is audible.
The orbital period is around 2 hours and it can be behind the moon for up to 50 minutes. Doppler is about 45kHz so it can be seen as different from the birdies from the MMDS.
73 de David VK5DG