I love reading about the exploits of radio amateurs. This is some seriously impressive engineering too. It's surprising what one can do with off the shelf components assembled on a human scale (instead of microwave frequencies which need much smaller circuits).
Also, there's a certain beauty in staying close to the physical layer and working the airwaves yourself.
This antenna array is used for EME. For those not familiar with that acronym, it means using the moon as a radio reflector to send signals back to earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Moon%E2%80%93Ear...
I love reading about the exploits of radio amateurs. This is some seriously impressive engineering too. It's surprising what one can do with off the shelf components assembled on a human scale (instead of microwave frequencies which need much smaller circuits).
Also, there's a certain beauty in staying close to the physical layer and working the airwaves yourself.
The caption for the WAS aware clearly mention 52 US states.
Is that a typo or some quirk of radio amateur?
I believe that's a mistake. The page of the award mentions only 50 states: https://www.arrl.org/was
It seems to be a typo, unless the criteria for the award have changed: https://www.arrl.org/was
Or perhaps incredibly prescient!
Just 10W of RF to hear your own voice relayed by the moon is insane