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<H1>Arecibo Coverage Maps</H1>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Russ, K2TXB</STRONG> has made available coverage
maps for the Arecibo 432.045 MHz EME transmissions from Puerto Rico on April
16-18.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>He writes:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>It seems to me that there are a lot of guys asking
questions about the Arecibo operation, wanting to know if and when they can work
them. So I have put up three pages on my web site that show the ground coverage
that the Arecibo dish will have on each of the days of operation. Go to:
</FONT><A href="http://www.k2txb.com/" target=_blank><FONT
face=Tahoma>http://www.k2txb.com/</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>The first three links will show you the times and coverage
for each of the three days. Generally the moon will be high in the sky when you
can work them, so you should expect to build up some sort of temporary support
structure that will allow you to aim your antenna up and manually position it to
point at the moon. Ideally the support structure should be as low to the ground
as possible and still allow the back of the antenna to clear the earth when
pointed up.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>If you can see the Moon, all it will take is a visual
aiming. Lay on your back under the antenna and sight along the boom to verify
that the boom is pointed straight at the Moon. For short antennas this is not
very critical and generally within 10-20 degrees will work.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>If you cannot see the Moon (due to cloud cover) then you
need a program to tell you where the Moon is, from your location at the current
time. Then you will need a way to measure and set the elevation and the azimuth
of the antenna. Elevation can be measured easily with a level and a protractor,
or a simple gravity operated inclinometer such as sold for a few dollars in most
any hardware store.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Azimuth can be measured with a compass, but make sure you
take into account the offset in your area between true north and magnetic north.
An easy way to determine how much offset you need for your compass headings is
to see how much difference there is between your compass heading and the
location of the Sun. Any Moon program will also show Sun locations so this is
easy.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>The web pages that I put up are Q&D (Quick and Dirty).
Maybe I will enhance them with a little more information in the coming
days.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Very 73, </FONT><EM><STRONG><BR><FONT face=Tahoma>Russ
K2TXB</FONT></STRONG></EM><FONT face=Tahoma> <BR><BR>FN20MB (MB for Moon
Bounce)</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://www.k2txb.com/" target=_blank><FONT
face=Tahoma>http://www.k2txb.com/</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Moon-Net Email reflector<BR></FONT><A
href="http://list-serv.davidv.net/mailman/listinfo/moon-net_list-serv.davidv.net"
target=_blank><FONT
face=Tahoma>http://list-serv.davidv.net/mailman/listinfo/moon-net_list-serv.davidv.net</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Arecibo on 432 MHz Moon Bounce April 16-18<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2010/arecibo_432_moonbounce.htm"
target=_blank><FONT
face=Tahoma>http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2010/arecibo_432_moonbounce.htm</FONT></A></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>