Tuesday, July 9, 2019

First-Ever Lunar Repeater QSO Reported

Amateur radio science and technology blogger Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ/M0HXM, is reporting that DK5LA in Germany contacted BY2HIT at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China on July 1 using the GMSK-to-JT4G repeater aboard the lunar-orbiting LO-94 (DSLWP-B) satellite. It is the first-ever amateur contact made through a lunar-orbiting satellite transponder.

A solar eclipse as seen from the Moon ... the black dot on the image of the
Earth is the Moon's shadow as it crosses the planet.
(Photo by Lunar-OSCAR 94, also known as DSLWP-B)

The Chinese LO-94 satellite also took photos of the Moon's shadow as it crossed the Earth during the July 2 total solar eclipse (seen in the Southern Hemisphere). One image is posted here. The black splotch on the Earth is the Moon's shadow as it crosses during the eclipse.