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| Project Diana QSL card (courtesy hamgallery.com) |
The 60-foot dish antenna with which the U.S. Army first
received signals bounced off the moon may soon become available for amateur
radio moonbounce use. The tracking antenna at the former Fort Monmouth in New
Jersey was used for the first EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) experiments, known as
Project Diana, in 1946. It is now part of the Info Age Science History Museum.
The dish has been dormant since the 1970s and in now being rehabilitated.
According to the
ARRL Letter, Info Age board member and Princeton
University physics professor Martin Flynn, W2RWJ, wants to use the dish for
radio astronomy, but also wants to make it available for 70-centimeter amateur
radio EME on a secondary basis. Work is being slowed by the fact that there has
been no power to the site since Hurricane Sandy nearly a year ago, and the
entire facility is still running on generator power. The local government
approved installation of a new transformer in late July, so restored power
appears to be on the horizon. For more information on the Info Age museum,
visit <
www.infoage.org>.
