If you have an interest in amateur or shortwave radio or an interest in science and physics in general, you have the opportunity to participate in an experiment this weekend. The goal of the experiment is to bounce High Frequency (HF aka shortwave) signals off of the moon and to have terrestrial stations detect the reflected signals. Details on the experiment and information on where to send reception reports can be found on this page:
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/mbann.html
This experiment is a follow-on to an experiment conducted in October 2007 as described here:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/pressRelease.php?Y=2008&R=4-08r
As far as equipment is concerned, you will need a shortwave receiver that is capable of tuning Single Sideband (SSB) or CW (Continuous Wave) transmissions and probably an external antenna such as a dipole or long-wire antenna. It is unlikely that a receiver's built-in antenna would be capable of picking up the signal, but you might want to give it a shot if you don't have access to an external antenna.
Note that the dates and times scheduled are given in UTC time which means that the experiment will be taking place late 18 January/early 19 January and again late 19 January/early 20 January depending on your location. If you want to see the current UTC time, you can go to the following web site and click on the UTC link in the lower right corner of the graphic:
http://www.time.gov/
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/mbann.html
This experiment is a follow-on to an experiment conducted in October 2007 as described here:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/pressRelease.php?Y=2008&R=4-08r
As far as equipment is concerned, you will need a shortwave receiver that is capable of tuning Single Sideband (SSB) or CW (Continuous Wave) transmissions and probably an external antenna such as a dipole or long-wire antenna. It is unlikely that a receiver's built-in antenna would be capable of picking up the signal, but you might want to give it a shot if you don't have access to an external antenna.
Note that the dates and times scheduled are given in UTC time which means that the experiment will be taking place late 18 January/early 19 January and again late 19 January/early 20 January depending on your location. If you want to see the current UTC time, you can go to the following web site and click on the UTC link in the lower right corner of the graphic:
http://www.time.gov/