Listening to the Kaguya-Selene lunar probe:

Picking up the carrier 2263.602 MHz (nom.) carrier from the spacecraft (page in reverse cronological order for the time being)

Yes, this is a spectrogram of Kaguya-Selene received with a PAPER CLIP bunged into a BNC adapter on my LNA for an antenna !!!

- next test: a paper clip stuck into a SMA-BNC adapter ??? (16.12.2007)

- well, I just had to try it, didn't I; this is the straightened paper clip (150k) in the BNC adapter (18_12_2007)

- for the record, the moon elevation was about 25 degrees with both the paper clip antenna and the QBFH mobile antennas both seeing plenty of ambient thermal noise (-2 deg. C)

- finally the signals were so weak, I actually had to use my hand (84k) as a reflector to gain a dB or two, but the signal is easily copiable by ear - no dsp, nothing !!! (18_12_2007)

- closeup (80k) of the paper clip in the BNC/SMA adapter on my homebrew 0.6 dB P-HEMT LNA (18_12_2007), signal can still be tracked manually ;-)

- if want to listen to the signals for yourself; here is an uncompressed audio file (667k), the pitch is around 800 Hz and rising due to Doppler (18_12_2007)

- yes, I have already tried it; today i built an QBFH (79kb) helix with semi-omnidirectional pattern for RHCP. And yes, you can hear the thing with your bare ears (5 Mb video) !

- for this brief test, the elevation was 20 degrees or so and the antenna was definitely seeing surrounding thermal noise (lost the spacecraft as it sent behind the moon) (16.12.2007)

- this test was with my 0.6 dB homobrew P-HEMT LNA and mobile - yes, mobile, driving down the road ;-) (16.12.2007)

- incredibly strong, this birds signal is very difficult not to hear: here I am using an 8 by 10 cm W-LAN patch antenna SPA 2400/80/9/0/DS (136 kb) from Huber & Suhner

- this is a +-45 degree dual slant, cross-pol antenna that I feed with a DECT 1900 MHz splitter and phase shift lines (103 kb) for RHCP (15.12.2007)

- the preamplifier this time is a ZEL-1724LN (183 kb) preamp from Mini-Circuits (15.12.2007)

- absolutely no problem with a 2.25 turn RHCP helix (antenna labelling is for use with a prime focus dish) and the preamplifier, all set up on my window sill (76 kb) (15.12.2007)

- pretty unbelievably, the Kaguya downlink carrier can be heard clearly, here with lunar elevation of 15 degrees and through double glazing (15.12.2007)

- sometimes it can be a bit chilly (85 kb), so it is nice to find out that this setup (83 kb) actually works quite well too ;-) (02.12.2007)

- equipment setup for modification of the CATV/MMDS converter passband, checking the noise figure and the noise figure test results

- here you may find a nice spectrum waterfall (462 kb) plot showing locking onto the control station uplink (image: OH3MCK) (30.11.2007)

- and a very beautiful waterfall showing the downlink Doppler (320 kb) with the full orbit in view (image: OH3MCK) (30.11.2007)

- Petri, OH3MCK, used a 25 element Tonna (18 dBi linear polarisation) with about 3 - 4 dB cable loss before the LNA (converter LO 1831 MHz, IF 432.6 MHz)

- some more fun with Kaguya-Selene, this time receiving the lunar-orbiting probe practically mobile (3.9 Mb) (video) (29.11.2007)

- here is photo (58 k) using the linearly polarized W-LAN-patch antenna (about 14 dBi lin.) mentioned below (patch + converter on roof of car) (29.11.2007)

- and a close-up photo of the antenna (67 k), now using a microwave-CATV-converter (29.11.2007)

- latest fun with listening to the signal and especially the Doppler behavior of the JAXA Kaguya/Selene lunar orbiter (24.11.2007)

- first I picked up the thing with just a converter, 25 by 25 cm W-LAN panel antenna and an old FRG-9600

- next, used my RHCP/LHCP polarisation selectable 90 cm dish (96kb) with 0.6 dB NF P-HEMT preamplifier (24.11.2007)

- here is a short MPEG video (6.5 Mb) of the setup to give an idea of the primitive system I am using ;-) (24.11.2007)

- position (208 kb) of the moon for this video/audio (24.11.2007)

Listening to the Kaguya-Selene lunar probe:

Picking up the carrier 2263.602 MHz (nom.) carrier from the spacecraft (page in reverse cronological order for the time being)

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