GRAVES Radar in Virginia
Taken by Jim Hale on September 26, 2019 @
FM08sh
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Details:
I was impressed by Heiko Ulbricht's observations of France's GRAVES radar signals coming through in Germany via "moonbounce" reflections (as seen recently on spaceweather.com) and decided to give it a try for myself here in Virginia. Using a 6 element yagi antenna scaled to 143.050 MHz, a Channel Master 7777 antenna pre-amp, and an RTL-SDR dongle with HDSDR software, I have been able to observe France's space surveillance radar signals by Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) pathway several times during the past month. Signal strength is surprisingly good, but the moon's Right Ascension and Declination must be at a favorable mid-point between the transmitter and receiving station for successful results. I am still learning how to optimize the technique and would like to hear from others in the U.S. (and elsewhere) who have had similar experience. On September 26 my system seems to have observed not only the continual pulsed signals from EME reflections, but possibly a satellite that was passing through the "sweet spot" of the radar reflection zone as well - note the faint pulsing streak to the left of the main GRAVES signal in the attached screenshot.
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