[Moon-net] Possible QRO 5760 operation

Thu Jan 25 00:21:55 CST 2007

Teve Andre' <andres at msu.edu>  Said:
>This sounds wonderfully fun.  Whats the gain at at 5760?
>I hope you can take pictures and stuff them somewhere
>on the net so we can all see this monster.  30m... <drool>

Hello Steve and Group,

We have some pictures for you and the group; See below.  Also I would like 
to thank, throw Kudos, to the 50 mhz and up Group, from the South Bay Area, 
with Jim Moss, and Brian Yee, instrumental in coming down and getting this 
dish out of mothballs, now turning and tilting wonderfully, under computer 
control.  Now, with hardware and expertise in the higher microwave 
frequencies, and soon to light  up the moon.   As to gain on 5760, hmmm.. 
about 50db at 1296, say, 55db at 2.6, 60 at 5.2 ghz......minus some 
efficiency... certainly at least 55 db...

Jim, and Brian are part of a larger team, handling a myriad of tasks, one of 
which is to find a long term solution to keeping this dish from the scrap 
pile.  Could happen... Owners want to sell the property   (soon)  containing 
the dish, and the dish may not have value to that goal, unless an entity is 
found that wants the dish as part of the land (in god's country) 
acquisition.  We need a Silicon Valley Exec, or retiree, or maybe Richard 
Branson, or Paul Allen, someone who wants a house with dish out in the 
country....
A recent update on our work at Jamesburg Station.

   JAMESBURG DISH  UPDATE; 12/16/06:

This is the Lat Long of the Jamesburg Dish:
( Scaled off TOPO! )
36 24 11     121 38 50   NAD 83

SELECTED PICTURES:
Dish, Birdbath position
http://www.longandflatsociety.com/Portals/8/Gallery/904/100_0907.JPG
Secondary Reflector
http://www.longandflatsociety.com/Portals/8/Gallery/911/IMG_3072.jpg
Dish, on Post to the Intelsat Satellite
http://www.longandflatsociety.com/Portals/8/Gallery/912/P6030124.jpg
Dish Face
http://www.longandflatsociety.com/Portals/8/Gallery/912/P6030036.jpg
On the Dish, at the phase center, feed horn under the covers,
Jim Moss, and Pat Barthelow
http://www.longandflatsociety.com/Portals/8/Gallery/911/IMG_3074.jpg/IMG_3073.jpg
Additional Pictures at end of this Doc.

How all this got started: I suggested some time ago to the new owners, that 
I was interested in mobilizing a group within the ham community to work on 
bringing Jamesburg station up to running condition and doing moonbounce 
contacts with it.  This would bring visibility and status to the station, 
possibly to the professional Scientific Community, who could see a long term 
future for the station, possibly in Radio Astronomy, Space  Camps, Data 
Centers, etc.   We are fortunate now, to have a very distinguished panel of 
experts in many areas, as Jamesburg group participants.

Our Academic brain trust include Professors, scientists, and students 
involved in Astronomy, and Space Sciences, including amateur radio-built 
satellites (Cubesats). ( http://www.cubesat.com )
They hail from Stanford University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Cruz, 
CSU-Monterey Bay, and soon will include Scientists from the SETI institute 
in Mountain View.  Many of our group are highly skilled engineers and 
technicians from industry, including some who are technology business 
owners.  Many are Ham Radio operators,  really jumping in, and getting 
things done.

Dr. Jill Tarter, Chief Scientist of SETI, http://www.seti.org plans to tour 
Jamesburg soon.

Dr. Bob Lash, (See http://www.bambi.net/bob.html) with a great amount of 
experience in Satellites, computers, and all types of telecomm, has been 
quite helpful in on-site work, and bringing in other persons, groups and 
organizations to be involved in Jamesburg.
Dr. Bob Twiggs, of Stanford, is the “father” of the Internationally known 
Cubesat Program, and sees a possible future activity of Jamesburg in 
Cubesats, both near (earth orbit) and far (Moon orbits, and Mars Probes) 
See:
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/050928_cubesats.html

Dave Smith, W6TE, from Fresno, on board from the beginning , and very 
capable, with EME experience,  has offered his 500 watt 1296 EME radio, and 
feed antenna for use at the Jamesburg Dish.  Dave should be able to join us 
in work parties, very soon.

John Castorina, former ham, WB6AZP… a college chum of mine from way back, 
worked at Jamesburg for several years in the 70’s, and for many more years 
at COMSAT HQ in Washington.
See: http://www.longandflatsociety.com for pictures. Click on Galleries, 
Jamesburg, then any of the portfolios of pictures.
Bryan Klofas, from Cal Poly,
( http://cubesat.atl.calpoly.edu/pages/home/contact-us.php )
is Lead student in their CubeSat Program.  He is looking into long term 
solutions of use and preservation of the Jamesburg Earth Station, involving 
Cal Poly as a  player.

Brian Yee,  and Jim Moss, have been with us on almost all work parties, are 
from the 50mhz and up group,  (South Bay Area)  have been quite an asset, 
with great ideas, troubleshooting skills, a camera, and a can-do attitude.  
Keep up the great energy, and work, Brian and Jim.
Bob Brunnquell, K6OU, a friend of mine, from the Sacramento area also, has 
decades of big dish experience, as part of his Air Force Duties, where he 
did Solar studies with big dishes in Hawaii.  Welcome Bob, we value your 
wise contributions to our work, and safety.
Chuck Osborne, a seasoned big dish veteran, is with us from the east coast, 
with sage advice and oversight, particularly valuable and relevant as he is 
director of operations at  the Pisgah Radio Observatory in N. Carolina,  and 
knows these 30 meter dishes.
Welcome Chuck!
Jack Ramey of our group, worked for decades at Jamesburg, and is probably 
the most knowledgeable person in our group of the detailed nuts and bolt of 
the station operation.  Welcome Jack… I hope we are not leaning on you too 
hard!
Marc Goldman, WB6DCE. along with Thor Rasmussen, N6FNP, has been our crack 
photographers.  Marc is also Armstrong, and tools, nuts and bolts man with a 
lot of time on, particularly the stuck pin.  Welcome Marc!
John  Hagerty, W6UQZ, an insurance guy, in his real job,  in addition to 
being a ham techhie, has helped a lot in a number of work party visits, 
particularly with respect to the stuck pin.
We are proceeding, and are well along after several work parties which began 
in earnest,  in early November.  The computer controlled 30 meter dish now 
is able to be rotated in azimuth, [and now, in elevation]  after a lot of 
work to clear computer controlled  interlocks, and further understanding of 
the control system.  A .pdf file doc of the Vertex-RSI  7210 computer 
control system is available to anyone who needs it to work on Software or 
Hardware problems, towards getting the dish under computer control of a moon 
tracking program.
It is available as a download from the
http://www.longandflatsociety.com website.

For those that have not yet come to Jamesburg, FYI: it is about 1 hour drive 
from Monterey.  For Maps, directions, go to Google Maps, and for a location, 
  type :  COMSAT RD.  Carmel Valley CA.   The station is at the end of 
COMSAT Rd.  The Google photo is cool.   You can easily see the dish, in 
birdbath position, and the attached 20,000 sq ft building.
Here is a  great Google Satellite picture of the site:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=36.402218,-121.649079&spn=0.015198,0.029011&t=h&om=0
Another Aerial Shot of the site:

http://www.jamesburgstation.net Is an older website with a good picture.  
(Jamesburg is no longer set up as a commercial Satcomm services provider)
Jamesburg ATT switching room, now empty; One of several, that are this 
size.)
http://www.longandflatsociety.com/Portals/8/Gallery/911/IMG_3051.jpg

See you  from the Moon, Soon...
73, de Pat, AA6EG, Jim Moss, n9Jim-6, Brian, W6BY, and the gang..