tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7590176649168185428.post8148762720825476438..comments2024-03-29T07:34:28.586-04:00Comments on SolderSmoke Daily News: Arecibo Birthday Bill Mearahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07662500663603350847noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7590176649168185428.post-76138991655119641452013-11-05T16:59:33.698-05:002013-11-05T16:59:33.698-05:00Don't forget, Arecibo was blown up in the 1995...Don't forget, Arecibo was blown up in the 1995 James Bond film, Goldeneye. In a nod to "You Only Live Twice", the reflector is hidden underwater until it's needed.<br /><br />But seriously, Arecibo also caused Sam Harris to give up a lot of ham radio, he moving down there to do technical stuff (it's a reflection of the times that it wasn't until decades later that I realized he was fairly important at Arecibo, not just "some technician").<br /><br />Either he was too busy or the location not right, but after being a key player in moonbounce and VHF, he kind of disappeared.<br /><br />Though before that, he got permission to use the dish I think two times for amateur radio. The thing was so large that Wayne Green (who went down for one of the times) said it was like a pileup on 20metres. Endless hams with relatively low power and simple antennas could be heard, because the dish gave so much gain that they didn't need much of a station. They made contacts, but also used a video recorder to record a band of signals, later tuning through it all to get the individual stations and callsigns.<br /><br />That sort of thing became possible decades later, when some hams had enough antenna to compensate for low power or small antennas at the other end, but at the time of the Arecibo tests, it was a pretty wild thing.<br /><br />I have no idea why they never got permission again later, maybe simply that in 1964 or 65 demand for the dish hadn't grown so large, or maybe the ham stuff was treated like general testing of the equipment, which wasn't needed later.<br /><br />Apparently Sam got much busier as time progressed, and then died, sometime in the late seventies if I remember properly.<br /><br /> Michael VE2BVWMichael Blacknoreply@blogger.com