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Radio Free Luna
Radio Free Luna is a concept I've seen in several stories and at least one filk song.
Basically, a radio station broadcasting from the moon and doing programming that some places on Earth might not approve of. For example at the moment, actual reporting on the war in the Ukraine beamed at Russia.
Simple enough concept. The biggie being having folks on the moon long term who aren't all that dependent on Earth and it not being worth the effort to stop them.
But I'm wondering about the practicalities. Power is easy enough large solar arrays and lots of storage for he night.
Antennas are another matter. Anybody have suggestions? Would beam antennas on nearside/farside boundaries be better? Or would some sort of centrally located antenna?
I'm thinking short wave or maybe even AM or FM bands. Just not sure what would be the best combo for both reaching more radios and best penetrating the ionisphere.
At least you can build *big* on Luna. Full wave dipoles anyone? :-)
Basically, a radio station broadcasting from the moon and doing programming that some places on Earth might not approve of. For example at the moment, actual reporting on the war in the Ukraine beamed at Russia.
Simple enough concept. The biggie being having folks on the moon long term who aren't all that dependent on Earth and it not being worth the effort to stop them.
But I'm wondering about the practicalities. Power is easy enough large solar arrays and lots of storage for he night.
Antennas are another matter. Anybody have suggestions? Would beam antennas on nearside/farside boundaries be better? Or would some sort of centrally located antenna?
I'm thinking short wave or maybe even AM or FM bands. Just not sure what would be the best combo for both reaching more radios and best penetrating the ionisphere.
At least you can build *big* on Luna. Full wave dipoles anyone? :-)
no subject
Didn't Heinlein have a Radio Free Luna in _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_? Though that was an organ of propaganda for the lunar government, IIRC.
Not sure about antenna location. At first guess, I'd say put the antenna and final amplifiers (you wouldn't need to have the actual station in the same location) in the center of the nearside. Of course, you'd want to choose a location to maximize the period of daylight for solar power. Since the antenna would still be facing the Earth even during lunar night, you'd want to have an alternate source of power. Maybe just a large set of batteries.
Would have to check on which frequencies would penetrate best. Shortwave works by bouncing off the ionosphere, so it's probably out.
For the shape, emulate Arecibo and that Chinese radio telescope and string cables from the rim of a crater.
no subject
As for the finals, being in a fair vacuum is helpful. You can make *monstrous* tubes, and it's fairly easy to "pump" them to a good vacuum. Also you don't need strong walls as the pressure difference between inside and outside is fairly trivial in terms of loading forces.
Probably need more reinforcement to protect from micrometeorites and idiots running into them.
A multi-megawatt (gigawatt?) tube will be a sight to see.