Moon Light Essay


Below is a brief descriptionof a theory I have concerning reflected Sun Light from a full Moon and its relation to the ionosphere. I hope you find it interesting?

Moon Talk
ESSAY

Not too long ago I sent an Email to George Jacobs, W3ASK. I was interested to know if he had ever considered or researched what effect reflected sun light from a full moon had on the earth's ionosphere during darkness and subsequently - radio reception? You may recall that George Jacobs is the author of a number of books on propagation and writes a monthly column in CQ Magazine.
I wrote the following:

Dear Mr. Jacobs,

Back in 1991 and 1992 I did an unscientific study to find what effect moonlight (that is reflected sunlight) had on shortwave conditions? I had noticed over the years that whenever there was a full moon, conditons seemed to be better for a few nights. As my study indicated, the conditons were better the night before the full moon, the night of the full moon, and the three nights after the full moon. This suggested to me that better conditons depended on the angle the light was being reflected from the moon and towards the earth's ionosphere, possibly because the moon was brighter during other times of its cycle as well, but ionospheric conditions didn't seem to be effected. Every morning before dawn during the two year period I checked about twenty different frequencies used by shortwave broadcasting radio stations from around the world. I estimated the signal quality, thus the unscientific aspect of the study. I gave each signal a number of 0 to 5. From that point I entered the information into a spreadsheet and later compiled the data into a graph that span a two year period. The peaks on the graph were very prominent and usually showed up during a full moon.

Mr Jacobs replied as follows::

Thank you for your recent Email which I find to be very interesting. Yes, you are correct, my books do not mention any effect that the moon might have on ionospheric conditons because frankly, there has been no research in this field that I am aware of. One reason possibly, is that the moon would not be considered as a likely,source of radiation. On the other hand, your own experiements, as unscientific as they may be, certainly have some interesting results. I cannot rule out the possibility that the moon's gravitational effect might have some influence on the ionosphere, perhaps causing it to rise and fall much as the ocean tides do! It's a thought anyway. Mr. Jacobs went on to say that readers of his Ariticles in CQ Magazine who wanted to participate with me(KA4PRF) in a more comprehensive study of reception conditions during periods of full moon, or who may have any comments to make on my observations, can reach me at the address listed here. Email me at ka4prf@us-it.net


Since corresponding with George Jacobs, a number of readers of CQ Magazine have contacted me. They thought my theory was interesting while one or two sent along information on the subject. The information really surprised me! It seems that back in the years 1924 and 1925, radio experimenters had also wondered about the full moon's influence on radio reception and knew that it did influence reception in some way? The Experimenters Section Report in QST, August 1924, page 35 says, "Radio reception appears to be influenced by the moon in some manner. The only observation made has been on European Long Wave Transatlantic signals.The rules given below can accordingly be applied only to Long Wave signals traveling in a westerly direction across the Atlantic. Whether reception in the opposite direction is similarly affected is not known. In the tests that were made, best reception came during the period of a full moon. Generally the signal would not be particularly strong but there would be almost no static and very clear and steady signals would be recorded. During the new moon the static would be very bad but signal strength fair. During the first quarter both the signal strenght and static would increase. During the last quarter the static would be very bad and generally louder than the signal. These observations do not take into account local distrubances such as thunderstorms no do they cover fading, there being very little of the latter on long waves." In QST, January 1925, page 35, Virgil Henthorn of Paden City, West Virginia sumed up his observations of the effect of weather and the moon on radio conditons for the month of September 1924.Virgil monitored radio station KDKA on 326 meters. "Conclusion: Unable to draw any definite conclusion. Evidently very little static during fullmoon. Also evidently none during no moon."
When I did my experimenting, I noticed the difference in reception each month, but I was never able to decide whether the difference was caused by increased signal strength or the same signal strength, but with less static or natural noise - thus allowing the weaker signals to be heard. I am still interested in this theory and will be testing it again whenever there is a full moon.
That's where we stand now.

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