The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast November 28, 1990

     It was on the 10th of January, 1946, when radio amateur Herbert Kauffman, W2OQU, heard the first signals coming from the moon.  World War II was over and the Fort Monmouth Signal Corps Research and Development Laboratories were working on future developments.
     During the 30s and 40s, the Fort Monmouth Laboratories developed the first radar in America.  The basic radar patent is in the name of Colonel William Blair, a former Signal Corps Laboratory Director.  These radars were highly effective during World War II, but their operational range appeared limited to several hundred miles.  If the range could be greatly increased, it could give early warning of inter-continental missiles.
     Colonel John De Witt, W4ERI, conceived of the idea of using the moon as a radar target.  Previously he was chief engineer of broadcast station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee.  While in Nashville, he made some calculations and experiments using his amateur radio set but was unable to hear echos from the moon.  Why not try again with more sophisticated equipment?  If successful, it would provide a lot of answers to many questions about long-range space communications.
     At this time, Colonel De Witt was Director of the Evans Signal Laboratory near Belmar, New Jersey.  He set up a project and called it Project Diana.  He named it Diana because Diana is the goddess of the moon and the Greek mythology books said that she had never been cracked.
     Colonel De Witt assigned a group of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technicians to the project.  Many of them were also radio amateurs.  They modified some radar equipment by greatly increasing the power and making many other design changes.
     The moon is 240,000 miles away and if the radar worked, they should hear a return echo in about 2 1/2 seconds.  They tested it on the air for several weeks, using a large multiple antenna array beaming the signals at the moon, without success.  So, they went back to the drawing boards and doubled the size of the antenna and increased the pulse power to 800,000 watts.
     Finally, on the 10th of January, 1946, Herbert Kauffman, W2OQU, who was operating, heard the first signals coming back from the moon.
The news was announced a few weeks later at the annual convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers in New York City.  Front-page stories appeared in the national press telling of the important significance of this breakthrough in radar and radio communications that was the forerunner to the space age.

November 28, 1990

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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