Topband: Long Delayed Echoes

[Jose M. Valdes R. YV5LIX]

Hello All.

This is a very interesting subject, and with all do respect, just because we
don't understand something it does not means it can not happen; not all has
been written, and found for that matters, about radio frequencies
propagation, when trains first came out it was a common believe that they
could not go faster that 100 kph. because the air within the wagons would be
"sucked out" and the passengers would have died asphyxiated, we know better
now, don't we?

In 1960, when Wilson and Penzias, them at Bell Labs, were using a big
parabolic dish antenna to research radio signals from space, they encounter
a BIG problem, no matter were they aimed their dish or what time of the year
it was, a noise was always present and causing "QRM" to them, further more,
the noise was always at the same level, and this two well reputed radio
astronomers could not understand what was causing this "QRM"; them one day
they met with Princeton's astronomer Robert Dicke, and shared their
frustrations with him, at that point they didn't know that Dicke was
investigating the theory that the "Big Bang" that originated the universe
should have left behind uniform low-level microwave radiations. When the
three scientists compared notes they came to the realization that the "QRM"
that was frustrating them was actually the proof of Dicke's theory; this
finding led Wilson and Penzias to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.

Amateur Radio is more, much more, that just take a microphone or a key and
call CQ, Amateur Radio is investigation and research, an Amateur radio
operator will always try to find an answer for what he/she does not
understand; when Marconi, and Father Landell de Moura set the foundation for
today's radio, it was a firm belive that for long distance communications
decametric waves were the only choice, it  was  generally considered true
that wavelengths shorter than 200 meters (1.5 MHz) were useless except for
short distance transmission, but shortly after that pioneering hams made the
firs England new Zealand QSO in 80 meters; one of the main developments in
radio after 1918 was the discovery of the usefulness of the shortwave-bands,
and this discovery was made by Amateur Radio operators with a open mind and
an interest in discovering new way to communicate, hams that dared to go
beyond what the "experts" considered the limit.

LDEs may or may not be real, but no one has yet proved that they are a hoax,
and until them we should keep an open mind, we should try to find the truth
behind them, those that doesn't believe that a LDE (I prefer the term VLDE
for Very Long Delayed Echoes) are possible should try to prove why the LDEs
are not possible, and those who belive in that LDEs may be a real thing
should try to demonstrate why they could exist and what may cause them.

Makoto Obara, who wrote the original article about LDE in the Japanese
magazine Five-Nine, is a well know scientist and researcher, and those hams
in the US, Japan, and Europe that dared to share their experiences with us
deserves our respect, to have your name and call published in a Magazine
such as CQ in relation to a subject that most may consider ridiculous
require great courage and a firm belive in what you are saying.

Have a very nice day.

73/DX Jose M. Valdes R. (Joe) YV5LIX
eQSL.cc Advisory Board Member
QSL manager EA7FTR
SYSOP YV5LIX DX Cluster
telnet://yv5lix.org.ve:7300
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