A Japan-Broadcasting Corporation TV report from 2007 featuring Mike Watanabe JH1KRC has just been made available on YouTube.

The YouTube description reads:

KDDI, one of the Japanese telecommunication services companies, has assigned to make experimental cooperation with the Project BIG-DISH, composed of some forty Japanese moon bouncers, and JARL.

We will use the antenna IBA-4, which is the 4th antenna of Ibaraki Satellite Communications Center, KDDI Corporation, for the experimental moon bounce operation on 144, 432, 1296 and possibly 5760 MHz bands. IBA-4 is a 32-metre Cassegrain dish made by Mitshubishi Electric Corporation in 1980’s, and is located in the grid QM06.

The IBA-4 is fully rotable and the elevation is possible up to 90 degrees for automatic moon tracking. The largest problem we have is that we cannot remove the subreflector, 2.9-m in diameter, about 9 metres in front of the main reflector. Therefore we have to use this subreflector in some way for the EME operation.

Our EME operation license is still waiting for the four bands, 144, 432, 1296, and 5760 MHz. The 5760 MHz high power moon bounce transmission is still in discussion in the ministry. Other bands are sure to be licensed for the operation with 500 watts output. We will use callsign 8N1EME. The intensive operating modes are CW, SSB, and JT65 specially on 144 and possiby on 432 also. Fundamentally, we think that random QSOs are most important, although, some scheduled QSOs may be considered for any special reason. Antennas in use will be vertilac pol. on 144 and 432 MHz, the usual EME circular pol. on 1296, and 5760 MHz.

The operation took place late February and early March, in 2007.

Watch 8N1EME-NHK-NEWS(NHK(Japan-Broadcasting Corp.))

Project Big Dish http://8n1eme.jp/