Re: superhero space navigation

crs wrote:
> Bryan Derksen  wrote:
> [snip]
> 
>> 3) Communication. Out at the moon a simple omnidirectional radio set
>> will probably be fine but farther than that will require something
>> directional and it might be difficult keeping it lined up by hand,
>> especially considering light speed delays. Will definitely want to
carry
>> a communication satellite out there at the first opportunity.
> 
> Really?  A radio set will work for voice transmission from the earth
> to the moon?

Huh, I misremembered; I thought I recalled the Lunakhod Moon rovers 
having omnidirectional antennae but it turns out they were directional. 
However, on researching further, I find that the Surveyor probes had 
omnidirectional radios and they were much smaller and simpler. I guess 
the requirements for omnidirectionality depends heavily on the bandwidth 
you need and the receiver resources you're able to devote.

> You don't have anything specific in mind, do you, as far as radios?
> I've got a SH plot of my own going(timeline:early 1980s) and my
> superfella protag needs to keep in touch with his cohorts on earth.
> <gr>  I should mention he's the only super in this world.

If he needs to do it with off-the-shelf equipment it might be trickier, 
but amateur ham radio operators have been doing "Moon bounce" 
communications with each other where they use the Moon as a reflector 
since the 60s <http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2002/01/21/1/>
so I 
imagine it'd be possible.

Not really my area of expertise, though.

> Unfortunately, I'm as ignorant as a stone concerning radio
> communications.  I was looking over the spec book on the LM lander(the
> only thing I could find) and it used a couple of S-band antennas for
> transmission to and from Mission Control.  As I recall they had huge
> complexes on the earth end but hey, that was back in the early '70s.
> If there was a set he could get inexpensively or .... snatch five
> finger discount like...

If he's the world's only super and he only needs to steal a few things, 
he can probably do so with impunity; nobody will have any 
countermeasures in place to stop someone with his capabilities and if 
he's not public yet he could probably do it without them having any idea 
what happened. The local military base's mobile communication station 
just up and _disappears_ one night (though I'd recommend against 
military equipment in general - they've probably got sneaky ways to 
track some of that stuff).

Oh, it just occurred to me that transmitter power might not be that big 
an issue after all. I was starting to ponder things like solar panels 
and fuel cells when I realized that the radio set is being carried by 
Superman. Just put a hand crank on a nice hefty generator, maybe with a 
flywheel or battery so he doesn't have to keep cranking continuously 
while talking, and you've got yourself a power source. Overheating may 
be an issue, though. :)