Uzhgorod citizen who listens to the whole planet and catches signals reflected from the Moon and travels around the world through the radio broadcast

Uzhorod citizen Viacheslav Baranov has a lot of friends and acquaintances all over the Earth, but not all of them he met and recognizes them only from their voice. He is the sports master of international class, winner of the prestigious championships, Chairman of the ultra radio waves of Amateurs League of Ukraine, at one time he was one of the first in the world who managed to take the signals reflected from the surface of the moon.

– You are one of the first in the world who recorded the signal reflected from the moon. Can you explain the nature of ‘experiment’?

– I was the first in the USSR in the range of 144 MHz. Americans started to do this a bit earlier and I managed to do this earlier in the Soviet Union. Such broadcasting technique is considered to be a sort of elite view of amateur communications. At first you must overcome 400 000 kilometers to our natural satellite. Then the signal is reflected from the surface of the moon, and this is a passive re-transmitter that returns what came back with a large attenuation.  The signal reflected from the moon, overcomes distance of approximately 700-800 thousand kilometers around two and a half seconds. Thus I was able conduct radio communication with amateur from the U.S. on January 19, 1981.

– I know that you are the winner of various competitions. Tell us about your experience in radio amateurs’ competitions.

– In addition to ‘monthly connection’, I also take part in radio amateurs’ competitions. I started to perform in various tournaments in the army. Since I knew Morse code, I won the competition and immediately after that went on vacation. Later on I’ve got fond of waves and began to travel to different competitions. It seems that in 1983 I managed to win the championship of Ukraine and get to the Republican team.

– How the family responds to your hobbies?

– What can I say… I found my wife in the radio sport. She was also involved in one of the clubs. So after the army we got acquainted there. Thereforeshe perfectly understood what I do.

– Recall any memorable incident from your experience radio amateur?

– It was very interesting to contact with Yurii Senkevych (the legendary presenter of TV program ‘Discovery Club’), who crossed the Atlantic Ocean together with Tur Heyerdal on the boat ‘Ra’. As far as I know English language very well I was able to talk to Norman Beiker, American radio operator.