"After the successful launch of Oscar 10 those amateurs who had complex antenna systems and low-noise receivers they had used for Moonbounce congregated on 145.950 and spoke to each other on QRP which prevented ordinary mortals from hearing them. By QRP I mean outputs of half a watt or less. But when finally one day I broke into a net QSO I arranged schedules for Moonbounce with two stations in Sweden. I had a successful contact with one of them but never heard the other. The reason may have been a very simple one: the polarisation of signals returning from the Moon varies from one moment to the other, so if you have been transmitting with horizontal polarisation and go over to reception it is very easy to miss the answer of the other station if the polarisation has changed." SV1OE then explained the very strict procedure which must be adhered to for Moonbounce schedules. "Schedules are arranged to last one hour. The first station to start transmitting on the hour must be the one whose QTH lies to the east of the other. The calling frequency for Moonbounce is 144.011 MHz., and the duration of the call is 2 minutes, but for the first minute and a half you call CQ DE SV1OE and during the last half minute you also give the call of the station you are trying to contact, for instance G3FNJ DE SV1OE. You must on no account transmit for more than two minutes because at the beginning of the third minute the other station will begin transmitting the same pattern of signals. But if he has heard you he will alter the pattern. For the first half minute he will send SV1OE DE G3FNJ and for the ensuing minute and a half he will transmit the letter O which signifies that he has heard your callsign completely and without difficulty i.e. Q5 in the Q Code. If I have also heard your callsign completely I will send G3FNJ for half a minute followed by RO for a minute and a half, which means that I have also received your callsign and your O. And you will reply RO 73 which concludes the successful contact. "There are one or two other letters that can be used. Sending M signifies that I hear you well but can only copy 50% of your transmission, equivalent to Q3. And the letter T signifies I hear you but cannot read you at all--Q1. "It has been found by experience that the best sending speed is 8 w.p.m. Sending slowly or very fast presents problems at the other end." CHAPTER EIGHT PERSONAL REMINISCENCES AND ANECDOTES The eight items which follow are not strictly part of the story of the development of amateur radio, but they deal with some historical events which are connected with our hobby. Two are of particular interest: the account given to me by Takis Coumbias formerly SV1AAA of the early days of amateur radio in Russia and the story of the Greek broadcasts from Cairo, Egypt during the German/Italian occupation of Greece in World War II.