This antenna, which stretches approximately 2 miles in a north/south
direction, has a beamwidth which covers nearly horizon to horizon in the
east/west direction. The beam is aligned along a great circle, overlapping with
the beams of the other two transmitter sites. In the north/south direction
however, the beamwidth is only .02 degrees wide. That's in the far field, which
begins at about 15,000 Km ! Most satellites pass through the beam in its near
field, and spend about 0.5 seconds illuminated by the beam. The transmitter
sends out a constant carrier 24 hours a day, and is neither pulsed nor
modulated in any fashion. The site consumes about 1,000,000 KWH per month to
generate one of the highest power ERP signals on earth, 6.3 billion watts !
When the moon passes through the antenna's beam, the return echo can be heard on
earth with only a dipole antenna attached to a receiver. The Kickapoo signal
has now travelled over 37 light years into space since being switched on in
1958.
