so ive been reading about moonbounce for probably two years now and last weekend i actually gave it a serious go for the first time. got a 2m setup with a pair of 9 element yagis stacked, running about 400w out of a TS-2000 into a pretty decent preamp at the feedpoint. the moon was up for a good window and i had WSJT-X running JT65B which from everything ive read is the right mode for this.

here's the thing — i could see some traces on the waterfall that i think were echoes but honestly i couldnt tell if that was actual lunar scatter or just noise playing tricks on me. never heard my own echo which i was expecting to. made a handful of QRZ calls and got nothing back. so either my antenna system is not cutting it or im doing something fundamentally wrong with timing or maybe both.

i know EME is not like a regular terrestrial contact where you just call CQ and wait, there's specific timing windows and the whole T/R sequencing thing. but im not totally sure im configured right in WSJT-X for EME specifically vs just regular weak signal. also curious what the minimum realistic antenna setup is these days — ive seen people say 4x9el is kind of the entry point but also ive read logs of guys working stuff with less than that. anyone done serious EME with a modest setup and actually gotten it to work?

the timing thing is probably your first issue honestly. in WSJT-X for EME you need to make sure you have your period set correctly — JT65B on 2m EME uses the standard 60 second period but the sequencing matters a lot. if youre calling CQ you transmit in the first period, listening in the second. but when youre hunting for stations you flip that depending on whether they're calling in the first or second half. if you're off by even a second or two because of your PC clock your decodes just dont happen. i always check with the internet time sync before any EME session, like literally right before i start, because my shack PC drifts more than i'd like to admit.

on the antenna question — two yagis stacked is workable but its gonna be tough. youre probably in the range where you can work the really big stations on the other side, like the 32m dish guys or the multi-element arrays, because they have so much gain they can hear anything. the problem is working smaller stations with similar setups to yours — that link budget just doesnt close very well. 4x9el is sort of the gentlemens agreement minimum for being able to work a reasonable variety of stations. that said i worked my first real EME QSO with 2x17el yagis and about 600w so it's not impossible, just takes patience and good conditions.

check your elevation. sounds dumb but when i first set up for EME i was so focused on the software and azimuth tracking that i didnt notice my elevation rotator was reading like 8 degrees off because of a calibration issue after i remounted the antenna. was basically pointing at nothing useful for a whole session before i caught it. also the preamp placement matters a lot more on EME than on any terrestrial work — if its not literally at the feedpoint youre losing noise figure in the coax run and at those signal levels that eats you alive. whats your coax run length from the mast to the shack and what are you using?