Dear Marcia,
your point is correct. In 1969 solar flares activity was at a height. They could not live broadcast a complex signal like TV is from so far.
Therefore they lacked power.
To be short, as an example, an AM radio station need to transmit with 300KW (kilowatt) of power to reach sufficient audience.
Can you imagine broadcast from the Moon?
No antenna on capsule or probe, manned or unmanned, can deliver such huge power!
Apollo capsules carried normal batteries (much worse in efficiency and storage than modern cell phones batteries) and solar panels not very extended in active area.
Transmitting a fragile signal, not a dumb tou-tou or beep-beep, from 384,500 kilometres away would have required some Megawatt of electricity!
Best Regards
A. G.
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