METEORSCATTER
Meteor scatter is the reflection of radio waves from the ionised trails from meteors burning up in the upper atmosphere. This may be used by radio amateurs to make QSOs up to about 2,300km. Meteor scatter is described many places in the amateur literature, but just to make sure you know the basics here is an overview.
Meteors burn up in the upper atmosphere at a height of around 105km. The trail will reflect our radio waves best if the trail is orientated as shown in figure 1, which is taken from Meteor Burst Communications The Gap Filler by Daniel E. Warren, http://www.borg.com/~warrend/metburdu.html.
Figure 1: Meteor reflection Geometry
Meteors may come at any time, but sometimes they come in showers which can be predicted. During showers there are more meteors than usual and QSOs are easier to make. Most work on 144 MS is done during showers, where 144.300 may sound like 14 MHz in the bursts.
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
- SSB station for one or more VHF bands
- Computer running Windows 95, 98 or ME. Windows 2000 and a beta release of
Windows XP have also been found to work, although the present level of testing
has been less.
- 75 MHz Pentium or faster CPU
- Monitor running at 800 x 600 or higher resolution
- At least 32 MB RAM
- At least 40 MB of free disk space
- Windows-compatible soundcard
- Station interface like those required for PSK31, MFSK16, Hellschreiber, etc.
The DTR or RTS line of one COM port is used to key your transmitter's PTT line.
Standard connections are required between your radio's audio output and the
computer soundcard input, and vice-versa.
my equipment:
RIG: KENWOOD TS 2000, ICOM IC275H | |
ANT: TWO YAGI ON VERTICAL STACKING (2 X 17 el. F9FT) | |
INTERFACE: HOME MADE (thanks to my dear friend IK2JUB Stefano) | |
SOFTWARE: WSJT vers. 4.2 ( download click here ) |
ACTIVITY MS PHOTOS
During Leonids 2003 (17-18-19 november 2003) |
Equipment: Icom IC 275H, 2x13 yagi DJ9BV, EME pwr.
During Geminids (December 2003) |
Equipment: Kenwood TS 2000, 2X17 yagi F9FT @ 40m agl, 100W
LOG MS over 900 Km
Data | Ora | Indicativo | LOCATOR | TX | RX | Modo | NOTE | QRB |
29/11/2003 | 22.42 | GW3LEW | IO71PS | 27 | 27 | FSK441 | 1230 | |
30/11/2003 | 09.50 | GØGMS | IO82XT | 27 | 27 | FSK441 | 1145 | |
08/12/2003 | 19.47 | DJ9YE | JO43HV | 27 | 26 | FSK441 | 927 | |
11/12/2003 | 22.26 | OZ2M | JO65FR | 27 | 26 | FSK441 | 1153 | |
12/12/2003 | 21.02 | GØRRJ | IO91FE | 27 | 26 | FSK441 | 1009 | |
12/12/2003 | 23.21 | SM7XON | JO87FD | 27 | 26 | FSK441 | 1381 | |
13/12/2003 | 00.08 | DF9CY | JO54AL | 27 | 27 | FSK441 | 993 | |
13/12/2003 | 19.05 | LZ9M | KN32RL | 27 | 26 | FSK441 | 1495 | |
14/12/2003 | 12.25 | OZ2TF | JO46PE | 27 | 26 | FSK441 | 1181 |