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Meteor Shower DX---coming to your house soon....

C

cd637299

Guest
There is supposed to be a big meteor shower, and maybe it has officially started---but I had read from one website that it's generally August 10-14 or thereabouts.

If you have Total Recorder, or a similar program to record DX to where you can read pings or spikes when the audio kicks up, by all means, be ready to park your FM (or even lowband VHF TV...maybe even hi-VHF) to an unused frequency. For me, live monitoring can be quite a drag, and a waste of valuable time.

As we await BBN to come to Ft. Lauderdale, 90.3 has been dark for about a week now. I've been able to bag KEDT Corpus Christi TX twice now, the latest ping actually generating an RDS readout (!). Also I got an e-mail QSL from the PD of WKWC Owensboro KY; very elated about the reception (which frankly I was unsure of) after hearing an mp3.

So even if E-skip is over, there is Meteor Scatter. Be sure to have a nice outdoor antenna connected!

cd
 
Awesome!

I was listening to empty frequencies on FM much of the night last night and didn't hear anything like that.

Does anyone know if there's a peak time to be listening or what specific parts of the country are more likely than others to get meteor scatter reception?

Does it favor one end of the band as opposed to another?

I've never done Meteor scatter DXing. What are the chances I'll hear something?

The Perseid meteor shower is supposed to still be going on.
 
gar fla said:
Awesome!

I was listening to empty frequencies on FM much of the night last night and didn't hear anything like that.

Does anyone know if there's a peak time to be listening or what specific parts of the country are more likely than others to get meteor scatter reception?

Does it favor one end of the band as opposed to another?

I've never done Meteor scatter DXing. What are the chances I'll hear something?

The Perseid meteor shower is supposed to still be going on.
Click to expand...

I've been parked on 90.3 for reasons in the OP, but I did try three other frequencies which really did not help a lot. I was able to bag 4 stations this way on 90.3 the last 5 days or so.

Another DXer told me that it peaked in the middle of last night (Sat/Sun) which I slept through, but things were active this morning. Generally, from what I have read, it seems to be best in early morning around sunrise or sooner. I did catch one of the 90.3's at 1pm, so I'd say any time of day is decent.

But seriously, one needs software like Total Recorder. It's worse than fishing, waiting on a bite for minutes/hours. Best to get that outdoor antenna, connect the audio to the PC, and let what I call the "EKG" read the pings of audio; otherwise you'll be wasting precious time.

What I like about TR is that you can right-click and drag the location of the audio, and save that short clip to file, instead of leaving the long session on file. Another WTFDA guy (two, I think) strongly recommended it to me. Under $20 for a basic package which you can record in stereo (which takes more bytes of course).

Oh...I prefer the low end of the dial, but I certainly have caught pings at 106.5 as well (cannot recall if any were ID'd). Ihave logged two via TV, one on ch 2 & one on 3, but that was in ye olde analog days. I suppose a Mexican or Cuban could come in as well.

cd
 
gar fla said:
There's an adjacent station that covers 90.3 here.

What are other good frequencies?
Click to expand...

99.1 oughta be the best, but anywhere there isn't I-Block or a station, let it fly. I am using 106.5 as I type, but will review later.

cd
 
How weird you say 99.1.

That's the main frequency I've been listening on because it's one of the few here that's completely empty and without other interference too.
 
There was one time a while ago when I was scanning the FM dial for tropo and I stopped on an empty frequency.

For about a second, some station came in strong and then it vanished. There was no fading in or out.

I had thought it was maybe aircraft scatter but that usually has a pattern of fading to it.

Could I have heard meteor scatter?
 
gar fla said:
There was one time a while ago when I was scanning the FM dial for tropo and I stopped on an empty frequency.

For about a second, some station came in strong and then it vanished. There was no fading in or out.

I had thought it was maybe aircraft scatter but that usually has a pattern of fading to it.

Could I have heard meteor scatter?
Click to expand...

I'd say so. MS bursts are just that---quick bursts, or blips. During the longer/major showers like this one, the blips are longer, and sometimes there is a "trail" and you'll hear stations exchanging.

I will PM you.

cd
 
I was unable to bag more than four 90.3 stations, but that's four more than 2 weeks ago via Meteor Scatter! I did try other frequencies, but South Florida isn't exactly wide open spaces.

The most recent catches were KEDM Monroe LA & WCPN Cleveland OH (verified by a WTFDA member).

I think I will try late tonight & tomorrow morning again, but I think the shower hath ended.

@ stevations---WKWC runs only 5 kw, so that was a nice lower-power catch!

cd
 
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