UJay
NES Member
After @TC McQuade 's post popped up for the impending Ursid meteor shower, Meteor outburst predicted for this weekend - The Ursid Meteor Shower and with @MaverickNH 's post reminding us hams to do ham things- It reminded me of a post on a radio reflector for taking advantage of the meteor shower that was posted just before the recent 10 Meter contest..
FT8 - FT4 and CW are the modes to keep an eye on for the higher bands 10 M and 12 M and 6m.
This was written for the contest, and is un-edited; however, the methods and cool links may be interesting for the Ursid shows.
Dave K2XR on CQContest reflector.
Thu Dec 12 18:27:55 EST 2019
Q: When is a black hole not a black hole ?
A: When the black hole is the center of the USA during a meteor shower peak.
This year CQWW CW fell on the weekend before Thanksgiving. A rare
occurrence indeed. Another interest thing happens when this occurs.
The peak of the Geminids meteor shower will coincide with the two nights
of the ARRL 10 meter contest.
VHF contesters regularly use meteor scatter as a means to work stations
as far away as 1500 miles. The same technique is used every year by a
small percentage of the 10 Meter ARRL participants to increase their
scores. During years of high solar activity, such methods and
practices are of little additional benefit and the method is overlooked
for the most part. However during solar minimums, 10 meter openings are
fewer, further between, and tend to be North South in nature in
general. This means you should use Friday night until Saturday Sunrise
to work as many stations on meteor scatter (MS) as possible in the event
that 10 meters never opens properly.
Most operators are familiar with sporadic E openings. They peak
around the end of June, so ARRL field day results in many good 10 and 6
meter openings using that mode. There is also another peak of sporadic
E events in late December and dx cluster spots this month already are
showing those openings. In the northern hemisphere June is better
than December and in the southern hemisphere vice versa, but the peaks
are reliable and independent of solar activity.
Why mention all that ? Simple, all your hard meteor scatter efforts
to work stations to the east or west of you can be wiped out by a
sporadic E IF:
1- it occurs at all
2- lasts long enough for operators to discover it and utilize it.
But this year could be different than most in the past. First we are
presented with some of the worst solar activity in our lifetimes. This
makes the chances of a proper E layer opening less than usual.
According to prediction programs like VOACAP Long distance North South
trans-equatorial paths are very like to open, but shorter paths not so much.
So it is probably a good idea to count on making MS contacts the first
night. Then you can decide whether the second nights MS effort is worth
it based on Saturday daytime results.
Meteor Shower resources.
The Geminids are one of the most active and reliable meteor showers of
the year. In my lifetime the activity level of this shower has been
steadily increasing. Researchers report that the gravitational field of
Jupiter is concentrating the debris field result in a much sharper peak
count than in the past. The current published rate of meteors to be
expected at midnight local time is 100 or more per hour. In addition
Geminids tend to be the biggest and brightest visually. Unfortunately
for visual spectators, the full moon of 12 December will greatly
decrease the visual count and apparent brightness of the meteor trails.
Lucky for us hams, the full moon will have no effect on the ionized
trails of the burning meteors, which is what we are reflecting our radio
waves off of.
To listen to a live steam of meteor activity, try this website from
sunset to sunrise.
Live meteor radio echoes
Also at that website is an excellent explanation of the methodology of
MS reflections of radio waves. The audio at that site is from a 60
megahertz signal. Why this matters ? If you hear a 5 second burst on
that site, the length of the burst on 10 meters will be 4 times as long,
or 20 seconds. Plenty of time for a complete QSO. Last night
(Wednesday) I was seeing many bursts in the 30 - 60 second range ....
That would be an opening on 10 meters of 2-4 minutes in length. Many
QSO's can be made in that time period, and that was Wed. not even close
to the peak which will occur during the contest. That is why I said it
may be the event of a lifetime for MS contacts. The band may appear to
be open continuously or very close to it. But
*It will all be for naught if all of us aren't there to take advantage,
so be there or be square*.
For those interested in viewing the meteors from the warmth of indoors.
5 live cameras are available at this site.
LIVE
*TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MAXIMUM QSO's*
*KISS
*
Keep it short and sweet. Time is of the essence. keep CQ's short and
often . Once a burst starts, if both sides realize it and take
advantage, the QSO takes seconds. If you have to wait for the next
burst to occur to complete a partial QSO, it can get very lengthy.
*RX FILTERS*
Avoid using narrow filters use your SSB filters whether you are on SSB
or CW
The speed of the meteor causes a doppler effect on the received signal.
Some ops call it a scream ... whatever you call it, narrow filtering on
CW can cause you to lose otherwise copyable characters. Also many times
while you are working one station, you can also be lining up another on
an adjacent frequency. It is an acquired skill, but with narrow
filtering, you will never hear it in the first place.
*FREQUENCIES*
Stick to whole kHz values unless the band gets really crowded .. Start
by using even numbers of KHZ 28.002 28.004 28.006 .... and on up
On phone start at 28.400 and stick to 5 khz steps from there in both
directions. ..... 28.385 28.390 28.395 28.400 28.405 28.410
28.415 ......
*CLUSTER FILTERS*
Maintain a different filter for nighttime use. Ideally it would takes
spots from anywhere, but only post spots from a 1500 mile radius from
you. There are many ways to achieve this. But here are some general
recomendations.
Do NOT use skimvalid as an argument. Very likely that only one skimmer
will hear any given station. Those with skimmers deployed to other
bands due to lack of 10 meter openings might consider deployment to 10
meters for the event.
If you are in the USA and using an AR6 node for RBN CW : after
sending your filter, issue the command
SET DX EXTENSION STATE
only need to do that once
This will add the STATE to the spot so you can determine if the spot
is in your 1500 mile range. ( I am on the US east coast and writing
from that vantage point ) the meteor shower is a world wide event so
your filters will vary from mine.
mine will be
set dx filter (freq > 28000 and freq < 29000) and spottercty = [k,ve]
and (not comment=[*beacon*,*NCDXF*])
This filter is close to ideal for the US Black hole, and they are indeed
ideally situated for this event this time.
Stations in Eu will want to modify it totally. If you are single
mode, then modify the frequency range to suit.
This will allow your bandmap / available window to fill with stations in
the desired region whether you can hear them or not. Go to the frequency
and wait for a meteor to happen. I will be there, hope you will be too.
Don't forget to revert to your regular cluster filter in the daytime !
PLEASE SPOT EVERY STATION YOU HEAR OR WORK or find as a dupe but not on
the bandmap. Thanks a meg and GL in the contest.
Dave K2XR
FT8 - FT4 and CW are the modes to keep an eye on for the higher bands 10 M and 12 M and 6m.
This was written for the contest, and is un-edited; however, the methods and cool links may be interesting for the Ursid shows.
Dave K2XR on CQContest reflector.
Thu Dec 12 18:27:55 EST 2019
Q: When is a black hole not a black hole ?
A: When the black hole is the center of the USA during a meteor shower peak.
This year CQWW CW fell on the weekend before Thanksgiving. A rare
occurrence indeed. Another interest thing happens when this occurs.
The peak of the Geminids meteor shower will coincide with the two nights
of the ARRL 10 meter contest.
VHF contesters regularly use meteor scatter as a means to work stations
as far away as 1500 miles. The same technique is used every year by a
small percentage of the 10 Meter ARRL participants to increase their
scores. During years of high solar activity, such methods and
practices are of little additional benefit and the method is overlooked
for the most part. However during solar minimums, 10 meter openings are
fewer, further between, and tend to be North South in nature in
general. This means you should use Friday night until Saturday Sunrise
to work as many stations on meteor scatter (MS) as possible in the event
that 10 meters never opens properly.
Most operators are familiar with sporadic E openings. They peak
around the end of June, so ARRL field day results in many good 10 and 6
meter openings using that mode. There is also another peak of sporadic
E events in late December and dx cluster spots this month already are
showing those openings. In the northern hemisphere June is better
than December and in the southern hemisphere vice versa, but the peaks
are reliable and independent of solar activity.
Why mention all that ? Simple, all your hard meteor scatter efforts
to work stations to the east or west of you can be wiped out by a
sporadic E IF:
1- it occurs at all
2- lasts long enough for operators to discover it and utilize it.
But this year could be different than most in the past. First we are
presented with some of the worst solar activity in our lifetimes. This
makes the chances of a proper E layer opening less than usual.
According to prediction programs like VOACAP Long distance North South
trans-equatorial paths are very like to open, but shorter paths not so much.
So it is probably a good idea to count on making MS contacts the first
night. Then you can decide whether the second nights MS effort is worth
it based on Saturday daytime results.
Meteor Shower resources.
The Geminids are one of the most active and reliable meteor showers of
the year. In my lifetime the activity level of this shower has been
steadily increasing. Researchers report that the gravitational field of
Jupiter is concentrating the debris field result in a much sharper peak
count than in the past. The current published rate of meteors to be
expected at midnight local time is 100 or more per hour. In addition
Geminids tend to be the biggest and brightest visually. Unfortunately
for visual spectators, the full moon of 12 December will greatly
decrease the visual count and apparent brightness of the meteor trails.
Lucky for us hams, the full moon will have no effect on the ionized
trails of the burning meteors, which is what we are reflecting our radio
waves off of.
To listen to a live steam of meteor activity, try this website from
sunset to sunrise.
Live meteor radio echoes
Also at that website is an excellent explanation of the methodology of
MS reflections of radio waves. The audio at that site is from a 60
megahertz signal. Why this matters ? If you hear a 5 second burst on
that site, the length of the burst on 10 meters will be 4 times as long,
or 20 seconds. Plenty of time for a complete QSO. Last night
(Wednesday) I was seeing many bursts in the 30 - 60 second range ....
That would be an opening on 10 meters of 2-4 minutes in length. Many
QSO's can be made in that time period, and that was Wed. not even close
to the peak which will occur during the contest. That is why I said it
may be the event of a lifetime for MS contacts. The band may appear to
be open continuously or very close to it. But
*It will all be for naught if all of us aren't there to take advantage,
so be there or be square*.
For those interested in viewing the meteors from the warmth of indoors.
5 live cameras are available at this site.
LIVE
*TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MAXIMUM QSO's*
*KISS
*
Keep it short and sweet. Time is of the essence. keep CQ's short and
often . Once a burst starts, if both sides realize it and take
advantage, the QSO takes seconds. If you have to wait for the next
burst to occur to complete a partial QSO, it can get very lengthy.
*RX FILTERS*
Avoid using narrow filters use your SSB filters whether you are on SSB
or CW
The speed of the meteor causes a doppler effect on the received signal.
Some ops call it a scream ... whatever you call it, narrow filtering on
CW can cause you to lose otherwise copyable characters. Also many times
while you are working one station, you can also be lining up another on
an adjacent frequency. It is an acquired skill, but with narrow
filtering, you will never hear it in the first place.
*FREQUENCIES*
Stick to whole kHz values unless the band gets really crowded .. Start
by using even numbers of KHZ 28.002 28.004 28.006 .... and on up
On phone start at 28.400 and stick to 5 khz steps from there in both
directions. ..... 28.385 28.390 28.395 28.400 28.405 28.410
28.415 ......
*CLUSTER FILTERS*
Maintain a different filter for nighttime use. Ideally it would takes
spots from anywhere, but only post spots from a 1500 mile radius from
you. There are many ways to achieve this. But here are some general
recomendations.
Do NOT use skimvalid as an argument. Very likely that only one skimmer
will hear any given station. Those with skimmers deployed to other
bands due to lack of 10 meter openings might consider deployment to 10
meters for the event.
If you are in the USA and using an AR6 node for RBN CW : after
sending your filter, issue the command
SET DX EXTENSION STATE
only need to do that once
This will add the STATE to the spot so you can determine if the spot
is in your 1500 mile range. ( I am on the US east coast and writing
from that vantage point ) the meteor shower is a world wide event so
your filters will vary from mine.
mine will be
set dx filter (freq > 28000 and freq < 29000) and spottercty = [k,ve]
and (not comment=[*beacon*,*NCDXF*])
This filter is close to ideal for the US Black hole, and they are indeed
ideally situated for this event this time.
Stations in Eu will want to modify it totally. If you are single
mode, then modify the frequency range to suit.
This will allow your bandmap / available window to fill with stations in
the desired region whether you can hear them or not. Go to the frequency
and wait for a meteor to happen. I will be there, hope you will be too.
Don't forget to revert to your regular cluster filter in the daytime !
PLEASE SPOT EVERY STATION YOU HEAR OR WORK or find as a dupe but not on
the bandmap. Thanks a meg and GL in the contest.
Dave K2XR
