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Blog Comments posted by DrRobin
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And the wait goes on. Not sure what is happening at Imaging Source?
'How to use radio signals to catch meteors'
in Blog 19648
A blog by Hawksmoor in General
Posted
Hi,
In a previous life armed with a radio amateur license, a VHF set (2m band) and a 100W amplifier we used to go out on the moors and try Meteor Scatter. Normally VHF is limited in range to about 100 - 200 miles, slightly further if you get a Tropospheric reflection, but with a reflection from a meteor trail which are very high in the sky, 1,500 to 2,000 miles is possible.
You either transmit your call sign and then leave a break and a station in say Italy or Spain will respond if you are lucky enough to be transmitting when a meteor comes through. Or, you just listen for a strong station and reply when they leave a break. The whole conversation is over in a couple of seconds.
Small meteors cause a very brief reflection and the distant station is head as a 'ping'. Larger meteors or several at once can give several seconds of reflection and as the ionised trail moves, a Doppler shift can be heard requiring tuning of the receiver to be able to hear the whole conversation. Really good operators will make 3 or 4 contacts, exchanging calls signs and signal strength reports in one long reflection.
It never ceased to amaze me the distance that could be obtained on a band that is normally relatively short range.
I haven't used a FUNCube so couldn't say how well it would work but we used to build our own Yagi (usually a 9 or 15 element) at 145MHz and fix pointing towards southern Europe. I would have to say I haven't done any of this for nearly 30 years, but it was very interesting at the time.
Robin
Robin