New to Meteor Detecting

[The Admiral]

I can't remember Ken what scripts come with the package. If you go into FILE/LOAD SETTINGS FROM, you can see what is available. But you don't actually need a script to run it.

However, if you want to do more than just look at the traces, such as single out events of meteoric origin (so far as is possible), count the number of events, get screen-shots of the events, etc, then you will need a script of some sort. Have a look at posts #84 and #110 for links to scripts. I use a script that I wrote myself which you are welcome to try, but it requires a bit more setting up and I'm not sure it's output is RMOB compatible.

Ian

[jarraman]

hi.ian.

im useless at computers,managed to get a script and downloaded it to a folder on my desktop,but how do i get it to load up?got it into the box and hit the load button.it shows up on the first line as the full script,i hope this makes sense.

ken.

[The Admiral]

Ken, I'm not sure I understand what you are describing. If you click through FILE/CONDITIONAL ACTIONS, it will open the conditional actions box. From there, click LOAD and load the file that you've downloaded. It should populate the conditional actions box, one action to each line. See here for example. The script should be a .txt file. Which one are you using? Perhaps try the one in the link if it doesn't work.

Ian

[SteveNickolls]

Hi Ken,

I see you have gone down the route of using the S@N aerial and FunCube dongle. It’s over a year since I set mine up so my memory could be hazy but...

Originally there was a download on the S@N magazine page with three .USR files you could add to the ones that already come with the dongle for initial use with your S@N aerial/FunCube dongle. I had a look this morning but can’t see the download anymore on the page. After downloading these you dragged them into the SL “File/Load Settings From/Configurations" box which opens up. You can then use them with SL. Hope this makes sense. Have you got these .USR files?

The original idea was to first use one of these three .USR files to confirm the set up was working by tuning into a local FM radio transmitter (using the FMradio_v1.USR configuration).

Next you had a choice of using either MetScat_starter_v1.USR or MetScat_detail_v1.USR. Both these .USR files come with settings included already such as the conditional actions script so nothing more for you to do there.

It is important that you set up the SL settings found under “Options” at the top of the SL screen as SL uses either your computer’s sound card or the audio chip on the motherboard. There is a manual with SL that helps you here. SL is very all embracing and though it appears complex at first it does ultimately provide you with a lot of control and customisation for your set up.

If you look at the “Components” and “Show Components” you get a window showing what is ok and what is not with your current set up. You want to see all green components and no red ones as this shows an error there.

If you click on “Options” then “Audio Settings, I/O device selection” you bring up the SL “Configuration and Display Control window from which you can change settings to suit. There are two lines of tabs and clicking the Audio/I/O tab opens all the variables. Firstly make sure SL can see your FunCube Dongle in the “Input Device/Pipe/Driver” dropdown window, mine says something like “0 Line (Funcube Dongle V2.0”. Also that in the “Output Device/Pipe/Driver” drop down window it shows where you want to listen to the output, in my case this is “0 Speakers (VIA High Definition)”. Yours will depend upon your pc.

Next to the right of this are the Audio Processing menus. I have mine set to “Soundcard Sample Rate 192000”

Make sure you click the “Apply” tab to save these SL settings.

You can check in your pc that (1) the computer has recognised the dongle and (2) what properties it has including sample rates.

As I said it’s a while since I had to set mine up so I hope I haven’t missed anything too important. I do recall that on the afternoon after checking the audio settings I got a detection almost right away.

Of course after a while you will want to do more with your set up and that’s when new .USR files and conditional action scripts will become important to you. If you are into programming you will be in seventh heaven otherwise you will have to try/use those available on the Internet and some are better than others. I fall heavily into the latter category unfortunately.

Hope this helps Ken and not bewilders.

Best of luck,

Steve

[The Admiral]

Ken, just to add to what Steve says, if I remember correctly, you can load a conditional actions script, which is a .txt file, using the FILE/CONDITIONAL ACTIONS as I described above. The .usr file that Steve refers to is a settings file that is installed via the FILE/LOAD SETTINGS FROM route, and this file loads both the conditional actions script AND Spectrum Lab's configuration. I believe I'm right in saying that if you load the .usr file then you shouldn't need to fiddle with Spectrum Labs configuration options. However, there's always a catch....the .usr config file does not save the system settings, or in the words of the manual "Most of the 'system settings' are not saved in the normal user configuration file - instead, they are considered to be 'machine' but not 'application' dependent.
To modify them, select 'Options' ... 'System Settings' in Spectrum Lab's main menu." So you will need to go in to OPTIONS/SYSTEM SETTINGS and set any of those that are relevant yourself.

This was meant to be a clarification of what Steve said, but I'm having doubts about whether it may have confused you further! I've not used any of the published scripts myself so I don't have direct experience of them, though Steve has.

Ian

[jarraman]

hi ian and steve.

just to let you know,i think i am there,steve i downloaded the files you sent me,except the detail one,do i need to?.

couple more question,I'm sorry,lol.the waterfall colour,does it make any difference as to what colour it is for seeing meteor strikes.

tested sound generator,give me a signal told me meteor and how long.one last question,for now,lol.how do i look at the information what it has recorded.

just for information,i have my setup up in a spare bedroom,with my ariel in the loft.my plan is to buy a 3 element yagi and attach to chimney stack,with a cable running to my shed where i have a 32 inch monitor set up,,this should make the wife very happy,,lol.

[The Admiral]

Glad to see that you've found a better home for the antenna Ken. The display colours don't make any difference, they just make it more visible. Personal preference really, and easy enought to adjust with the sliders on the LHS. I like to set the colour palette to one having a good number of colours (I forget which one), and set the background to a dark blue and the peaks to the top colour. A bit of trial and error until you see the range of signal strengths.

The data you record and its whereabouts depends on the script, so perhaps I'll leave the other questions to Steve to answer.

Good luck

Ian

[SteveNickolls]

Hi Ken,

Glad you could use the .usr files :-)

I tended to use the starter .usr file which was fine so you don't need to download it.

When you have used that for a while and you want to try another set up and more involved conditional actions, say to report to the RMOB etc we can point you in the right direction.

Best of luck.

Steve

[SteveNickolls]

Sorry Ken, I just realised you also asked about looking at the information you have collected using SL. From memory If you look in the drive that SL is installed into (this may well be your C drive). If you go to your pc desktop and click the "Start" button then hover your mouse over "Computer" it will bring up all the drives on your pc. Right click on the disc your SL files are (it's possible this will be called "Local disk:C" or similar. Left click to open the drive and you should see a list including one called Spectrum. Double left click on Spectrum and you will get a long list of files. If you open the one labelled "screenshots" this will have all your saved screenshots. If you have ever taken a screenshot yourself (not done automatically by SL) that will be found lower down the list of files and saved as individual JPEG's with names such as captxxyyhhmmss where xx = day yy=month hh=hour mm=minute and ss= second which realate to the date and time you captured the meteor trail.

I have never saved the sound of the detection to replay but SL can do this for you. If you look into this thread there are pointers how to do this but as I say I have never done this.

I hope this helps you do what you want to do right now Ken.

Cheers,

Steve

[jarraman]

hi steve and Ian.

hmmmmm I'm looking at the live site for meteor hits,all uk guys,,there getting hits I'm not:(,,,got the same freq...143049 as them,,nothing showing on mine,changed the freq to an radio channel95.5,got a steady signal.any idea,s.are you getting any hits?.or I'm i just being impatient,,lol.

[SteveNickolls]

Hi Ken,

When you changed frequency did you swap the .usr file from the FM one to the starter one? The MetScat starter .usr has the settings to detect meteors but I use a frequency of 143.048 MHz. It seems your aerial and dongle are working when using the FM radio to check. Have you read the two S@N articles, particularly the second part showing how to set up the software?

Cheers,

Stove

[The Admiral]

hi steve and Ian.

hmmmmm I'm looking at the live site for meteor hits,all uk guys,,there getting hits I'm not:(,,,got the same freq...143049 as them,,nothing showing on mine,changed the freq to an radio channel95.5,got a steady signal.any idea,s.are you getting any hits?.or I'm i just being impatient,,lol.

Steve has indicated where the recorded data can be found, but of course you should also be able to see something on your screen. More often than not, outside of meteor showers, all you get is a little "spot" or "blip" at the correct frequency, and there can many minutes between them. It's only occasionally that you see a bigger event that lasts for a few seconds. You'll know it when you see it! Are you saying that you are not seeing anything on your screen? With a frequency setting of 143.049MHz you'd expect the meteor reflection to occur at 1kHz.

Ian

[The Admiral]

Actually Ken, there is another thing you could try. There is a VHF radio beacon at 144.430MHz; if you tune to, say, 144.428MHz, you might be able to hear and see the transmission coming through at 2kHz. Best if you switch on your speakers. It'll sound a bit like a Space Odyssey, it's quite unmistakable. If you can get that then at least you know that you're on the right track. GB3VHF transmits in 2 directions, the attached shows the beam centrelines, so you should be able to receive the upper one.

Courtesy of GB3VHF, http://www.gb3vhf.co.uk/GB3VHFantennadetails.html

Ian

[jarraman]

hi  ian.

thanks for that,tried it and zoomed right in on the frequency,can't remember what space odyssey sounded like,lol.but there was a high pitched sound,going in and out.

i have also tried the fm radio config of the s&n magazine,i was getting something of that as well ,so i have switched to metscat starter now,got the screen rolling away,can hear the white noise.

another thing,you knew there was going to be,lol. i have the component s window up on the the screen,in green are the,,ADC MONO,,L1,SPECTRUM ANALYSER 1,,DAC MONO,,..but in blue is the filter,left filter output amplifyer.

ken.

[The Admiral]

So you should be able to see meteor trails then. Here's my components window Ken.

Hope that helps

Edit. Just discovered that my "Left filter output amplifier" turns blue if I click on it, but then goes white if I adjust the slider on the right. Not quite clear what effect that is having, but it seems to work either way!

[jarraman]

hi ian.

hmmmm,,the top filter by pass box,,mine is blue and my trig.recorder,pre-trigger is blank,not green.

[The Admiral]

I think the pre-trigger is green because I use the recorder function in my script. Not sure why the filter box is blue; mine is bypassed I think. You're pushing the bounds of my knowledge of SL now! See what the manual says. (Edit. which says "light blue means "parameter is selected for editing or connected to the slider on the right""). Click on the Filter box, this opens up a filter control box, and click on the "Bypass" button until the components window shows "Filter bypassed".

Ian

[The Admiral]

Ken, could you post a picture of your screen please? (i.e. press [PRT SCR], open up the "Paint" application, paste the file into it, and save as a jpg. Then you can upload into your post using "Use full editor".)

[jarraman]

[jarraman]

hi ian.

this is what I have on screen at moment,i got rid of the blue box,,just muted it.

I'm sorry for being such a pain,lol.

[The Admiral]

Okay, thanks Ken. I think if it was me I'd set the colour you see here at the blue end of your colour palette, because the orange/red is already well up the range so you have little room to go when you get a signal. At best a strong signal will be yellow, not a lot different to your background, and that makes seeing feint traces difficult. I'd recommend setting the background so that it just registers above black, and the top at around the yellow or white. If you look back at post #29 for example, you can see the colour scheme set-up used there. Other than that, I don't see why you shouldn't see a few meteors.

Ian

[The Admiral]

Another thing Ken, your ambient background looks a little high, not sure why. But in any event I suggest that you modify the range because your minimum signal isn't going to approach -108dB. Perhaps try -90dB as a starter. Go into [OPTIONS], select "Spectrum Display Settings, Part 2". See below.

Where it says "Range" set that to -90 and click [APPLY]. That will change the range that you can see under "Colour palette" to -90 to -60, in your set-up, so you'll need to adjust the sliders to get the colours of the waterfall looking right. I think I might try -40dB for the top end, rather than -60dB, but one thing at a time.

Incidentally, I've included a typical meteor ping to the right of the window in the image above. That's what you are looking for.

Ian

[allcart]

This is all going to be so helpful when I get my rig up and running. keep it up chaps.

[jarraman]

hi ian.

thanks for all the information,just got in,,been out astronomising about 25 public,bit windy then the rain came,but,some good talks by our chairman.

cheers allan,,it is like ian said,abit of a learning curve.

ken.

[jarraman]

hi ian,steve.

looks like it is working