Starting out with meteor detection

[strinjf]

Hello all, 

I've finally got round to getting up and running with a set-up for GRAVES radar meteor detection and what a learning curve I have been on in this past 7 days!

I have built a 3 element yagi out of plastic pipe and a steel tape measure.  Nice and cheap, but not really suited to permanent installation as the electrical connections aren't weather proofed and the elements would flex in the wind. But nice and portable to take out to an observing session.  My longer term plan will be to build one with more robust and weatherproof construction.

I started out using CubicSDR on Linux with my SDRPlay RSP1A and was very pleased to get pings. I put the audio (via VB-Audio virtual audio cable) into Argo which could screenshot the waterfall every screen full and I got some great catches all through the night a couple of nights ago.

Yesterday, I have been experimenting with Spectrum Lab and using the MetScatV7 configuration and conditional actions to capture and log the pings.

Ultimately, I would like to have an SDR and Raspberry Pi running 24/7 in the shed, so my question is,  has anyone got any experience/recommendations  for a Pi based solution like Spectrum Lab!

Thank for reading

 

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by strinjf

[Geminids]

Not bad work for seven days work!

Sorry I cannot help you with Pi 😞    Spectrum Lab has had many years of dedicated development - probably many more years that Raspberry Pi's have.

[The Admiral]

Likewise! But I have no experience of using Linux and RPi so can't help on that score. There's plenty of threads on this Board connected with meteor scatter so you might find something to help. Someone might also pop up in answer too. Good luck.

Ian

[strinjf]

Thanks for your replies.  Having searched the 'net,  I figured this would likely be wishful thinking.  Time to buy a 2nd hand PC or laptop for the shed then

 

[Stormchaser]

Hello @strinjf and welcome to the dark side of capturing meteor echoes with a Pi   Nice L shaped echo you got there!

There are some ways to do it, better with the new RasPi 4, but nothing with SpectrumLab, I'm afraid. The software architecture was not made for that, unfortunately, so you have to resort to alternatives, if you want to use a Pi.

This https://sourceforge.net/projects/echoes/ is a project for which I gave some feedback with a Raspi 3b+ some time ago. The Echoes code works with a Pi, with a couple of tricks along the way, but it does not present the same volume of customisation that SpectrumLab has. Nonetheless, it could be good as a start if you want to 'play' a bit with it.

Regarding a PC instead, you don't need much, except if you want to stream your live waterfall online, and even an old computer will work.

If you need anything else, please feel free to ask.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Stormchaser

[strinjf]

@Stormchaser, thanks for the feedback... I am really liking spectrum lab, so I think I'll go for a cheap 2nd hand laptop.  My home network extends to the shed and garage so it could run scripts to move the data logs to my NAS periodically. 

I know what you mean about streaming. I am running one at the moment and it does drop from time to time, that's on a laptop with an i5 2.5Ghz processor, 8GB ram and an SSD.  But I don't really intend to run that all the time. More for fun at the moment as we go through the Perseids peak. 

I am an amateur radio licence holder and this is getting me interested in trying meteor scatter communications in the future. Uh-oh, I see another rabbit hole opening up 😂

 

 

[strinjf]

Well, I've had the system up and running 24/7 (mostly) for just over a week, and I'm pretty pleased with the counts.

 

[Stormchaser]

Very nice totals, that's for sure.

Mine were around 50+ at the maximum, and the difference in distance between us and the source of the signal shows itself perfectly here.

[strinjf]

3 hours ago, Stormchaser said:

Equipment: 9 Element Yagi (14.3dBi free space forward gain) 

I think I'd have a divorce on my hands if I put up a monster like that 😂

[pawelp]

FYI. I've just completed my journey - a year long struggle - declaring this as a success:  a setup that detects metors 24/7, taking weak signals from the top of the roof all the way down to the ground floor based room ....