(meteorobs) Current shower?

[James Beauchamp]

Thanks, Sam.
Initially, all stations within reach of me were gone, and the Kickapoo site was really close.  It picks up main-beam objects very well, and even off-axis ones due to (presumably) sub-lobe energy.
I get some, but not others, which I've got the Sentinel All-sky to catch.
217.983 USB here with a home-brew Yagi, aimed up about 60 degrees.  Low loss cable and a duel-cavity tuned bandpass filter to keep the other noise down.
Radio is a standard ICOM PCR-1000, USB, 15 Khz BW into a Creative EMU-0202 soundcard.

--- On Mon, 8/29/11, Sam Barricklow <k5kj at mac.com> wrote:

From: Sam Barricklow <k5kj at mac.com>
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Current shower?
To: "Meteor science and meteor observing" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Date: Monday, August 29, 2011, 6:37 AM


James,
I monitor both the Lake Kickapoo RADAR and channel 2 video carriers here in the DFW area.  Most of the channel 2 carriers are apparently originating from Mexico, but signals peak in other directions too.  Bottom line is that many more echoes are heard on channel 2 than when monitoring the Lake Kickapoo RADAR.  Channel 2 video carrier frequencies in MHz are:
55.23955.249 55.259
The ICOM PCR-1000 receiver is set to USB.  Two antennas are used, one is a 2 element wire yagi pointed at the zenith, and the second is a rotatable 3 element horizontally polarized yagi at 19 meters AGL.  Apparently, several transmitters are still on the air, with the strongest located in either southwest Texas or in Mexico near the Texas / Mexico border.
Using the 3 element rotatable yagi-uda antenna, meteor scatter signals originating from analog TV stations to the northwest, northeast and the southeast, although weaker, can also be received.  Apparently, the migration from analog to digital transmission has not been completed.
As you probably know, Ionized meteor trails reflect the channel 2 VHF signals much more efficiently than the 216 MHz Lake Kickapoo frequency, so many more echoes may be heard on the lower frequency.
The channel 2 FM audio frequency can also be monitored on 59.750 MHz
The issue for you may be that an analog TV transmitter may not be close enough to illuminate ionized meteor trails that pass above your location, which wouldn't allow simultaneous meteor scatter audio and all-sky video.  Sam Barricklow

 
On Aug 28, 2011, at 10:29 AM, James Beauchamp wrote:
The previous week has been total silence.  Barely a sporadic radio hit after the PER's settled down.
Last night it has picked up significantly.  Radar scatter is getting about 20 per hour at the peak rates, but it is in clusters.
Clouds prevented any optical captures  :(

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