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Re: (meteorobs) Anyone else see Xi Draconids?



From: Steve Harrison <steveh@fons.com>

Steve Harrison wrote: >>>The following comments might be considered to be
somewhat off-topic from the main interest of this reflector, which is
visual meteor observation.....As a radio amateur, I have been conducting
daily high-speed morse code schedules from my station in central
Massachusetts to another station in central Kentucky.....In any case, I
wonder whether there are folks here in NA who are performing serious radio
meteor reflection observations; and whether those observations are being
combined with visual reports by anybody?<<<



Greetings Steve,

Yes, radio meteor observations and questions are *welcome* on the meteorobs
discussion list.

Presently there are just a handful of serious radio meteor observers in
North America but there are established programs underway to manifest a
future broad radio meteor network. I imagine you will get the notice of Jim
Richardson who is director of the American Meteor Society Radiometer
Project which is dedicatedly making a constant sporadic count. And I will
take the liberty to send you the RMOB FAQ (Radio Meteor Observer's
Bulletin) created by Chris Steyaert which lists addresses for lots of info.
RMOB publishes a monthly email bulletin of radio meteor counts from
observers around the world. Subscribe and it comes to you automatically for
free.  There is also the Global Meteor Scatter network which may be in the
works as well.

I am a radio meteor observer but am not in the best situation to monitor
for data these days ( but hope to again in the future.) I do audio record
VHF forward scatter during major shower periods. Recently I collected audio
tapes of the strong daytime showers of the June Arietids and zeta Perseids
for later processing. I work at around 91.1 MHz at commercial FM
frequencies.

I also try to keep attuned to sporadic-E episodes and patterns to note
possible meteor shower correspondences. There is a DX sporadic-E email list
with observers around North America.

So there is some radio activity in North America for sure but there needs
to be more observers for a tighter observation network. Fortunately, the
infrastructure to communicate instantaneous observations via the internet
is very well established. Radio meteor work is an important practice in
science with many applications. 

Clear skies,
Tom Ashcraft
35deg 41' 08" N  105deg 56' 43" W
Santa Fe, New Mexico