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Re: (meteorobs) RE: [WSVHF] 1999 Perseids
Steve..
I'm still "transcribing" my radio meteor obs tapes (I think I may have sent
you a description of how I monitor) listening on 55.250 (TV ch 2 video
carrier). I have 12 hours of tape taken over two nights 11/12 and 12/13.
I've counted 35 radio bursts between 0500 and 0530 UT Thursday morning
alone.
My visual observations those two mornings indicate a peak hear at about 0700
UT on Thursday MORNING.
I'm wondering if you're perception that there was not as much activity might
be based on the fact that not many people were on the amateur bands looking
for contacts. I hear from people all the time that "10 meters (example) is
never open" my answer is the band might have been open, but since few, if
any, signals are actually on we assume a band is closed.
I guess my point is that I find using TV carriers as beacons a much more
reliable source for counting meteor bursts.dot because their signals are always
there...and are powerful.
I remember hearing 2 meters open up like 20 meter phone for about half an
hour during the afternoon (abt 1800 UT if memory serves) during the Perseid
peak of 1993 (I think it was that year...need to check the log) with a flood
of signals from the east coast.
I've heard what sounds like a burst of several simultaneous pings at 0523 on
Thursday. I'm still listening to the tapes here and I'll post what I find.
It would be interesting to compare notes.
73..and clear skies
Mark,
N4OKX
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Harrison <ko0u@os.com>
To: meteorobs@jovian.com <meteorobs@jovian.com>
Date: Saturday, August 14, 1999 4:19 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) RE: [WSVHF] 1999 Perseids
>The following are two radio amateur meteor scatter enthusiasts' perceptions
>of this year's Perseids "shower". The feeling among the "hams" is that the
>Perseids are, year-to-year, becoming more and more scarce and
>unpredictable. I believe, however, that there is much more to the ham's
>perception: for example, this year, I found almost nobody at all aware that
>the predicted peak at 23Z on 12 August would occur with the radiant below
>the majority of the North American horizon! So I tend to take some of the
>hams' comments with a couple of grains of salt. Still and all, however, the
>trend of the radio Perseids reflections does appear to have been decreasing
>over the past decade or so.
>
>My question: what would it take for the "scientific" folks like Joe Rao,
>Rob McNaught, et al, to be able to evaluate the Perseids as they did the
>Leonids last year to establish a more-definitive prediction of future
>activity? That is, are there data available which those folks might
>evaluate to estimate what's been going on with the Perseids in recent
>years, such as a possible trail shift or the like? I realize that many
>visual observations over the past several years have been prevented or
>obscured by weather and other environmental factors. But I'm asking whether
>it is even possible to more-finely-tune future Perseids predictions with
>the existing data, or what new data must be acquired in the future?
>
>My own experience this year was similar to last year's and due to my
>hearing problem on the radio with voices (I greatly favor morse code as a
>result), I could not really tell when I was hearing reflected signals or
>merely locals chatting on the frequency (I could not understand the
>majority of what was being said, nor by whom and where they were located,
>whether local or far-off reflected stations). I did have a number of
>prearranged radio schedules with others, of which only a couple were
>completely successful but of which most produced some useful signals even
>as high as 432 MHz at 15-16Z on 12 August (the same schedule today provided
>less signal than yesterday). Personally, I have not really been able to
>perceive any real difference in the Perseids activity since I began earnest
>prearranged radio schedules in 1993; but I don't think I'm hearing enough
>to give any judgement of the shower's apparent decrease in activity,
either.
>
>BTW, I earlier took the liberty of copying portions of Bob Lunsford's and
>Kim Youmans' reports to several of the ham reflectors; hope that was OK
>with you two! I'm looking forward to similar brief synopsies of
>observations from Hawaii and Asia as well as anything from Europe.
>
>Clear skies,
>
>SteveH
>Amateur Radio K0XP
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>From: "Russ Pillsbury" <k2txb@dxcc.com>
>>To: "John Hill" <jhill@visi.com>, <wsvhf@qthdot net>
>>Cc: <nlrs@qthdot net>
>>Subject: RE: [WSVHF] 1999 Perseids
>>Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 22:23:41 -0400
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>>Reply-To: "Russ Pillsbury" <k2txb@dxcc.com>
>>
>>John Hill, NJ0M wrote:
>>
>>> Subject: [WSVHF] 1999 Perseids
>>>
>>> This is my my second Perseids. Lastyear, after reading all the glorious
>>> fanfare about this shower, I was really pumped up for it. Either someone
>>> was overstating the facts or I misinterpreted them. There were no new
>>> grids, waiting like wheat before the scythe, to be mowed down. Being
>>> relatively new to MS, I sat intimidated the few times 144.200 erupted
for
>>> a brief period. Boy, did I feel dumb, taking three days vacation for it.
>>
>>> How was it this year? Great! I nailed down 7 new grids on 2M (180-188).
>>> New grids are hard to come by lately. Were they handed up to me on
>>> a platter? Heck no! I had to work for them, but the opportunities were
>>> there, not only on the 12th, but the 13th also. The point is, don't look
>>> back.
>>
>>> If I can get seven new grids this time next year, then it will be a big
>>> success to me again. The Rocks and 144 Prop Web pages were a big
>>> help in determining where to look. I highly recommend them. It was odd
>>> to see several stations "bitching" about conditions as they worked other
>>> stations, some for new grids. Did I miss something there?
>>
>>Hi John. While all you say is true, with regard to taking advantage of
what
>>is there and making it possible to work new stuff, you have to have been
>>there to appreciate the Perseids of yesteryear. For the past 10 years, at
>>least, the Perseids have been getting less and less as far as radio is
>>concerned. This year was the worst yet. I can remember years where the
>>activity was non-stop for the 2-3 day period. You could tune across the
>>band most any time all night long and hear stations running skeds - and
>>making them. We didn't have the internet in those days, but we used 80
>>meters to set up skeds, and the telephone when that failed. I don't know
if
>>the Perseids will ever return to the glory of years past, but if it does
it
>>really will be like "new grids, waiting like wheat before the scythe, to
be
>>mowed down"!
>>
>>Very 73, Russ K2TXB
>>
>>
>>-----
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