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(meteorobs) Meteor Detection on FM--a new experience.
Mark,
Sounds like you are making good progress.
The *best* time to get tuned in and find optimum working frequencies is
local dawn when morning sporadic meteors are most plentiful. From local 6
pm to midnight is the time of *least* sporadic meteors and you may only
hear one meteor every few minutes. In the dawn you should be hearing one
meteor every few seconds and maybe more depending on your situation.
The 6 element Radio Shack FM yagi is cheap...( $20. if I remember
correctly?)...but it is an excellent antenna for the FM frequencies of 88
MHz to 108 MHz. If you do get the other receiver to work tv carriers you
may have to get a different antenna to match the frequency you are working.
Some FM receivers are better than others. Most home entertainment receivers
seem to have fairly sloppy tuning and allow strong local stations to smear
through adjacent frequencies. You might test other FM radios because some
can be actually quite well tuned. And some are dismal.
Also, once you get your Icom R 10 and work tv carriers you might still
think about keeping your FM setup then you can monitor at two frequencies
and this can be very useful and interesting as you will find out.
Best of luck and keep asking questions as it will save you lots of time.
Tom Ashcraft
-------------------- Begin Original Message --------------------
Message text written by INTERNET:meteorobs@atmob.org
"
Hi everyone,
I recently missed out on the Orionids due to overcast skies here in Central
Iowa.
Have been experimenting/tinkering around to try to detect meteors with my
Fisher brand FM receiver.
I live in the country smack in the middle of Iowa. Most of the FM
frequencies seem to be used. The most promising frequency I've found so far
is a Chicago frequency 89.7 MHz FM which just barely comes in (low signal
strength LED indicator on my receiver) it usually comes in for short
periods at a time on my receiver. Otherwise I get 2-3 other stations which
drift in and out but do not register on either the signal strength
indicator LED or the Tuned LED indicator of my receiver. I am using a cheap
Radio Shack 6 element FM antenna which I presume is a Yaggi style
directional antenna? I have it oriented roughly 70-80 degrees at approx.
15-20 degrees elevation.
So far, I have received some short "bursts" of music lasting 1-2 secs which
are fairly loud and which I can positively identify as music from the
Chicago Christian music station or atleast I think so.
During such short "bursts" I have noticed that both the Tuned LED indicator
and the signal strength LED indicator have also lit up on my receiver.
Tonight (11/13/01) from 12:00-01:00 AM I detected roughly 4 of these
outbursts.
My questions are:
Am I doing this right?
Am I actually detecting meteors?
I have ordered a better receiver Icom-R10 which should be coming soon. I
hope to use it to monitor TV video carrier frequencies for what will
hopefully be a better setup for meteor detection.
Any advice or assistance from meteorobs members would be greatly
appreciated.
Sincerely,
Mark Mikutis"
-------------------- End Original Message --------------------
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