KL7UW

Meteor Scatter


 
Introduction
 
   Meteor Scatter has been difficult to work in Alaska for many reasons.  
 
   First human population is concentrated in very few locations in Alaska and very sparcely 
   distributed elsewhere.  Half of the state population lies within 200-miles radius of Anchorage 
   which places them too close for meteor scatter work.  Other population concentrations occur  
   around Fairbanks (350-miles north of Anchorage) and southeast Alaska (Juneau, Ketchikan,
   and Sitka about 800-miles and a good MS distance from southcentral Alaska).  In Canada: 
   Whitehorse, YT is the only population center within normal MS range (600 to 1400 miles) at 700-miles.
 
   The second reason is that stations located far from population centers (in the bush) are not 
   encouraged to have VHF multi-mode radio equipment and high-gain antennas due to lack 
   of nearby stations to talk to.  Our terrain is prominently mountainous which can block long-range
   tropospheric propagation.
 
   Because of low or no "weak-signal" VHF activity, not much is known about Long-range propagation.
 
   There is some MS activity in the NW corner of the USA and adjacent Canada, but this lies at 
   the extreme range possible on MS from much of mainland Alaska.  I have not succeeded with 
   meteor scatter into the Pacific NW at this point.  
 
   The advent of WSJT makes daily contacts possible via random meteors.  The Alaska VHF Group will
   begin encouraging far northern VHF stations to try MS.

MMMonVHF Meteor Scatter Page

   Make More Miles on VHF website has up-to-date information on meteor scatter at http://www.mmmonvhf.de/ms.php
 
 
W8WN Meteor Scatter Page
 
   Shelby Ennis, W8WN, provides a great webpage for collection of meteor scatter data and news.
 
   Shelby states it best:  "Why use HSMS?"
 
  • It is much more efficient than slow CW or SSB meteor scatter!
  • Also, HSMS is usable every day of the year, not just during the peaks of major showers.
  • This is because HSMS needs only the fractional-second underdense pings of sporadic meteors.
  • These are available just about all the time. Grids can be worked that aren't available by other propagation types.
MS Most Popular on 50 & 144 MHz On six meters MS can be done with a modest station running medium power (50-100w) and small yagis. 6m SSB stations often experience meteor "pings" on signals providing brief enhancing of signal strength. But HSMS using WSJT makes contacts more effectively using shorter random meteors. On 2m meteor scatter is harder because it takes stronger meteor ionization trails to return adequate signals. HSMS works very nicely at 2m with 100w+ and moderate yagi arrays (10-element). Just about any VHF satellite equiped station can do HSMS with the addition of a soundcard interface and WSJT software from Joe taylor, K1JT. KL7UW uses his 6m station and 2m EME station for HSMS using primarly WSJT. Please check back as more is added on this page!

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