I knew that Aug 12 was the peak for
a meteor shower. These peaks are best
in the morning before sunrise.
I have done this kind of DXing with
really low noise FM tuners and outside
gain antennas. I didn't have access to
that equipment.
About 2:30 AM last night I went out on
the deck. I put the Tecsun PL-380 and a
small digital recorder under a bucket and
when back to bed.
When I got up it was raining but the equipment
was dry under the bucket.
FM meteor scatter DX is usually bits and pieces
of words and music. Usually very short. Sometimes
it's just a FFFFT! noise that is so brief there is no
time to hear anything. With very sensitive equipment,
in the past - I have been able to hear the meteor trails for a longer
times, and actually tentatively IDed a station once. Another time
I heard a phone number clear as a bell but with no
area code. Another time I heard 3 different FM stations
reflect off of a meteor trail, one at a time. It was a long
meteor trail.
But this was not a DX set-up. It was just a little radio.
Anyway, I took the radio and recorder inside and
played back the recording. I DID hear bits and
pieces of music and words. I played the recording
back over and over. There is no doubt in my mind
that the PL-380, with just it's whip antenna, received
5 or 6 FM DX meteor bounces within 35 minutes.
Now, this was supposed to be a big meteor shower,
so maybe that's why. And I'm in it for the science
as much as the DX.
Still, this is a great tribute to the Tecsun PL-380,
and what it can do! Amazing!
Bruce, Still Dazed And Confused
Dear Confused:
Please listen carefully to what I am saying. I will speak slowly and distinctly.
No, no, I am NOT saying that DXing stinks! I said, "speaking distinctly."
Ah, never mind my silliness. Allow me to be serious.
What frequency do you monitor when searching for meteor skips? Just any open frequency?
Come back.
Well... You can try, but I don't think you will
hear anything.
Apparently it was a big meteor shower. Europe
had lots and lots of reports. I guess there it
was a real sky display.
There's not as much info about the U.S. yet that
I can find. I do know that one guy heard at
least 10 or 12 stations reflect off of a single meteor
trail. My guess was that it was pretty big here, too.
I haven't paid a lot of attention to this in the last
few years. I was lucky to get to try it last night.
I'm figuring most of these guys are using low noise
FM tuners with yagis or log periodics outside.
One thing I had forgotten about. A few guys got
station IDs off of their RDS displays. One guy
got a station 1100 mlles away, and he was able
to tell that way.
Yes, you listen on a blank channel. I know that's
hard to find now. However, having a station sort
of "down in the mud" isn't necessarily bad. If you
get a scatter signal, it will come over the other station
and it will sort of distinguish itself.
I used 105.3 last night.
So to recap, this was a big shower, I
think - which is probably why I heard
some bounces on the Tecsun PL-380.
Still, I don't know if anybody has done
this with such simple equipment. I wish
I could find out, so I would get some sort
of "frame of reference." Most of these guys
are listening to the FM band constantly -
all the time - and they have dedicated DX set-ups.
Whatever - I think it was a lot of fun!
Best Wishes,
Bruce
It is not "simple equipment." It
is an amazing and sophisticated
radio receiver, that is very
selective, and uses DSP. It's
sensitivity seems to be about the
same as many of my other good
FM receivers. Maybe not as much
as my Technics ST-9030, but up there
for sure. The real thing that was
missing here was the receiving antenna -
i.e. - a whip antenna on the radio instead
of a roof mounted FM yagi or log periodic
or whatever. The PL-380 does not have an
external antenna jack. I don't think anybody
ever envisioned that it would need one.
If a big antenna was hooked up somehow
to the PL-380, would there by massive
overload? I suppose so.
Bruce
I put some of my receiving
experiences on Part 15.US
in case someone gets interested,
by chance. There are plenty of
SWL. AM DX, etc. blogs that are
full of stuff. So I just post here
once in a while.
Bruce
Bruce, it's all about receiving.
Part 15 radio people want to be received.
They want to be received on the dial by listeners, and they want to be able to check the radio and find their own stations.
Part 15 folks want to hear other stations so they can compare their signals to those more distant signals.
When I sign off at night I want to listen to my frequency and discover what else might be going on far away.
Blank channels are meant to be occupied and used.
Yet, no channel is truly blank. There is something else going on that a better radio or antenna would detect.
We care about the radio spectrum and view it as a place to hang out.
gave ithe radio a so-so with regard to the accuracy the signal strength read-out. Basically not accurate at all.