Perseids Peak Tonight - Listen in

[daveev]

This meteor shower has been going on for a few weeks, but it peaks tonight (tomorrow morning). Look NE in the pre dawn hours to see them. The moon will blot out most of them, however you can listen in as well. I've been listening on 55.25 MHz this morning with good results. Set your squelch to zero so you can hear the static. Mixed in with the static will be pings or howls. These are the ion trails, left by the meteors as they burn up, reflecting radio signals.

You can also use a car radio tuned to a frequency in the lower range (88.1 for example) that just produces static. I haven't tried this yet, maybe tonight.

If anyone in the Ontario region finds a better frequency in the 30 - 60 MHz range, please share.

Here's a sample of what to listen for:

http://spaceweatherradio.com/startup/geminidecho.wav

Here's hoping for a clear sky tonight!

Dave

 

[EJB]

hoping for a clear sky tonight!


You will probably be in luck, it is supposed to be clear.Incidentially my wife saw several this morning just before dawn and the moon was on the other side of our building here just south of HH.

 

[mrweather]

Is the noise usually found in mid-band VHF frequencies?

 

[daveev]

The noise is reflected ground transmissions, not the meteor it's self, so find a strong station transmitter frequency that is out of range from your location and you should hear the ping when a meteor hits the atmosphere. The 30 - 50 MHz range seems to work the best, perhaps those much smarter than I could explain why.

I'm currently trying the US Air Force Space Surveillance Radar transmitting a 800 kW of continuous-wave (CW) radio power Out of Texas, into an east-west oriented fan beam at 216.98 MHz. I'll let you know how this works out.

 

[miban1]

Are you using am, fm, nfm, wfm when your listening on 55.25?