picking up my usual MOHP and NCHP skip currently, however, on 50.260 picking up what is some type of data burst. sounds almost like the control channel for a trunking network... obviously not a trunked system. Can anybody explain?
My initial googling turned up one page that suggested this is a ham radio digital mode calling freq for meteor scatter, but I'm not sure what mode you heard.
That is the nationwide calling channel for amateur radio meteor scatter. Most common mode we use is MSK144. Used that over the weekend to make some MS contacts during the Leonids meteor shower. You can get a free copy of the WSJT-X v1.8 software and it will decode that mode and several more that are used in HF and EME ham comms.
I knew that was the meteor scatter frequency and congrats on that excellent catch. I have never heard that. I have been lucky to get some ISS and some satellite down link chatter.
I will make sure I keep a watch on that frequency.
Thanks! I'm going to read more into this. Very interesting topic. Would this be considered Skip/Dx? The reason I posted it here was it faded in and out around the same time the other lowband channels.
Skip - yes. You are reflecting your signal off the ionized trail of an inbound meteor entering our atmosphere.
DX - yes. Most of us consider anything outside our normal VHF/UHF ground coverage area as DX. Some DX is more common than other DX. DX is an old radio term used by radio enthusiasts and hams, it stands for the long-distance reception of radio signals, DX being a short-form way of saying distance-extreme.
I knew that was the meteor scatter frequency and congrats on that excellent catch. I have never heard that. I have been lucky to get some ISS and some satellite down link chatter. I will make sure I keep a watch on that frequency.
I have really enjoyed using the new WSJT-X FT8 mode on 50.313 MHz. It has been fascinating to work contacts in that mode on 6 meters and it works very well using even a minimal station.