[RMVHF] FYI - Perseids meteor shower peak August 12

[Phil Krichbaum]

    If you are into the digital modes of WSJT, this is an excellent way 
to get your feet wet on meteors with digital on 6m or 2m. WSJT is 
freeware and written by K1JT (Joe Taylor) a Nobel prize physicist from 
Princeton, and Joe participates in VHF contests and at other times on 
this mode as well as SSB and CW. A good portion of EME is now using 
forms of WSJT. If you can already  do RTTY or PSK, just download the 
software and PDF manual.  and you are good to go.
    Last year the Perseids was nothing special, with 6m sounding more 
like 2m in years past. If you are working meteor scatter, you need to be 
fast (don't exchange your grandmother's eye color etc). Often call sign 
and grids are all that is exchanged. Some people have no clue that it is 
meteor scatter instead of E skip when they hear strong signals pop in 
for a few seconds and they miss QSOs as a result. A good rock can cause 
one or two minutes on 6m and maybe 5-15 seconds on 2m. I've worked 
multiple stations on one good rock on 2m and even have made. Random  
work is usually on the calling frequencies for SSB/CW. 50260 seems to be 
the WSJT calling freq and not sure what it is for 2m (144260?). Also 
check out pingjockey to see who is running skeds.
    The Perseids usually don't provide much visual stuff until after 
midnight and look NE. The peak is normally the morning of the 12th and 
is a few hours after sunrise.
    73 Phil N0KE
   

Ken Anderson wrote:
> Forwarding to RMVHF from K8FC
>
> > From: k8fc at k8fc.com
> > To: gmc at mailman.qth.net; ppdxg at ppdxg.com
> > Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 11:49:47 -0600
> > CC:
> > Subject: [GMCC] FYI
> >
> > > Space Weather News for August 5, 2008
> > > COUNTDOWN TO THE PERSEIDS: The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks 
> one week
> > > from today, on Tuesday, August 12th. The best time to look is 
> during the
> > > dark hours before dawn on Tuesday morning when forecasters expect 
> 50 to
> > > 100
> > > meteors per hour. Get away from city lights if you can; plan a camping
> > > trip! The darker the sky, the more meteors you will see.
> > >
> > > The source of the Perseids is Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has 
> littered the
> > > August portion of Earth's orbit with space dust. The dusty zone is 
> broad
> > > and Earth is already in its outskirts. As a result, even before 
> the peak
> > > on
> > > August 12th, you may see some "early Perseids" streaking across 
> the night
> > > sky. Photos of these early arrivals will be featured in the days 
> ahead on
> > > http://Spaceweather.com as part of our full coverage of the 
> Perseid meteor
> > > shower.
> > >
> > > In looking for other items of interest on the Meteor Shower, I found a
> > > number of web sites on how to operate on VHF during the Shower. 
> Here's
> > > part
> > > of one I found: "VHF DXers and sky-watchers alike will be ready 
> for the
> > > annual Perseid meteor shower that peaks this week. On 6 and 2 meters,
> > > meteor-scatter QSOs of up to 1500 miles may be possible during the
> > > shower."
> > > If you're into this type of activity, it looks like early next 
> week will
> > > be
> > > the time for it.
> > >
> > > Until next week, enjoy the chase and HAVE FUN !
> > >
> > > 73,
> > > Paul K2DB
> > >
> > > >
> >
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