[Meteor-Scatter] final email

[Michael Hawk]

Hello,

> The other problem, of course, pertains to the fact
> that almost all, if not
> all, of the subscribers to this reflector are
> amateur radio enthusiasts,
> more interested in utilizing meteor scatter for
> two-way communications
> rather than the more-esoteric observation of meteor
> showers and storms.

I just wanted to voice the fact that I am on this 
list because I enjoy 88 MHz meteor scatter like Geoff.
While I am also an amateur radio operator, I've always
found "FM DX" to be more enjoyable, for whatever
reasons.  And I know of at least 1 other FM DX'er that
is on this list.

I have never posted because I saw that 90% of the
discussions seemed to be related to settings up skeds
or other amateur activities, and was afraid I would
be "flamed" if I did post something 88MHz related.
I've stuck around because once in awhile more general
discussions take place (such as around the Leonids
last year).

Even though two-way communication is not the goal of
FM DX'ers, meteor scatter behavior at 88MHz closely
resembles that of 6M and 2M.  I think that
FM DX'ers can provide very useful and unique data.
Many FM DX'ers use high gain yagi's, sometimes 
stacked and/or electronically phased, along with
modified FM tuners.  And consider that there are
thousands of FM radio stations on the air 24/7 - it
would be like having a 6 or 2 M beacons in every city
of 30,000 +.  This means our input can include
detailed, and possibly more accurate, hourly
ping/burst rates, durations, etc. When you combine the
fact that a non-trivial amount of FM broadcasters
utilize RDS encoding, immediate identification of
these stations can be made.

While I agree that posts like "I heard a 1 second
ping this morning at 6:45 AM from a non-shower 
associated meteor" is of little use, I would like to
think  that this list wouldn't discourage the
constructive input of FM DX'ers.

Afterall, the list goals, as stated on qth.net, are:

1. To provide a forum to encourage discussion on 50MHz
and up meteor-scatter propagation and operation. 
2. Announcing Meteor-scatter DX-Peditions, arranging
skeds and sending your activity reports. 

Thanks,
 
-mike
N0OSY/7


> 
> May I suggest that you try the North American Meteor
> Network reflector? I
> was a member of that group for some years and
> frequently posted my ham
> meteor scatter observations. The group is primarily
> interested in visual
> observation but there are a few dozen who also, or
> only, perform radio
> observations. You can find out how to subscribe at
> the site:
> http://www.namnmeteors.org/mailing.html
> 
> Umm... gotta cut this short, we've got a lightning
> storm here....
> 
> Regards,
> Steve K�XP
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Meteor-Scatter mailing list
> Meteor-Scatter@mailman.qth.net
>
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/meteor-scatter


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