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Avainsana: Meteor Scatter

Closing the FMDX season 2018

Published by JMN

If the FMDX season 2018 was generally saying weak, the end was even weaker. Tropos have brought almost nothing to inner Finland and perseids seemed very weak this year. Few small OIRT openings I have spent in work. Anyway I expect to have around 100 new FM stations (reports), so in the end season was not a total catastrof. The total number of logs reach 620 which is all time second best since 2001! (2017: 641 – 2016: 417 – 2015: 324 – 2014: 566 – 2013: 364). Maybe there was less openings, but mainly I happened to be in QTH when something was going on. Honestly saying only on July 12 I would have stayed rather at home than museum – but that’s the life.

Here are the FM logs for the past month.

2018-07-25
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
67.10 0600 RUS Radio Rossii Radio Permskogo Kraya, Barda (PR) 1779km

2018-07-28
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
68.99 0715 UKR UR 2 Radio Promin’, L’viv/LFKRRT, Vysokyy zamok, 9 (LV) 1409km
73.88 0725 UKR Radio Samara, Pavlohrad/vul. Dniprovs’ka, 416a/1 (DP) 1685km
67.70 0728 RUS Tatar Radiosy, Ulyanovsk/Dom Byta (UL) 1602km
89.70 0734 HRV HRT-HR 1, Biokovo/Sveti Jure (st) PI logged: C201 PS logged: HRT-HR_1 2199km
88.70 0740 BIH Radio Antena, Tešanj/Trebacko brdo (znc) PI logged: F0EE PS logged: *ANTENA* 2044km
89.70 0801 HRV Antena Zagreb, Zagreb/Sljeme (zg) PI logged: C30D 1942km
66.05 0805 UKR Hromads’ke Radio, Volnovaha/DFKRRT, vul. Shevtsovoj, 1a (DO) 1820km
90.30 0834 RUS Vesti FM, Lipetsk/ORTPC (LI) 1382km
89.00 0843 RUS Radio 7, Livny (OL) PI logged: 7077 PS logged: ____IO-7 1332km

90.30 0851 BUL BNR Radio Shumen, Silistra/RRS Medžit tabija [NURTS Silistra] (sil) PI logged: 8236 2049km
90.60 0853 RUS Radio Mir, Rostov-na-Donu (RO) 1916km
89.70 0855 RUS Taxi FM, Kazan/Verkhniy Uslon (TS) 1523km
71.66 0859 UKR UR 3 Radio Kul’tura, Pidgorivka/LFKRRT (LU) 1682km
87.80 0904 RUS Sport FM, Ufa/RTPC (BA) 1940km
88.70 0906 UKR UR 1 Persha Prog., Volnovaha/DFKRRT, vul. Shevtsovoj, 1a (DO) 2 tx 1820km
89.00 0916 UKR Armiya FM, Unk. TX.
102.30 0920 RUS Bolgar Radiosy, Shemordan (TS) 1564km
88.10 0942 RUS Russkoye Radio, Korenovsk (KD) MULTI TX 2093km
90.60 1019 S SR P1, Sveg/Brickan (Härjedalen) TM (jm) Tod. näk. tämä sivukeilaan 581km
73.55 1053 RUS Radio Blagovestiye, Voronezh/G-Tsa Brno (VN) 1456km
66.95 1057 RUS Radio Rossii GTRK Kalmykiya, Sadovoye/RTPS (KX) 2021km
70.82 1100 RUS Radio Rossii, Borisoglebsk/RTPS (VN) most probable tx 1585km
69.68 1110 RUS Radio Rossii, Aleksandrov Gay/RTPS (SR) most probable tx 1955km
88.70 1352 D Bayern 2, Grünten (Allgäu) (bay) PI logged: D312 1911km
89.50 1421 D SWR4 Baden-Württemberg, Sankt Chrischona [SUI bs] (bwü) 1995km

2018-07-30
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
92.70 1229 S SR P1, Sundsvall/Södra Stadsberget TM (vn) …i P1.. Troposcatter 419km

2018-07-31
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
70.28 0552 RUS Radio Rossii, Kostomuksha/RTPS (KR) 345km
73.10 0554 RUS Grad Petrov, Sankt-Peterburg/Olgino (SP) 374km

2018-08-11
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
105.50 1342 CZE Evropa 2, Votice/Mezivrata (ST) PI logged: 2204 1578km

2018-08-13
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
100.00 0759 D WDR 4, Münster/Baumberge (nrw) Zehn Uhr, WDR Aktuell die Nachrichten 1589km
100.00 1258 D Radio PSR, Chemnitz/Geyer (sac) …Radio PSR Sachsenwetter… 1523km

2018-08-25
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
68.72 0911 BLR BR Radio Stalitsa/OIRT, Svisloch (Svislac)/RTPS (HR) No ID, program jingle Nu i Dzjanjok 1054km
69.68 0915 BLR BR Radio Brest/OIRT, Brest/RTPS Rakitnica (BR) 1155km
69.44 0921 BLR BR Radio Brest/OIRT, Slonim/RTPS Novaja Strazha (HR) 1049km
67.76 0923 BLR BR Radio Grodno/OIRT, Grodno (Hrodna)/RTPS (ul. Gorkogo, 85) (HR) 983km

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6 June 2017: small F opening, new MS country

6 June 2017: small F opening, new MS country

Published by JMN

Late night conditions indicate usually a morning start. DX Sherlock looked fine in the morning, and soon French stations faded in. The highest noted frequency was 94.5 MHz. Not long lasting opening, all gone before I even left to work around 0730 UTC. Blind recording (95.7 MHz) during work day was practically empty, except multiple meteors. In one of them bright id as ”Radio Een” brought new heard MS country BEL! In the evening some Komi on OIRT. Identified stations visually: http://www.fmlist.org/fm_logmap.php?datum=2017-06-06&omid=1183

Today’s highlights (once again)

New meteor country BEL (clip: Radio 1)
A new-for-me French station Sweet FM

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Meteor Season beginning!

Published by JMN

When the tropo ends, ES starts. But in my opinion, the most difficult stations to tune in are located between 650 and 1300 km from the QTH (reception location). For that, meteor scatter is an optimal propagation type to fill this black hole, or let’s say grey area. Tropospheric ducting reaches only few times per year that distance. Troposcatter maximum seems to be instead somewhere around 600 km. The shortest reported Sporadic E hops are just a bit over 700 km, but practically the skip less than 1300 km can be considered a rarity.

different cond types 2015

From the point of view of a listener living in Central Finland, that grey area counts Southern Sweden, most of Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad, Northern Poland, Belarus, Norway and Denmark, Northern Germany and of course huge part of Russia. Sometimes great ducting can bring signals from Southern Sweden and Northern Poland, and Sporadic E in theory could bring all of them, but as both are unsure and rare phenomens, the best way is to have a look on Meteor shower calendar. No more depressing forecast maps! Finally you know when the conditions will be 😉

Orionids
Comet of Origin: 1P/Halley
Radiant: Just to the north of constellation Orion’s bright star Betelgeuse
Active: Oct. 4-Nov. 14, 2015
Peak Activity: Oct. 21-22, 2015
Peak Activity Meteor Count: 20 meteors per hour
Meteor Velocity: 41 miles (66 kilometers) per second

Leonids
Comet of Origin: 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Radiant: constellation Leo
Active: Nov. 5-30, 2015
Peak Activity: Nov. 17-18, 2015
Peak Activity Meteor Count: 15 meteors per hour
Meteor Velocity: 44 miles (71 kilometers) per second

Geminids
Comet of Origin: 3200 Phaethon
Radiant: constellation Gemini
Active: Dec. 4-16, 2015
Peak Activity: Dec. 13-14, 2015
Peak Activity Meteor Count: 120 meteors per hour
Meteor Velocity: 22 miles (35 kilometers) per second

Source: https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/asteroids/best-meteor-showers/#.VhomsCu9S58

After explaining WHY, the question is WHAT you need

an antenna; a whip antenna is usually not enough to catch meteor reflections, but even a small Yagi (3 of 4 elements) is enough good. I would say it is even optimal during long overnight recording, because you don’t have to change direction every now and then. Pointing simply towards South it brings most of continental Europe to earphones

a good empty frequency; choosing a frequency I have two criteria. It has to be empty, so that not even a semi local station could occupate it during overnight recording. It is very annoying to check recording if the meteor bursts are not easily visible on the screen. Another criteria is the target. The frequency should offer some (new) high-power stations to catch (let’s say up to 30kW).

lots of luck; in the end, you need to be lucky to catch a reflection when there is no music, but something that could be identified. It’s even harder if the reflection lasts usually less than 20 second (thus longest reflections are closer to 5 minutes!) With lots of luck you realize that you actually have caught an ID of <10kW station that was not even on your target list. It happens every now and then!

Just to give few examples:

1. My only one from Lithuania: Lietuvos Radijas (LRT Radio Reklama) 98.8 MHz, only 4 kW – 825 km.

2. PR regional stations are good targets, high power tx’s, lot’s of local programs
Polskie Radio PiK 100.1 MHz – 120 kW – 1112 km

3. Radio Norge 100.1 MHz – 57 kW – 1075 km

4. Even a short reflection can bring ID (Radio Zet PL)…

5. But always there is no space for whole station name! Challenging!

Topic in our forum: http://bbs.fmdx.tk/index.php?topic=395.0

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Geminids 13.-15.12.2013

Published by JMN

Geminidit olivat tänä vuonna kuulemma epätavallisen antoisia kokeneempien kuuntelijoiden mukaan. Parvella oli havaittavissa kaksikin huippua. Perjantai-iltana n. 21 UTC oli erityisen aktiivista pommitusta ilmassa, yö oli melko hiljainen, mutta taas aamua kohti 4 UTC jälkeen kivien määrä kasvoi ja pingit pitenivät.  ZHR eli ”nähtyjen kivien määrä tunnissa” oli imo.netin mukaan lauantaiaamuna jopa 200, mutta nyttemmin luvut ovat sivustolla tasaantuneet. Ainakin saksankielisen wikipedian mukaan geminidien ZHR on ollut nousussa viime vuosina, ja mikä meille FM-kuuntelijoille tietysti  sopii.

ZHR 200

Päivystin kaksi ja puoli vuorokautta pienin tauoin yhdellä radiolla (XDR). Antenni (4-el H) oli pääosin suuntaan S tai SW kulloisenkin fiiliksen mukaan. Jostain syystä 100.1 tuntui olevan oikein otollinen taajuus meteorimetsästykseen. Sillä oli jatkuva pommitus perjantai-iltana, vaikka muilla taajuuksilla oli rauhallisempaa.

Noropohjaan n. 10 kilometrin päähän on ilmestynyt historiallisin syin perustellun Radio Cityn 93.5 (ex. Radio Nelostie) seuraksi alilähettimiä, ikään kuin Taka-Keljo ei kuuluisi tänne tarpeeksi hyvin. Viime kesänä ilmaantui Voice 92.9 ja viime viikolla Aalto 98.3. Mediatakojat saivat luvan 88.4:lle, mutta se ei ole onneksi vielä aloittanut. Niinpä torstai-ilta ja perjantaipäivä tuli päivystettyä tuota pian menettävää taajuutta, sillä taajuudella yleinen MDR Figaro on jäänyt vain RDS-idatuksi. Striimissä soi sama musiikki kuin radiossakin pieninä pyräyksinä, ja lopulta ID:kin napsahti. Taka-Keljoon Mediatakojat saivat 88.0:n, mutta sillä ei näytä FM-Listin taajuushaun mukaan olevan meteorien rangella oikein mitään mielenkiintoista suuritehoista.

Alla pienimuotoinen logi tunnistetuista asemista:

13.12.13 1705 88.40 D: MDR Figaro Leipzig/Wiederau 100 kW 1485 km
13.12.13 1921 95.60 POL: Radio Zet Bydgoszcz/Trzeciewiec 120 kW 1112 km
13.12.13 2249 100.10 LTU: ZIP FM Vilnius/TV Tower 1 kW 869 km
14.12.13 0525 100.10 POL: RMF FM Krosno/Sucha Góra 120 kW 1434 km
14.12.13 0717 92.20 D: MDR 1 Radio Sachsen Dresden-Wachwitz 100 kW 1453 km
14.12.13 0800 92.20 D: MDR 1 Radio Sachsen Dresden-Wachwitz 100 kW 1453 km
14.12.13 0857 92.20 S: SR P1  Mora 60 kW 610 km
14.12.13 0906 98.80 LTU: LRT Lietuvos radijas Taurage – Norkaiciai 4 kW 825 km
14.12.13 1059 100.10 D: ANTENNE 1 Langenburg 50 kW 1754 km
14.12.13 1103 100.10 POL: RMF FM Krosno/Sucha Góra 120 kW 1434 km
16.12.13 0626 95.70 BLR: tentative Radio BA Hrodna/RTPS Vul. Gorkogo 1 kW 983 km

Erityisen mukavalta tuntui kuulla uusi FM-maa Liettua, ja vieläpä kahdesti. Se on vähän turhan kaukana tropolle, mutta liian lähellä Essille, kumpikin tietysti mahdollisia kelimuotoja, mutta vaikeita täältä käsin. Liettuaa olen aiemmin hakenutkin taajuudelta 102.8, nyt se tuli muualta pienillä tehoilla läpi aivan odottamatta. Hepburnin tropoennustekin näytti hyvältä maanantaiaamuksi, mutta Tallinnan ”aina kuuluvaa” Radio 4:sta pitemmälle en päässyt. Seuraavat meteorit ovatkin ursidit 22.12. joiden visuaalinen maksimi Ursan sivujen mukaan on kello 4.00. Niistä minulla ei ole aiempaa kokemusta, mutta tammikuun alkuun ajoittuvat kvadrantidit (maksimi 3.1.)  jättivät tänä vuonna varsin positiivisen kuvan meteorikuuntelusta!

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EDIT: Linkki meteorien radiohavaintosaitille: http://www.sgo.fi/Data/RealTime/meteorRadar.php TNX JTK!

edit 2 by JJH Erinomainen graafinen työkalu antennin suuntaukseen Meteor Scatter:lla löytyy osoitteesta http://dl1dbc.net/Meteorscatter/.

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