Icelandic Meteor Reflections - Channel E4

The purchase late in 2012 of a "FunCubeDongle Pro+" opened up a new world to me - those parts of the "Low VHF" spectrum away from the amateur bands, or to be more accurate, away from the amateur 6metre (50MHz) band.

Very soon I homed in on a "new" target for meteor reception of the Skalafell TV transmitter in Iceland. This transmitter is allegedly due for closure at some point in 2013 as part of the Europe-wide "Digital Switchover" so I was naturally keen to make use of this before the big switch-off. I quickly found that it was an excellent target for meteor reflection reception, being at more or less the optimum distance away, high power (presumably) and on the air (as it turned out) 24/7.

This year's Eta Aquarid meteor shower coincided with a public holiday which meant that I wasn't working and therefore was able to pay pretty close attention to the "goings on" on all my meteor targets, and it wasn't really a surprise when I started to get some pretty impressive results on this channel (E4 - 62.25MHz).

 However, what was a surprise was the realisation that I was receiving TWO signals, the second and surprise one being a few hundred Hz below the main one.

What was really interesting to me was the similarity in some ways and difference in others between the characteristics of the received signals.

There were many occasions when coincident reflections were received, and others when there were completely separate reflections.

Similarity suggests that the two sources are relatively close together, and difference suggests that they are not _that_ close.

At the moment I am working on the assumption that they are both from Iceland, but possible in geographically separate parts of that country.

This has been further supported by a more "normal" spell of observation today when meteor activity is at a "normal" level, and, with this being early summer, some tantalising hints of more exotic propagation modes, namely "Sporadic-E". Again I have seen many examples of "co-incident" reflections (Sporadic-E ones seem to be co-incident in general), and non co-incident ones.

According to the "G0CHE" Band I TV information web page there are indeed two (suspected) Icelandic TV transmitters on channel E4, though the frequencies quoted on that site don't quite stack up with my own observations, unless the "new" signal is really Skalafell, and the one I have been referring to as Skalafell is actually Gagnheiði.

Any help in unraveling this mystery would be appreciated!

Radio Meteors - Ostrava R1 Gone?

Sorry it has been a while since my last post, lots of stuff going on, not much of it worth blogging about!

However, I am moved once again to note the possible loss of my present (up until now, at any rate) source of Radio Metor Reflections, the TV Transmitter serving Ostrava in the Czech Republic on channel R1. (49.76MHz).

I tried to tune in over the weekend to pick up any Orionid meteors, only to be met with wall-to-wall white noise.

It's an even greater pity, as this is (or was) the last broadcast TV source I could receive on Band I.

I had reported previously that this transmitter was due to close in November, but either this has happened early, or the transmitter is off due to a fault or maintenance.   If I were in charge of a transmitter which is just about to close down, I don't think I'd spend too much effort on maintenance, but you never know!

As of the time of writing this entry, I haven't been able to verify what has happened, all I know is, I have no Orionid trails on my PC!

Interestingly I found a web site by Czech radio amateur Ivan OK2BMU who is waiting patiently for that same transmitter to close down so that he can get cracking on the amateur 6m (50MHz) band!  Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say ...

Band I TV and Radio Meteors - the End is Nigh!

I have blogged a couple of times already about the disappearance of VHF analogue TV in Band I, today I came across a little more information about the demise of the few remaining sources available to we "Meteor Reflection Enthusiasts".

It seems the Ostrava (Czech Republic) transmitter on channel R1 (49.76MHz) will close on 30th November 2011, and the Lousa (Portugal) transmitter on channel E3 (55.25MHz) will close on 26th April 2012, in almost exactly a year's time.

Spectrum Lab Capture of Metor Burst

Quite what, if any signals will be found for displaying meteor reflections once these disappear, I know not, but in the meantime I have resolved to make some audio recordings so that the use of the audio software I use (R_Meteor, SpectrumLaboratory, etc) can be demonstrated should anyone show any interest!

R_Meteor Capture of above SpecLab event

Amateur signals such as beacons are too low in power to fill the gap.   Maybe some QRO beacons are required?   Not very "green", though!

Deep Joy! A New (to me) source of meteor pings!

Tonight, courtesty of a link I found on Andy Smith's excellent TVCOMM web site, a really good list of current Band I (and other) frequencies in use, one of which is used by the Czech Republic. The transmitter is located near Ostrava, and runs at 100kW ERP.

I reckoned this to be a good distance for meteor reflections, so I tuned in my receiver and listened for a while, and, yes, I thought I heard the sound of meteor activity.

On came the software to track it down (first Spectrum Laboratory for a wide sweep, and then R_Meteor for a narrower sweep centred on a 1kHz beat note), and, yes, the unmistakable traces of meteors.

Now for the bad news - according to the link I referred to, this transmitter closes this November. But until then, I well keep looking!

The frequency I am monitoring, in case you are interested is 49.75949MHz, on my FT-920 which does not have any kind of precision frequency standard, just usual bog-standard crystal reference for the synthesiser. (Don't forget, this is offset from the "true" frequency by 1kHz so that the audio spectrum analyser based software works properly)

As you can see from the image above, I am getting LOTS of pings.