[VHFcontesting] [VHF] Meteor Scatter, Aircraft Scatter, or Short-Duration Tropo-scatter?

[N6Ze]

Joe reisert, w1jr/w1jaa, worked extensively with acft scatter on 70 cm lax-sfo in the 60s  

Bt73 pete, n6ze

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 16, 2016, at 03:50, Les Rayburn via VHF <vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu> wrote:
> 
> I’d like to hear from experienced VHF operators on this one. Recently, I’ve devoted a lot of time to doing some DXing of the FM broadcast band when the amateur bands are not too active. 
> 
> I’m still very new at this, in only my 2nd season of FM DXing. But have a lot of experience at working meteor scatter on the 6 Meter and 2 Meter bands, along with more traditional modes like e-skip, and tropo. 
> 
> Just got my system optimized to the point that I can reliably pick up signals via meteor scatter on the handful of quiet or semi-quiet frequencies that remain here. So far, I’ve managed to log two stations, both via audio recordings. I use software called “Total Recorder”, then park my receiver on a frequency overnight and let the audio recorder run. In MP3 mode, the files are manageable, at around 500MB.  Nothing yet in terms of RDS decodes, but hope springs eternal. 
> 
> Last night, I had a period that lasted exactly 1:42 seconds, where meteor pings were happening one after another on 90.1 FM. No ID’s, unfortunately, but at least three stations were heard including a Spanish language station, a classical music station, and a religious (spoken word) station. Another station was identified from a promo that was being broadcast, it was WFYI in Indianapolis at a distance of just under 500 miles. 
> 
> The individual pings lasted only a few seconds each, with nothing but static in between—but these pings were nearly continuous during the 1:42 period—silence lasting only 4-5 seconds at a time, followed by another ping. 
> 
> During major showers, I’ve seen this type of activity, but we’re not in a major shower at the moment. I’ve also experienced so-called “Blue Whizzers” which are long duration burns—sometimes 8-12 seconds. But nothing like this. 
> 
> At 2:23 AM, it’s highly unlikely to be e-skip. And I’ve never heard of tropo going from noise floor to S-9 in seconds. Looking for other explanations, I started to wonder about reflections off an aircraft. 
> 
> Have any VHF operators experienced propagation like this? Any thoughts about what the mechanism could be? 
> 
> 
> 73,
> 
> Les Rayburn, N1LF
> 121 Mayfair Park
> Maylene, AL 35114
> EM63nf
> 
> Member WTFDA, IRCA, NRC. Former CPC Chairman for NRC & IRCA. 
> 
> Elad FDM-S2 SDR, AirSpy SDR, Quantum Phaser, Wellbrook ALA1530 Loop, Wellbrook Flag, Clifton Labs Active Whip. 
> 
> 
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