Meteor Scatter Operating
For a full illustrated explanation, go to the SkunkWorks website
Bouncing Signals Off Shooting Stars : A Perseids Morning @ W2MMD
By Jon Pearce WB2MNF
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Nine GCARC members rolled into the Clubhouse well before dawn this morning to try something most of us had never done : bounce 6 meter signals off the ionized trails of shooting stars. The Perseid meteor shower was near its peak, and the pre dawn hours are prime for it - at that hour the Earth turns into the direction of its orbit and sweeps up meteors head on, giving roughly three times the activity you'd see at dusk. So the alarm clocks went off early and we got to work.
The station was pure Club iron. Our Flex 6400 ran on 6 meters into the tube amplifier, feeding the 4 element beam up on the tower. The shack computer ran WSJT X in MSK144, the digital mode built for exactly this kind of work. MSK144 fires the same tiny packet - about 70 milliseconds long - over and over across a 15 second transmit window, so that even a meteor "ping" lasting a fraction of a second can deliver a complete callsign and grid square. It's a clever trick, and watching it actually work is half the fun.
By Jon Pearce WB2MNF
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Nine GCARC members rolled into the Clubhouse well before dawn this morning to try something most of us had never done : bounce 6 meter signals off the ionized trails of shooting stars. The Perseid meteor shower was near its peak, and the pre dawn hours are prime for it - at that hour the Earth turns into the direction of its orbit and sweeps up meteors head on, giving roughly three times the activity you'd see at dusk. So the alarm clocks went off early and we got to work.
The station was pure Club iron. Our Flex 6400 ran on 6 meters into the tube amplifier, feeding the 4 element beam up on the tower. The shack computer ran WSJT X in MSK144, the digital mode built for exactly this kind of work. MSK144 fires the same tiny packet - about 70 milliseconds long - over and over across a 15 second transmit window, so that even a meteor "ping" lasting a fraction of a second can deliver a complete callsign and grid square. It's a clever trick, and watching it actually work is half the fun.
It wasn't all smooth at the start. WSJT X wasn't hearing the radio - the audio channels coming from the Flex weren't routed correctly, and without them the software is deaf and mute. Fortunately Sheldon Parker K2MEN, knew exactly where to look, had the DAX channels sorted out in short order, and we were on the air. Chris Prioli AD2CS, kept us plugged into the Ping Jockey Central chat room, relaying who was on, what frequency they were using, and which transmit sequence they were running - the coordination net that turns a needle in a haystack mode into real, scheduled contacts. And Al Arrison KB2AYU, did most of the operating, calling and answering as the pings came and went.
Let's be honest : it is not an edge of your seat spectator sport. You point the beam, you transmit for fifteen seconds, you listen for fifteen seconds, and mostly you wait. It is, however, oddly fascinating to listen to. During a transmission you can actually hear the mode at work - a steady buzz as that roughly 70 millisecond packet is fired off some 200 times across the fifteen seconds. And on receive, the character of a signal tells you a lot : strong, steady signals are almost certainly nearby stations arriving direct, while the weak, fleeting bursts are the interesting ones - signals reflected off a meteor trail hundreds of miles away.
Let's be honest : it is not an edge of your seat spectator sport. You point the beam, you transmit for fifteen seconds, you listen for fifteen seconds, and mostly you wait. It is, however, oddly fascinating to listen to. During a transmission you can actually hear the mode at work - a steady buzz as that roughly 70 millisecond packet is fired off some 200 times across the fifteen seconds. And on receive, the character of a signal tells you a lot : strong, steady signals are almost certainly nearby stations arriving direct, while the weak, fleeting bursts are the interesting ones - signals reflected off a meteor trail hundreds of miles away.
The real payoff, such as it is, arrives in a quiet flash - the moment a new line drops into the WSJT X log pane, meaning a contact has completed. A grid square 700 or 900 miles away that you'd never hear on 6 meters by any other means. That little pane lighting up earned a small cheer more than once.
There was one more source of satisfaction, and it didn't require a completed contact at all. On a second screen we kept PSK Reporter open - the site that maps every station that decodes your signal - and our 6 meter MSK144 signal on 50.260 MHz was lighting up nearly the entire eastern half of the country. Reception reports came in from New England and the Canadian Maritimes, down through the Mid Atlantic and Southeast to Florida, west across the Great Lakes and Midwest, and all the way to Texas - with a scattering of hits as far as the West Coast. Most of those were stations that heard W2MMD rather than full two way contacts (a meteor has to be in just the right spot for both ends at the same instant), but it was striking confirmation that our modest station was getting out impressively far. Even when the log pane sat quiet, that map kept reminding us the signal was reaching hundreds of stations.
There was one more source of satisfaction, and it didn't require a completed contact at all. On a second screen we kept PSK Reporter open - the site that maps every station that decodes your signal - and our 6 meter MSK144 signal on 50.260 MHz was lighting up nearly the entire eastern half of the country. Reception reports came in from New England and the Canadian Maritimes, down through the Mid Atlantic and Southeast to Florida, west across the Great Lakes and Midwest, and all the way to Texas - with a scattering of hits as far as the West Coast. Most of those were stations that heard W2MMD rather than full two way contacts (a meteor has to be in just the right spot for both ends at the same instant), but it was striking confirmation that our modest station was getting out impressively far. Even when the log pane sat quiet, that map kept reminding us the signal was reaching hundreds of stations.
And it turned out to be a thoroughly good morning at the Clubhouse. Between contacts there was good conversation and a little productive work : out at the tower, Al took the opportunity to disconnect the corrupted 2 meter feedline for the satellite antennas so it can be replaced. Everyone got to watch - and try - a mode of operating that was brand new to most of us.
One of the best parts is how little setup it takes. Meteor scatter needs nothing beyond a normal 6 meter station : the radio, an amplifier, a beam, and free software. There's no special hardware to build or buy. Compare that to EME moonbounce - where you're looking at a dish, 1296 MHz transverters, and dedicated amplifiers before you can make a peep. With meteor scatter, if your 6 meter station already works, you're ready to go.
We'll very likely make this an annual outing and work the Perseids again next August. If you've never seen and heard MSK144 in action, put it on your calendar. It's worth the early alarm.
On hand this morning : Al Arrison KB2AYU, John Zaruba Jr. K2ZA, Chris Prioli AD2CS, Sheldon Parker K2MEN, Mike Resnick N2WOQ, Glen Guenther KE2BUO, Ed Warren KE2IVT, Kevin Durrenberger AD2NB, and Jon Pearce WB2MNF.
One of the best parts is how little setup it takes. Meteor scatter needs nothing beyond a normal 6 meter station : the radio, an amplifier, a beam, and free software. There's no special hardware to build or buy. Compare that to EME moonbounce - where you're looking at a dish, 1296 MHz transverters, and dedicated amplifiers before you can make a peep. With meteor scatter, if your 6 meter station already works, you're ready to go.
We'll very likely make this an annual outing and work the Perseids again next August. If you've never seen and heard MSK144 in action, put it on your calendar. It's worth the early alarm.
On hand this morning : Al Arrison KB2AYU, John Zaruba Jr. K2ZA, Chris Prioli AD2CS, Sheldon Parker K2MEN, Mike Resnick N2WOQ, Glen Guenther KE2BUO, Ed Warren KE2IVT, Kevin Durrenberger AD2NB, and Jon Pearce WB2MNF.