Now's the Time to Try Meteor Scatter! Charles Plunk (WD4OZN) on September 13, 2002

Do You have or planning on a Rig with 6 and/or 2 meter SSB capability? If you have wondered what to do with it when the band is dead or there is no ssb activity? Want to rack up new grid's in a snap? You obviously have a computer because you are reading this, so that's the other piece of gear needed.

With the new program called WSJT by Joe Taylor K1JT, you can be doing vhf meteor scatter contacts on a routine basis (daily) usually between 400 & 1200 miles using a mode called fsk441. With the new addition to the program called jt44 you can be doing troposphere-ducting contacts usually up to the 400-mile range or even moonbounce. These modes are nothing short of a revolution in these areas of the hobby.

Shooting down excuses:
Don't you need a lot of power for these modes? I routinely use a 160 watt brick amplifier on 2 meters as do a lot of others. I have a better than 50/50 chance of completing the contact with this power. More power helps complete the contact usually sooner but is not necessary. I have seen some using rig power levels 50 to 100 watts and less.

Don't you need a large antenna? Before I put my 13b2 (13 element) Cushcraft at 50', I was completing contacts with it at 20' on a pipe with an armstrong (turn by hand) rotor. I see 2 meter antennas being used with 11 elements and 6 meter ones with 3 elements being used. To do moonbounce contacts routinely with other small antenna stations is still a dream (although possible), but doing them with stations with large antennas is very possible. The antenna should be horizontal by convention.

The WSJT program must be expensive? It's free! See http://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JT/

Is there a special interface for the computer to rig? Your PSK interface should work just fine. I use the Rascal ($25) by Buxcomm at http:// www.packetradio.com/psk31.html. Other commercial interfaces should do fine.

Is VUCC possible with these modes? I can't see why not. I have worked over 25 grids just doing this on weekends and a few weeknights in 2 ½ months. Only problem I have seen so far is we probably need activity in your grid!

I have heard that High Speed Meteor Scatter is difficult to operate? That's one of the beauties of the WSJT program. It's as easy or easier to operate than PSK. Once you get the hang of the program with a bit of practice its fairly simple to operate. Joe K1JT and Andy K0SM have put together a great manual in pdf format that comes with the WSJT program. Print it out and read it and you'll be operating the modes in no time.

Now for my Novice basic interpretation of how these modes work.
-WSJT fsk441 High Speed Meteor Scatter - Small meteors in large numbers are hitting the earth day and night round the clock every day. As they enter the atmosphere, they burn up leaving an ionized trail that lasts between a fraction of a second to many seconds. This ionization refracts vhf signals at the E layer. The small fraction of a second meteor far outnumbers the larger ones. This is what HSMS takes advantage of.
WSJT takes the information such as the callsigns and sends it over and over in the form of data very rapidly. When the small meteor comes by the callsigns are bounced to the other station. The sound is a neat sound coming thru your rig as the split second burst of fsk441 comes thru and is printed out on your screen. Caution: this sound can become addicting! I have received both calls on as little as a 200ms ping (meteor burst) To complete a contact is considered receiving the following info: both calls complete, signal report, and rogers (confirmation). 73's are usually sent also. You control which info is being sent. By convention, the western most station sends the first 30 seconds and the eastern most the 2nd 30 seconds. This is done automatically when set to auto by the WSJT program. Completed contacts generally take between 10 & 25 minutes to complete, although sometimes longer.

-WSJT jt44 Tropo Ducting- This modes works great for six meter long haul (f layer, e's, tropo, etc) when the band is open or semi-open or for 2 meter tropo, etc. As I am not yet QRV on 6 meters, I'll relate my experiences on 2 meters. This mode has worked great for me on the contacts out to about 400miles (although one station heard me once near 700miles and I nearly completed a 650 mile contact). Completed contacts are usually easy under 400 miles with a high success rate. I use the exact same gear I use for HSMS. This mode sends musical sounding data and can sometimes be printed when inaudible to the ear over your rig. The method of use in the program is almost the same as fsk441. I expect contacts when good tropo is going on 2 meters far in excess of my 400-mile range at this point. I would like to see this mode used on 10 meters when the solar cycle bottoms out.

Got a vhf ssb rig? What are you waiting for? We need your grid! Check out the page where most of us schedule contacts nightly. www.pingjockey.net

73, Chuck WD4OZN