MSQP (this week!) and a New Video on the PSWS

[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

Hello HamSCI - I have two announcements rolled into one message today:

MSQP

Just a reminder that one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year is about to begin:  The Perseids meteor shower  should become highly visible, both to the eye and to radio waves, beginning on the 12th of August.  If you can find some dark sky, have a look! (I hear that moonlight should not interfere, as our Moon will be in the 'new moon phase'.)

Better yet, get on 6 and 10 meters to listen and, even better, transmit CQs during the HamSCI Meteor Scatter QSO Party, 12-14 August.  This should be an excellent opportunity for MS rookies and veterans alike to collect QSOs, decodes and WAV files for future analysis by the HamSCI MS science team, as well as others who utilize Zenodo to find past events' data.  Details are on the HamSCI MSQP Home Page. 

Recently added to that page was chart of Data Contributors - those who uploaded their decodes, from events earlier this year, as WAV files to HamSCI's Zenodo community.

New PSWS Video

HamSCI has just posted a recent Zoom session recording of Gwyn Griffiths' PSWS, Development, Deployment and Data talk that was given to AMSAT-SA.  Gwyn (G3ZIL) patiently explains the purpose behind each PSWS instrument, the data that is collected or generated by each, and how it is used to answer questions from both the science and radio amateur communities.  If you have ever had question about the PSWS, and perhaps why so much effort has gone into making what was once just a dream into the reality of today's globe spanning network, give Gwyn's presentation a watch and a listen.  A link to the video, posted on YouTube, can be found right here. (Thanks to AMSAT-SA for the making the recording available.). 

73 de Gary, AF8A

[David Doler Jr]

The video is excellent!

[Randy Frum]

Hi Gary,

Just some clarification, please.  Should we assume this to mean the evening of the 12 through the morning of the 14th?

Looking online, I know that most places are indicating the morning of the 13th as the absolute peak, but of course that may have some "depends".

73,

Randy

AC4FD

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[Gregory Urbiel]

For whatever it's worth, I've been doing UTC (i.e., starting tonight here in Michigan) since the .wav files are time stamped in UTC.

73

Greg

KD8RV

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[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

Good question…I just added the following to the MSQP Operating Guidelines:

For operating purposes, the next event runs from 0000 UTC on 12 Aug to 2359 UTC on August 14th, so 72 hours of opportunity.

That should give the maximum flexibility to operators anywhere around the world (since most on-air activity occurs in early mornings, local time).

73 de Gary, AF8A

[Randy Frum]

Thank you Greg and Gary,

My daughter plans to participate, though she probably won't start until tomorrow evening, but we'll see.  I'll be there to help her as well... :-)

73,

Randy

AC4FD

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[Robert Hipple]

I have never done this before and have some questions about the process. Is there a HamSCI google group specifically for MSQP questions or can I just ask them here?

73

Robert

KE8UQV

[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

This is the right place…please jump into the MS waters in with both feet!

Gary

[Robert Hipple]

Great! I will be monitor only on 6m. First question - does WSJT-x only save "decodes" to wav files, or does it record continuously? If it does only record "decodes" then does it create a new file for each decode automatically?

[Gregory Urbiel]

Robert,

The decodes are saved as individual .wav files automatically assuming have 'Save decoded' checked under the 'Save' tab on the main WSJT-x screen.

73

Greg

KD8RV

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[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

WSJT gives the user an option, under the Save menu bar, to save every decode period (every 15 seconds, so that would be continuous) or to only save the periods with decodes.  HamSCI much prefers the latter… Save Decodes Only.

A new .WAV file is created for each 15 second period.

It is not uncommon for a good station to generate 50 or more .WAV files (again, decodes only) during a shower.  Not all will be meteor scatter, but better to have too many, which can later be examined to figure out what mode led to the decode.

Gary

[Michael Hauan]

Hey, Gary —

I have a sigmond instance here in Missouri running a meteor-scatter client that listens for and reports MSK144 on 10m and 6m continuously as AC0G/B4.   Any spots heard should get uploaded to pskreporter.info .  I’m looking forward to see how many spots show up!

Michael AC0G

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[Michael Hauan]

─── slot UTC 01:50:45  reporter=AC0G/B4 rx=AC0G-B4 ─────────────

  (no decodes this cycle)

─── slot UTC 01:51:00  reporter=AC0G/B4 rx=AC0G-B4 ─────────────

  msk144: 2026/08/12 01:50:30 2 +14.90 28146484 & CQ WA4KFZ FM07

  msk144: 2026/08/12 01:50:30 5 +15.20 28146485 & CQ WA4KFZ FM07

  msk144: 2026/08/12 01:50:30 9 +16.10 28146485 & CQ WA4KFZ FM07

  msk144: 2026/08/12 01:50:30 10 +16.20 28146485 & CQ WA4KFZ FM07

  → msk144 total=4 dt=+15.60 (10m:4)

[Randy Frum]

My daughter (KD2WGB) pointed this out to me, and I wanted to get everyone else’s thoughts on it.

If you look at the SWAN meteor page (Swan) and click on the Flux button, you’ll see the chart shown in the attached screenshot.

Looking at the chart, it appears that meteor activity starts to increase around 7–8 PM local time (2300–0000 UTC), peaks around 11 PM–12 AM local time (0300–0400 UTC), and then drops off significantly after about 4 AM local time.

That got me wondering: does it really make sense to get up at 4:30 AM to do this, or would we be better off operating later into the night, perhaps until 2 AM?

I understand that there may be an advantage to the morning hours because the Earth’s rotation is effectively carrying us into the meteor stream, which can improve the geometry and increase the chances of detecting meteors.

But based on this chart, I’m wondering if the overall meteor flux might actually make the late-evening/early-morning hours more productive.

73,

Randy

AC4FD

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[Robert Hipple]

Randy,

Thanks for sharing this chart. Just before I shut down last night, I wondered if such a chart existed. It was pretty hazy over my location (EN72), but I could still see the stars. That said, I saw zero meteors last night, and neither did my WSJT-x. PSKreporter only showed a handful of pings over Michigan. I came in when a fog settled in and I feared for my computer. At least your chart shows me that there was, indeed, something to be seen.

73 Robert KE8UQV

[Randy Frum]

Hi Robert,

I was just digging into this a little more.  It appears that the meteor detection system that they use is located at the University of Leipziga over in Europe.  So may not be applicable to our area... or at least lagging in some regard.

However we did get a lot more people calling last night than I did this morning.  Though we did make one contact this morning.  Not sure if it was true MS or not at 345 miles distant.  And I did see that Gary's station picked us up and reported to psk reporter.  So while not a lot of success... at least some.  The majority of my receptions were between 300 to 900 miles away.

Good Luck!

Randy

AC4FD

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[Robert Hipple]

Ok, we saw 4 decent size meteors in the first hour, which is four more than I saw last night, so I am turning on my receiver to 6m. A friend from MSUARC will be transmitting as well, so I hope to pick up a ping from him.

[Randy Frum]

We saw a threat of lightning last night so we shut down a little early though we did not see much activity on 10 meters up until about midnight.  Much of the same this morning and switched over to 6 meters around 6:30 am Local.  Did get picked up on a few stations on PSK Report, however no contacts.

Hope you did well.

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[Ward Silver]

Last night (Aug 12th) was kind of a dud but early this morning things got rolling and I had lots of decodes on 6 meters (very few on 10 meters).  All of the handful of QSOs that I made were East Coast stations from the Carolinas up through New England.  I am not far from an airport, so there were also a number of what were more likely airplane scatter.  Ditto so sporadic E which is still common in mid-August on 6 and 10 meters.

73, Ward N0AX

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[Robert Hipple]

My experience exactly, Ward N0AX,  this morning more than made up for the 12th. For some reason, my Pskreporter updates did not work, but here is what I found (I am in gridsquare EN72)

------ 2026-08-13 - 04:09:15 UTC - 6m - MSK144 ------
040915   2 14.1 1499 &  AI2S KC8YJB EN91     OH-PA
------ 2026-08-13 - 10:46:00 UTC - 6m - MSK144 ------
104600   2  5.6 1505 &  WJ8Y W9XX EN63       WI-MI
104600   3  5.9 1506 &  WJ8Y W9XX EN63       WI-MI
104600   7  6.5 1502 &  WJ8Y W9XX EN63       WI-MI

73, Robert KE8UQV

[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

Randy - I noticed your daughter’s picture in the September QST Magazine.

Congratulations to Ysabelle, KD2WGB, on her ARDC scholarship!

Gary, AF8A

[Randy Frum]

Thank you Gary. I will pass along the congrats! She starts school on the 29th at NYU and will be majoring in CS for now and Cybersecurity in the long term. She’s really excited.

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

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