Nik's talk will consist of a short presentation on how and why we use Meteor Scatter together with the mechanisms involved when meteors reflect radio waves. During his talk, Nik will be using a radio tuned to the GRAVES (Grand Réseau Adapté à la Veille Spatiale) Bistatic Radar in France operating on 143.050 MHz CW. With luck it is hoped to be able to arrange a schedule on 2m with a station in Europe in order to try and establish a live contact via meteor scatter using the GRAVES Radar transmission and a six element antenna. The equipment which Nik will be using which includes the antenna, mast, power supply and an ICOM 7000 plus interface has been very kindly loaned by Michael Eade 2E0ESU. Nik started with Amateur Radio in the 1970s and was mainly interested in the propagation aspects of the VHF/UHF bands. He used three-speed reel-to-reel tape to record the high speed Morse (2000 wpm) which was being sent. His current interests include not only radio propagation using Meteor and Auroral Scatter but also the complementary field of Astronomy. In 1989, Nik joined the DDRS and was a committee member for some years. In 2009, he moved to Shropshire, one of the reasons being the incredibly dark skies available there. Originally licensed as G7DND, Nik became M5DND in 2001. Image from RSGB - Leonid meteor shower |