HamSCI hopes to have many stations participate in the upcoming (12-13 December, 2025) Meteor Scatter QSO Party. As with any astronomic activity (especially one that peaks over just a 1 to 2 day period) it helps to be prepared. HamSCI suggests that future MSQP participants practice making QSOs and/or receiving pings from the meteoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere. Three upcoming showers/practice opportunities are listed the table below.
HamSCI was well represented at the 2025 Northeast HamXposition, held 21-24 August, in Marlborough (Boston), Massachusetts. Our booth attracted many visitors armed with questions and a strong fascination for what we do. The booth featured working GRAPE receivers of various 'flavors' (GRAPE 1, GRAPE 1 DRF and GRAPE 2), a live display of the new SDR PSWS installation at K3LR plus an array of posters highlighting both past and active experiments. Overall awareness of our HamSCI efforts appears to be getting better and better!
HamSCI just completed its first ever multi-day field exercise, where two components of the Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) were successfully installed at the world-class ham station K3LR in West Middlesex, PA. Students, professors, research associates and community volunteers were hosted for four days by station owner Tim Duffy, K3LR.
Tim Duffy, K3LR, is inviting the HamSCI community, including local schools and colleges, to a BBQ Picnic and HamSCI Meet & Greet on Wednesday, August 6th (1200 local time) at Tim's QTH in West Middlesex, PA. (RSVP required)
HamSCI has been prominently featured in the August 2025 issue of the ARRL's QST magazine, with fourteen pages of content, plus the issue's cover photo, devoted to our citizen science initiative.
A large HamSCI-led team recently made a field trip to Jenny Jump State Forest (NJ), surveying the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey (UACNJ) site. It is located on a rustic, park-like property, where the UACNJ hosts scientific instruments from many US-based institutions, including the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and HamSCI. The trip’s primary goals:
1) Assess maintenance needs of the existing Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) equipment
HamSCI is preparing for a series of meteor scatter (MS) experiments later this year. The target storms are in August 11-12 (Perseids) and December 12-13 (Geminids). Preparation and testing are underway now. This is a combination 'special event' and a contest to generate contact data during meteor scatter events using 10 meters and 6 meters. A 'How To' guide and event rules are under development.
The raw data from a number of the 2023 and 2024 Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science events can now be found for viewing and downloading on Zenodo.org. No account or login information is required.
The following data sets have been made publicly available:
