@proceedings {1026, title = {Analyzing Meteor Scatter Communications Through Citizen Science and Data Driven Methods}, year = {2026}, month = {03/2026}, publisher = {HamSCI}, address = {Newington, CT}, abstract = {

Meteor scatter communication is a radio propagation technique that exploits ionized trails produced by meteoroids as they enter Earth{\textquoteright}s atmosphere, enabling brief long-distance radio contacts. As meteors enter the Earth{\textquoteright}s atmosphere, they produce ionized trails which amateur radio operators utilize to bounce signals off, enabling short bursts of long-distance communication. This research investigates the historical growth, practical impact, and physical principles of the effect meteor scatter has on radio communication. Taking advantage of major meteor scatter events, including the Perseids and Geminids, data was collected during organized Meteor Scatter QSO Parties (MSQP). Amateur radio citizen scientists study ionospheric propagation by making contacts using meteor trails using diverse equipment and the WSJT-X digital communication software. The collected data sets from everyone containing a mixture of meteor scatter signals, aircraft scatter, and other propagations are compiled and submitted to an online public database for approval. To deal with the immense amount of data, a machine learning program was created to filter and classify data as meteor scatter events. This research indicates the usefulness of machine learning to isolate events within large scale data sets while gaining a deeper understanding of utilizing meteor induced ionization and its role in radio propagation.

}, author = {Nina Tormann and Nathaniel Frissell and Robert Suggs and Jay Weitzen and Gary Mikitin and Kuldeep Pandey and Mary Lou West} } @proceedings {1028, title = {Assessment of a Low-Cost Magneto-Inductive Magnetometer for Personal Space Weather Stations}, year = {2026}, month = {03/2026}, publisher = {HamSCI}, address = {Newington, CT}, abstract = {

Low-cost ground-based magnetometers are an important component of Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) efforts, yet their performance in urban residential environments remains poorly constrained. This work investigates how nearby homes and urban electromagnetic interference influence the noise floor of the RM3100 magneto-inductive magnetometer. Four short-duration measurements were conducted at two locations within a residential property to examine this question. At each location, magnetic field data were collected using a pipe-based apparatus and within a shielded cage, resulting in four experimental configurations. Each measurement spanned approximately one week, producing a total of four weeks of data. Noise characteristics and signal stability are compared across locations and shielding conditions to evaluate the hypothesis that shielding reduces environmental interference and that RM3100-based systems deployed in urban settings can provide data suitable for PSWS applications. By characterizing the limitations and practical considerations of residential magnetometer deployments, this work supports the use of low-cost instrumentation in citizen science, amateur radio{\textendash}driven space weather studies, and distributed ground-based monitoring networks relevant to both community participants and the broader space physics community.

}, author = {Daniel Clancy and Hyomin Kim and Nathaniel Frissell and Rachel Frissell and David Witten} } @proceedings {931, title = {Analysis by Citizen Scientists of Doppler Radio Observations of the April, 2024 Solar Eclipse}, year = {2025}, month = {03/2025}, publisher = {HamSCI}, address = {Newark, NJ}, abstract = {

The HamSCI community (Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation) has analyzed high frequency radio observations of the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 and found interesting correlations. Nearly fifty ham radio operators recorded over 200 Doppler time series of the national time standard transmitters WWV in Colorado and CHU in Canada using specialized GRAPE (Great Radio Amateur Propagation Experiment) receivers. These observations are archived at the Personal Space Weather Station website, and cover ten frequencies from 0.6 to 25 MHz. There were over sixty different paths from transmitter to receiver at various angles across and along the path of totality from Texas to Maine. For each observation six citizen scientists collected demographic data, found distances and midpoints (where radio signals are reflected from the ionosphere), noted local eclipse information, measured the maximum Doppler shifts, counted multi-path signals, and judged the symmetry of the S-shaped Doppler curves over ingress and egress time periods. We found that the Doppler shifts depend mostly on the Sun{\textquoteright}s obscuration at the midpoint, but also on the carrier frequency and the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. At closer distances a radio wave measured a greater change in the path length as the bottom of the ionosphere retreated skyward and then returned as the Moon uncovered the Sun. \ 

}, author = {Mary Lou West and Nathaniel Frissell and Gary Mikitin and Gregory Popelas and Ronald Wilcox and McKenzie Denton and Robert Spalletta and William Engelke and Gwyn Griffiths and Steve Cerwin} } @proceedings {932, title = {Analysis of the HamSCI Solar Eclipse High Frequency Time Difference of Arrival Experiment Observations Using Automated Techniques}, year = {2025}, month = {03/2025}, publisher = {HamSCI}, address = {Newark, NJ}, abstract = {

The objective of our research is to use narrowband linear audio pulses, which are sensitive to time displacement, and transmit them through High Frequency (HF) commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) single-sideband (SSB) amateur radios to measure changes in ionospheric reflection heights, specifically during a solar eclipse. This will be accomplished and automated using programming techniques learned in the Digital Signal Processing course at the University of Scranton, where the primary objective is to use TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival), a technique that measures the time displacement of single/multiple paths as they reach a receiving station. These TDOA values will be manipulated using a virtual height model that will yield different values of ionospheric layer heights based on the locations of the receiving and transmitting stations. During the October 2023 and April 2024 solar eclipses, WA5FRF transmitted a series of linear audio pulses (chirps) every 10{\textendash}15 minutes to various receiving stations on the 5, 7, and 14 MHz amateur radio bands. Received signals were squared and filtered to detect the waveform envelope. Correlation with a matched signal was then used to identify the start time of each chirp, after which a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was used to identify the beat-note frequency generated by multipath propagation. The October 2023 eclipse automated analysis shows that the F region reflection point was raised from 262.5 km at 17:00 UTC to 300 km at eclipse maximum at 17:30 UTC. The April 2024 eclipse analysis shows no real maximum reflection point; however, it does indicate an increase in layer height following maximum obscuration at 18:30 UTC. Both analyses are in good agreement with the hmf2 observations of the Austin Ionosonde. The intended purpose was to monitor multipath interference for 1{\textendash}2 hops off of the F2 layer; however, recent developments in this automated process yield additional data for other modes.

}, author = {Alexandros Papadopoulos and Gerard Piccini and Nathaniel Frissell and Steve Cerwin and Jesse McMahan and Paul Bilberry and Blackshear Samuel and Aidan Montaigne and Kristina Collins and Robert Spalletta} }