According to Bill Cooke from NASA this year will be exceptional good, where normal rates are somewhere between 50-75 meteors per minute, this year we could have peaks up to 150 and even 200 meteors per minute.
The meteors appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, giving the shower it's name. In reality the meteor comes from a debris field, left behind of 109P/Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet was already known by the Chinese in 188.
The shower can be seen as Shooting Stars, leaving a small trail of ionized gas behind them.
During the whole travel through the debris field in July and August one can see the Perseid shower, but in the range from 12. - 13. August there will be a maximum. The peak is expected on 12. August between 13:00 and 15:00 UTC.
For HAM-operators this peak is interesting. Because of the increase ionisation of the Ionosphere, sporadic-E-Emission are way more likely to happen. Also long echoes in the 2m band are possible during the Perseid shower.
The tropical storm earl is currently heading across Central America. HAM Radio Amateurs in the IARU Region 2 gather informations and support the local emergency services.
Everyone is requested to stay away from the following frequencies, since they are reserved for the emergency usage.
For the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season, Radio Amateurs are reminded of the following frequencies which have been notified from previous seasons:
Caribbean Emergency & Weather Nets: 7.162 & 3.815 MHz
Eastern Caribbean Narrow Band Emergency System Net: 7.036 MHz USB (Olivia & MT63)
Caribbean Emergency: 14.185 MHz
Republica Dominicana: 7.065 & 3.780 MHz
Cuba: 7.045, 7.080, 7.110, and 3.740 MHz
Central America: 7.090 & 3.750 MHz
Nicaragua: 7.098 MHz
Panama: 7.085 MHz
USA:
Maritime Mobile Service Net: 14.300 MHz
Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN): 14.265 MHz
Der Notfunkverkehr findet auf 7060 kHz und mit geringer Sendeleitung statt. Reservefrequenzen sind 7050 und 3560 kHz. Alle Funkamateure werden gebeten, die genannten Frequenzen frei zu halten.
Am 5. Februar um 19:57 UTC gab es ein Erdbeben der Magnitude 6.4M. Das Ereignis erhielt Orange Warnstufe im GDACS (Global disaster altert control system) der Vereinten Nationen.