(meteorobs) Observability function O.F - newbie question

[mark ford]

Hi

 

I have a couple of questions about radio 'observability function' (O.F)
but first some explanation of what I mean.

 

This is the effect that is seen when you listen/receive meteor pings via
radio. As the radiant drifts across the sky, the angle between it (the
radiant) and the radio transmitter changes.  This means that because the
meteors are coming from a gradually varying mean angle (relative to the
observer) as the radiant position changes, the average apparent cross
section of the meteor trail becomes smaller or larger.  The net result
is that the strength of the ping for a fixed meteor size varies with
radiant position , so you get to a situation where you miss smaller
pings because they are too faint and get extra strong pings as the
radiant/meteor/transmitter angle 'improves'. This seems to makes radio
detection unreliable especially for even slightly estimating magnitudes.

 

Now what people seem to do is work out an O.F correction graph, which
allows for the radiant drift and apply this to the counts.

 

My questions are

 

a)       How does one work this O.F correction curve out?

b)       Could I vary the amplifier gain on the radio receiver inline
with the O.F. (for example using PC software to control the gain with an
electronic attenuator on a continuous basis), to fool the receiver into
seeing a constant uniform 'signal strength' for a given radiant(s)?
rather than post processing the information. (It actually would only
need to be a PC audio volume control that varies with the O.F)

 

This assumes that 'worst case' is when a meteor trail is 'end on' to the
receiver. Presumably you would still get a signal but it would be much
reduced in intensity? 

 

 (and obviously sporadic's will always have random directions so the
true numbers /sizes will not be counted).

 

 

Any help appreciated!

 

Mark Ford