(meteorobs) Low radio meteor rates - Sporadic E?

[David Entwistle]

In message <29702516.1149672923444.JavaMail.www at wwinf1515>, Karl Antier
<ka.antier at wanadoo.fr> writes
>Hi all !
>
>Excuse my ignorance, but what is really a sporadic-E ?
>And how does it influence on radio meteor rates ?
>
>Thanks in advance for your answers !
>Clear skies !
>Karl

Karl,

Sporadic E was defined as a comparatively strong and protracted
transmission (several minutes to several hours) returned from the E
region of the ionosphere by some mechanism other than the normal
reflection process from the daytime E layer.

The E layer is 90 - 130 km above the Earth's surface. There are several
consequences of Es, but it generally results in strong interference from
distant stations, which prevent meaningful radio-meteor observations.

See the link below for details

http://www.anarc.org/wtfda/sporade.pdf

Thanks go to Chris Steyaert for locating that information.
-- 
David Entwistle