(meteorobs) Detecting meteors by FM radio

[Jay Salsburg]

I do not know for sure, but FM stations may not be as effective as other
sources of radiation. Others with experience of using FM Stations should
comment on this. The more coherent and monotonic the better, that is why
Meteor RADAR is Mono-Static Forward Scatter RADAR. Not to discourage you,
others may chime in on this; Many if not most Commercial FM Broadcast
Stations have Digital Sidebands rendering the Station very noisy for precise
measurements.

Preliminarily you need...
1. a PC based machine running XP. The PC needs a noise-free Microphone-level
input. Some Computers have Mic inputs but have noise from the power supply
making bumping sounds, this will not do. Be sure to test the Computer's
Audio Input for its noise level, and do not use one that has noisy inputs.
2. to download and install (free) Spectrum Laboratory (SpecLab) on the PC
http://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/spectra1.html SpecLab can be a little confusing.
Go to my web site and see how I made mine look, try to duplicate it using
SpecLab's Settings. http://www.salsburg.com/NAVSPASUR/
3. a receiver of scanner fixed on the frequency of choice. The Receiver's
Audio is connected to the Computer's Mic Input. Adjusting the volume from
the Receiver, the input sensitivity of the Computer's input and the
frequency Span of SpecLab is a work in progress and requires much attention
and readjustment, eventually leading to practical recordings.
4 a suitable antenna that is somewhat directional pointing into the sky at
the angle of incidence where the Meteors reflect the distant over the
horizon Radiation Source.
5. After all of this, and you have attained a stable reception protocol over
an extended period, you can install Colorgramme
http://www.rmob.org/download.php?lng=en with SpecLab's Scripts for
automating Meteor detection, this is only after all else has become stable
and reliable. It is not worth trying to automate detection if your setup is
not stable. This project will entail much attention to detail.

Good Luck, and ask many more Questions...

Jay Salsburg

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of bammgabriana
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 10:24 AM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: (meteorobs) Detecting meteors by FM radio

Some of my students are considering a project of using a computer and FM
radio to automatically count meteors. However, they don't know where to
start. Does anyone have a detailed guide how to do this, both on the
hardware and software side?

* How will the FM radio connect to the computer?
* How can software see the detected meteors?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

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