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RE: (meteorobs) Meteors by Radio ?



-------------------- Begin Original Message --------------------

Message text written by INTERNET:meteorobs@latrade.com

"Hello,

  A strange thing happened with us during our observing meteors by
radio. On 7-8 September 1998 from 22:44-03:00 UT, with an effective time
of three hours, we heard 173 meteors, actually that was our first
experiment in observing meteors by radio, so I thought this is the
normal average of meteors. But later on, we held other observations, but
never reached that number that we achieved in our first experiment (173
meteors in three hours) ! Knowing that we used the same equipment and
frequency, the only difference was our location, however during the
Draconids shower we were observing close to our first location (around
30 Km away only).

  Knowing that, even on 7-8 Sep., at first hours there was no high
activity of meteors ! the activity increased suddenly around 22:30 UT
(Which is 01:30 Local Time)!   

 The only explanation that I could think of is: A meteor shower may
increased the number of meteors on that day ! But I searched in many
references, and didn't find any active shower at that day ! So I'd like
to ask whether any of the radio observers noticed that too ?? If not, is
there any explanation for that !?

  Thanks in advance.

Best Wishes
Moh'd
--

"


-------------------- End Original Message --------------------


Moh'd,

IHere are some general statements on radio meteor observing.

It takes many observing hours to get a good knowledge of your individual
radio system, the local conditions, various interferences, household
interferences, daily sky and ionospheric conditions, etc. 

No two individual radio meteor systems are exactly the same and no two
radio observing sites are the same.

Household appliances like computers and modems can cause subtle
interference when they are on.  Appliances that your neighbors use can
effect your radio reception.  Some appliance interference may effect only
certain frequencies like 90 MHz and not effect 94 MHz.

Ionospheric conditions always have effect. There are conditions such as
tropo and sporadic-E that you may encounter in your region that effect
radio observing.

Connections within the radio system can change. This happens a lot. Maybe
your antenna wires were not securely connected to your radio? Also antenna
dynamics and orientation of the antenna towards the transmitters you are
using for forward scatter. Turning your antenna a few degrees can make a
huge difference in reception. Use a compass to note where best reception
is.

There are lots of small problems to solve when first setting up but when a
radio meteor telescope is set up well and finds its stability then it can
run continuously without many problems.

Lastly, your 173 meteors from 22:30 to 03:00 may not be abnormal. When is
dawn hour in your country? More sporadics happen as dawn approaches. This
is a dependable daily cycle. Highest meteor counts occur at dawn and the
least counts at 6 o'clock pm when meteor showers aren't as active.

And maybe the first location you were observing from was better than the
next location you observed from?

Anyway, there are many variables and it takes some experimenting and
problem solving to be thoroughly successful. It's good to keep a detailed
notebook. And feel free to keep asking questions, the more specific the
better.

Good luck and continued progress,
Tom Ashcraft
Santa Fe, New Mexico