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Re: (meteorobs) Radio Observation of Meteors

Jim Richardson wrote:
> 
> Hello Ron, et al,
> 
> As far as I know, no amateur radiometeor enthusiast has yet established a
> true pulse-type meteor radar.  The closest thing to this was the 75 MHz
> system pioneered by Bill Black (1983) for the AMS, which utilized
> vertically directed airport ILS beacons, with transmitter and receiver
> separated only by a few miles.

	the thought had crossed my mind too as the field was horizontally
polarized and radiated vertically.  Although aircraft are still equipped
to receive the signals for the most part the system has been shut down
in North America.  At some point in the future this band may be
re-allocated but at the present time there is  These beacons were used
for the old "outer,"
  At the time, the only information which was being recorded
> was meteor rate data, and that either manually or via strip chart recorder.
>  However, this type of system can no longer be used, because the FAA
> required all airports to modernize these beacons in the early 1990's,
> reducing their power output to only about 3-5 watts -- rendering them
> useless for meteor work.

	They're down to 0 watts in most places :-)
> 
  There is a system in Belgium (University of
> Ghent) which also does full digital echo signature recording.  Last year,
> Werfried Kuneth and I became the first amateurs to attempt meteor range and
> speed determinations from a forward-scatter link, described in:
> 
> Richardson, J.E., and Kuneth, W., (1998, June).  "Revisiting the Radio
> Doppler Effect from Forward-scatter meteor head Echoes," WGN, Journal of
> the International Meteor Organization, (No. 26:3, pp. 117-130).

	Is this document available anywhere on-line?
> 

> 
 There are two UHF professional systems in operation,
> Arecibo (Puerto Rico) and EISCAT (Sweden), but these use a LOT of power to
> do so  (Arecibo is at 2 Megawatts) -- far beyond realistic amateur
> capability.  Most professional meteor radars today still stay in the HF /
> VHF bands, transmitting in the low kilowatt power output range.  Your best
> chances for success are probably to stay within either the 10-meter or
> 6-meter amateur bands.  Best of luck!

	This information is greately appreciated, I would like to get a more
detailed description of these methods.  I could try through an
inter-library loan if I knew what to look for.  Thanks for taking the
time to reply.


				Ron (in Gander)
> 
> Regards,
> 
>      Jim
> 
> James Richardson
> Tallahassee, Florida
> richardson@digitalexp.com

-- 
R & L Thompson, 9 Medcalf St., Gander, NF, Canada A1V 1R9
Tel (709) 256-1179, Fax (709) 256-8638, e-mail rlthompson@thezonedot net

Amateur Radio Station call VO1AV, FP5EK, VE1KM   Grid Square GN28qw
Location 48 57'08" N  054 36'43" W, 
Local time UTC - 2.5 hrs Summer, UTC - 3.5 hrs Winter

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