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(meteorobs) Radio Meteors used in Practical Application?
Hello All,
When reflecting on some of the latest in meteoritical science-- building
surrogate meteorites, attaching real ones to reentry surfaces of returning space
capsules, and how we are using military satellites now to detect fireballs--
even the ultraviolet detection of a reentering meteor, I started thinking about
early meteor science. Then, I thought about the field of radio meteors and
their observers staffed by amateur volunteers through out the world. As they
sit there listing to celestial static bleeps and blips, swooshes and swishes-- I
thought I'd share this with them.
A few nights ago, I was discussing meteors with an retired electronic engineer
from Dallas, Texas. He and I had observed a fireball on the same evening miles
apart. I was "crash indoctrinating" him about the marvels of fireballs and
meteorites etc. when his face lit up. He began to relate a marvelous bit of
meteor trivia that I, myself had forgotten 40 years ago.
Long before satellite relay, ITT contracted to set up a network of
solar/battery-powered weather stations in some extremely remote and rugged
locations in the Rockies or Bitterroots or Cascades (he could not recall, but
one of the wild areas of the American Northwest). The stations needed to
transmit simple weather data at regular intervals over great distances. The
problem facing engineers was how to transmit the data from each station when
there was not a line-of-sight. It was not only impractical, but in most places
it was impossible to run telephone lines which could withstand winter ice ,
avalanches, and etc. AM transmitters, which could transmit over the horizon,
were not suitable because of lightening interference in sever weather. Plus, AM
scatter in the ionosphere landed unpredictably hundreds of miles away and only
worked at night. Repeaters were also ruled out.
Some unsung engineer remembered that meteor trains reflected FM signals and the
network was designed around that fact. Monitored receivers were placed at
points through out the network. Every few minutes, at random intervals, a
meteor would pass 80-120 miles or so above and the brief moments of reflectivity
were apparently sufficient to collect the data from each weather station!
So you ask "How did the stations know when to transmit when the meteor was going
by?" Well...they didn't! The simplicity of the data made it easy to transmit
it continuously over and over. When a meteor passed by, it hitched a rim shot
off the ionized trail and the weather conditions from scores of automatic
weather stations was readily available to forecasters.
So, to fill in the blanks, do any of our members know anything about this
network, such as time frame, location, or persons involved. I would like to know
more specifics about it. Could it have been a military project as well? I have
a faint recollection from my childhood (in the 50s) of my father mentioning
something like this to me, while tuning in a Braves game one night He was
stationed at Mountain Home Idaho Air Force Base during the Korean conflict in a
"supply" squadron with 300 intelligence officers assigned (go figure!) Could it
be that this remote capability was used somewhere outside the United States....
where weather reports were needed from locales where telephone lines were not
connected to Ma Bell!
Regards,
Elton Jones
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