Meteor back scatter radio antenna
Fri, 2019-02-08 13:26
#1
Meteor back scatter radio antenna
I wish to become involved with meteor back scatter radio observing setting up two stations;one for myself and another with my15 year old nephew. Can anybody provide details of suitable commercially available antenna - I don't have the time or inclination to make them-a good project though it may be. Thanks, Eric |
The BAA Journal |
|
© The British Astronomical Association 2019 |
|
Top banner image: |
Hi Eric,
Is this specifically using the Graves transmitter on 143MHz ? If so a small 2m amateur band yagi could be a good choice. Like these perhaps
https://www.radioworld.co.uk/hygain-2m-3-el-beam-500w---vb-23fm
https://hamradiostore.co.uk/cushcraft-a148-3s.html
Cheers
Robin
Hi Robin,
yes it would be for the Graves transmitter. I came across a US site about 18 months ago, but can't find it again where they provided similar antenna which the supplier would tune to the exact frequency. Is this necessary?
Yes these do appear to be what I'm looking for.
Eric
Hi Eric,
If you were transmitting you might want to tune it more precisely to provide a better match to the transmitter but a 3 element yagi antenna tuned for 144-148MHz should work ok at 143MHz for receiving. (It would be difficult to retune in any case as you would need to increase the length of the elements slightly). For example there is an article on the BAA radio astronomy website showing a 7 element yagi centred on 143 MHz with a flat response over +-7MHz bandwidth, fig 2.9 on page 8 here
https://www.britastro.org/radio/projects/Antennas_for_meteor_radar.pdf
Robin
Thanks Robin for the info and advice. Now I know where to get the antenna from and that they are suitable can read a bit more to source the rest of the equipment. I read physics, but hated electronics and avoided it.
Eric
Have a look at the Radio Astronomy Group's meteor-scatter forum, on
https://radio-spave.co.uk/forum/
There are plenty of comments on using the GRAVES source for recording meteors.
John Cook.
Sorry, that should be https://radio-space.co.uk/forum/
John,
a very useful link, cheers.
Eric