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Meteor back scatter radio antenna

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Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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  • 8 February 2019 at 1:26 pm #574248
    Eric Watkins
    Participant

    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

    9 February 2019 at 12:40 pm #580654
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    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

    9 February 2019 at 1:11 pm #580655
    Eric Watkins
    Participant

    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

    9 February 2019 at 4:00 pm #580657
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    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

    9 February 2019 at 5:37 pm #580658
    Eric Watkins
    Participant

    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

    10 February 2019 at 8:58 am #580659
    John Cook
    Participant

    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.

    10 February 2019 at 8:59 am #580660
    John Cook
    Participant

    Sorry, that should be https://radio-space.co.uk/forum/

    10 February 2019 at 11:17 am #580661
    Eric Watkins
    Participant

    John,

    a very useful link, cheers.

    Eric

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