Non-DIY meteor detection

[Al.Grant]

James,

I don't see anything on SL even when I can see aircraft in the direct line of my antenna or see them on FlightRadar24. 

However on occasions I have seen similar traces (but not identical) .... what I saw looked like this

I watched this track up/down in freq for about 30-40 mins before it went.   On other occasions I've seen this but as a solid line, without much variation in freq.  

One time I reapplied  the freq to the  FCDPro+ and it stopped immediately but other times doing that made no difference.

I have captures of it stopping during the retune of the dongle and also of it on the 3D trace as it moved up/down in freq.

I only used to see it every couple of days and have not seen it at all since adding ferrite ring to the cable, so I assumed it was interference.

But I really don't know for sure and never did find out what it was and at the time I didn't check against aircraft movements!

 Al

[jambouk]

I observed several aircraft this morning and no interference.

Next time it happens (and i see it or the software records it) i'll see if you've picked it up too.

James

[Al.Grant]

James,

Have a look at this pdf file  http://www.dmradas.co.uk/new%20files%20dec%202011/RAG%20site%20pdfs/Detection_of_meteors_by_RADAR.pdf

Image 6.5 on the bottom of page 27 looks to be similar to the things you are seeing!

Al

[Al.Grant]

Hi James,

How's the meteor detection going & has your astro group got other detectors running?

Always interesting to compare some of the bigger detections and the sort of numbers people are seeing.

(with a bit of help) I've managed to auto upload images of some of my detections  http://www.ukstargazer.org/meteor-detection/ 

But still tweaking things, not sure if I'll keep the 60sec updated screens.  The 'longest' and 'brightest' ones are better.

I know there are people running similar systems in the Midlans area - one in Nottingham and one in Lincoln and manage to compare some of the bigger hits.

Al

[jambouk]

I got a second hand laptop off ebay i am going to leave uniquely for meteors; i took it apart on Saturday to clean piles of fluff out of it, but still haven't got around to installing the software!

My normal laptop has been collecting data continuously since i set it up. There are plenty of long events, but i'm still unsure what they represent. I'd emailed the people again on saturday to ask what i am meant to be doing with all this data; i've yet to find out.

I somehow changed my screen to show a longer time period than the default and not sure if this will mean the data is less useful; does the subsequent interpretation need to look at the graphics or is it capturing more detailed numerical data in the background?

As you can see my knowledge hasn't moved forwards at all!

I think the longer nights have moved my astronomy time back into the visual spectrum again mostly, but i am keen to keep collecting the data. Having the antenna in the loft seems to work ok, though not sure how the "signal" would be "better" if it were outside. In the loft is just convenient for me.

You should email the radio guy in my society and find out more about the groups and collaborations etc as i just don't know enough about it. Drop me a message and i'll forward you his email address.

James