Radio astronomy

[TheThing]

I've heard of people listening to meteor showers via radio before.

How does this work and what sort of equipment would be required (imagine that I'm a complete novice with radio and it's terminology when replying please! Ok, not much imagination required there! :mrgreen: ).

What sort of limits are there on the things that amatuers can do with radio astronomy and why isn't as popular?

[steppenwolf]

Detecting meteors by radio is relatively straightforward although with the loss of 50Mhz TV signals from Eastern Europe, it is not as easy as it used to be as these were ideal 'fodder' for the receiver.

When a meteor passes overhead it ionises the atmosphere in its path and this ionisation affects the way radio signals are reflected from the upper atmosphere so if you are listening to a signal that is being reflected 'normally' then you will notice a change in the signal characteristics when a meteor goes through the area of sky between you and the transmitter.

[mik]

If you can tune into the 2m 144mhz amateur radio band on USB/CW monitor one of the beacons found above 144.4 try to pick one you can't hear under normal conditions around 700 to 1000 km away and you may hear a slight ping of CW sometimes this can also be caused by aircraft reflection, also a directional beam antenna will help.

Also if you can beam the antenna north from the uk during an aurora you can pick up

european beacons they will have a rasping buzzsaw note to them.

Mick.