Meteor Detection Antenna

[Likwid]

Hello Everyone,

I am trying to dip my toes in a little bit of Radio Astronomy and I figured a good starter project would be Meteor Scatter. I live in an area that is very cloudy, and I would to be able to learn some Radio Astronomy when I can't do Astrophotgraphy. I have been doing a lot of research in the past few days, and I am just looking to get an already built antenna. I don't mind building one, but when I am learning I would like to have a known working and tuned antenna to keep my learning curve down. For the most part, I am reading that people use 144 Mhz Yagi antennas for Meteor Detection. I was wondering if this would be a good starting point for an antenna, or if there is something else around this price point or a little more expensive that might be better? Thank you!

https://hamcity.com/ham-equipment/antennas/base/beams-yagis/144-mhz/a144s5.html

After further research, this may only apply to the UK. In the US, I will have to use FM.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Likwid
Adding more information

[Tomatobro]

In the UK I use a six element Yagi which is tuned for the military radar located in France. The frequency is 143.050 Mhz. This frequency is relatively free from local interference. For reception I use a Funcube Dongle  SDR receiver with PC software.

For your location you need to locate a suitable transmitter before deciding on the antenna. 

I can say that building an antenna is something that has to be done with care if its to work well. If a commercial antenna is used it may not be tuned to the exact frequency of the available beacon. Yes it will work but only up to a point.

There are folks in the USA who are active in this field and I would seek their help and advice if at all possible. I am sure I have seen some online data streams from stations based in the USA so they will be worth a look also

 

[Likwid]

Great, thank you!