From MariachiWiki

Contents 1 Basic Concepts 2 Antenna 3 Receivers 4 Software 5 References

Basic Concepts

When meteors enter the earth's atmosphere it vaporizes producing ionization. While the ionization persists it will act as a reflector for radio waves between 50 to 200 MHz. Because most meteors burn at higher altitudes (80 to 120 km) it will reflect radio from stations located up to 2000 km away from where you are. A basic setup for meteor detection is simple. The required hardware is an Antenna, Radio Receiver, a Computer and Cables.

Antenna

The simplest antenna, and probably the most educational, is the dipole antenna. A dipole antenna has two elements that can be connected to a coaxial cable such as a RG58 (50 Ω). A dipole antenna has a radiation pattern that resembles a doughnut around the lenght of the dipole. It is easy to be built and easy to connect to the receiver. The half wavelenght dipole (Hertzian dipole) has two elements each measuring 1/4 wavelenght and can be built using basically any tube, or even a coat hanger. Other antennas can be purchased from Radio Shack, Home Depot, Loews, etc...

The SPIDA-2 antenna is the antenna for the MARIACHI experiment that is basically made of two crossed inverted 'Vee' dipoles. The dipoles can be run independently (with two receivers) or phased for an ominidirectional antenna. Of course only one of the dipoles can be used. This antenna is an evolution of SPIDA that was developed by Jessica Newman in 2005. One of the characteristics is that it is only sensitive above an angle of 15 degrees from the horizon. This antenna design was inspired by the design adopted by LOFAR. This geometry is also used by the Long Wavelength Array (LWA). SPIDA 3 is planned to have adjustable elements for the frequency of interest and it will be availalbe as a kit.

Receivers

1. PCR1000 - It is a good starter radio. Unfortunately it has been discontinued by ICOM. It is controlled via serial port (COM ports). TalkPCR is an excellent software to control the radio.
2. PCR1500 - It is the replacement for PCR1000. It is controlled through a USB port.
3. WinRadio - It is a softwared defined radio and very stable.

Software

The software of preference for meteor work is Spectrum Labs by Wolfgang Buescher. This software is free of charge and is very, very powerful.

Andy Smith has setup an incredible page describing how to setup a system to detect meteors.

References

1. http://www.w9wi.com/ is a good database for TV stations.
2. International Meteor Organization has lots of information about meteors and also a section on the detection of meteors via radio scattering.
3. Spectrum Lab is a free software written by Wolf (DL4YHF). A Yahoo discussion group is a good resource for its use. The manual page on the Spectrum Lab web site is very complete.
4. TalkPCR is a good software to control the PCR1000. Up to date versions can be found in the Yahoo discussion group.