The Importance of Initial Trail Radius on the Apparent Height and Number Distributions of Meteor Echoes

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Abstract
Some simultaneous radio echo observations of meteors at wavelengths of 8 m and 17 m are described. It is shown that very many more echoes from faint +6 mag. meteors are observed at 17 m than at the shorter wavelength, and this effect is attributed to an attenuation in echo amplitude due to the large initial radii of the ionized trails. The initial radius is found to increase from 1 m to 3 m between the heights of 90 and 115 km. It is estimated that radio echo equipments of moderate sensitivity detect only 1.5 per cent of +6 mag. meteors at a wavelength of 4 m, 8 per cent at 8 m, rising to 40 per cent at 17 m. The influence of this large attenuation in echo amplitude on metre wave radio echo observations of meteor height, mass, and velocity distributions is considered.

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