PERFORMANCE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS METEOR-RADAR SYSTEM - A PRELIMINARY REPORT.

The meteor-radar system in use at the University of Illinois is described. A distinguishing feature of this system versus others in use is its very high transmitted power (up to 5 Mw). At present the only parameters measured directly in the Illinois meteor-radar system are the echo range and the Doppler shift of the radio wave reflected by the meteor trail. This report consists of a study of the errors due to data reduction techniques as well as from random noise contamination in these measurements. Also, the preliminary results of a 24-hour continuous system test are reported. during this test period data from 1771 meteor reflections were recorded. The time evolution of the north-south wind averaged with height over the meteor region is presented.