[NLRS] Interesting StarLink radar echoes heard in the Scotland Isle of Lewis -- "SpaceWeather story"

[Bill Davis]

STARLINK RADAR ECHOES: Turn up the volume. You're about to hear a batch of Starlink satellites mimic a mete or outburst. On Nov. 8th Giuseppe Petricca on Scotland's Isle of Lewis was monitoring France's GRAVE space surveillance radar, listening for echoes from the Northern Taurid meteor shower. Instead, he got this:
 

 
"For 10 minutes, a train of Starlink satellites passed over the radar, and I recorded the echoes--a very peculiar sound, almost 'spectral', with interesting undertones," says Petricca. "These were satellites from the latest launch (L14). The regularly-spaced Starlink echoes are interspersed with a few natural  meteor echoes too." 
 
 
GRAVE is located 1500 km southeast of Petricca's radio observatory. He uses a Yagi antenna and a radio receiver tuned to 143 MHz (the operating frequency of the radar) to listen for objects passing over the distant radar. In the past, meteors made most of the echoes, but now Starlink can easily overwhelm the natural meteor rate.
 
Petricca is broadcasting the output of his station live from the Hebrides. "Tune in and you can hear meteor echoes around the clock," says Petricca. And, of course, Starlink.                          


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Stornoway Radio Meteor Echoes Station


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