Improved indirect phase reflection height measurement at panská ves — method, equipment, evaluation

Indirect phase reflection height measurements have been performed at the Panska Ves Observatory, Czechoslovakia, for 30 years to monitor solar flare effects (SFA). Only after introducing the new receiver in May 1985, could the indirect phase height analysis (IPHA) method be applied to measurements along the Allouis — Panska Ves 162 kHJ measuring path. The IPHA method allows the electron density and pressure variability in the lower ionosphere to be studied, particularly near the 80 km altitude. This paper describes the theoretical background of the IPHA method, the measuring equipment used at Panska Ves, the method of evaluating records and checking of data, and the program package developed by us both for graphic and numerical processing, as well as our efforts to develop a homogeneous East European IPHA network. The IPHA method has been introduced succesfully at the Panska Ves Observatory.