  Context. Radar scattering from meteor trails depends on several poorly
constrained quantities, such as electron line density, q, initial trail radius,
r0, and ambipolar diffusion coefficient, D. Aims. The goal is to apply a
numerical model of full wave backscatter to triple frequency echo measurements
to validate theory and constrain estimates of electron radial distribution,
initial trail radius, and the ambipolar diffusion coefficient. Methods. A
selection of 50 transversely polarized and 50 parallel polarized echoes with
complete trajectory information were identified from simultaneous tri-frequency
echoes recorded by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). The amplitude-time
profile of each echo was fit to our model using three different choices for the
radial electron distribution assuming a Gaussian, parabolicexponential, and
1-by-r2 electron line density model. The observations were manually fit by
varying, q, r0, and D per model until all three synthetic echo-amplitude
profiles at each frequency matched observation. Results. The Gaussian radial
electron distribution was the most successful at fitting echo power profiles,
followed by the 1-by-r2. We were unable to fit any echoes using a profile where
electron density varied from the trail axis as an exponential-parabolic
distribution. While fewer than 5% of all examined echoes had self-consistent
fits, the estimates of r0 and D as a function of height obtained were broadly
similar to earlier studies, though with considerable scatter. Most meteor
echoes are found to not be described well by the idealized full wave scattering
model.
