  We present the result of a decomposition of the 2dFGRS galaxy overdensity
field into an orthonormal basis of spherical harmonics and spherical Bessel
functions. Galaxies are expected to directly follow the bulk motion of the
density field on large scales, so the absolute amplitude of the observed
large-scale redshift-space distortions caused by this motion is expected to be
independent of galaxy properties. By splitting the overdensity field into
radial and angular components, we linearly model the observed distortion and
obtain the cosmological constraint Omega_m^{0.6} sigma_8=0.46+/-0.06. The
amplitude of the linear redshift-space distortions relative to the galaxy
overdensity field is dependent on galaxy properties and, for L_* galaxies at
redshift z=0, we measure beta(L_*,0)=0.58+/-0.08, and the amplitude of the
overdensity fluctuations b(L_*,0) sigma_8=0.79+/-0.03, marginalising over the
power spectrum shape parameters. Assuming a fixed power spectrum shape
consistent with the full Fourier analysis produces very similar parameter
constraints.
