The possibility of a wire dipole antenna to study the characteristics of dust grains is examined. Charged dust grains passing by the antenna induce an electric potential change for the time of the flyby. These ''waveforms'' are studied as a function of the characteristics of the dust grain (its charge and velocity vector) and the plasma parameters. The thermal noise level due to flyby, emission, and impacts of the ambient plasma electrons is calculated and compared with the magnitude of the dust signal. Qualitative analysis yields a minimum detectable grain size, the minimum antenna sensitivity required, and the number of detectable events per time unit for cometary, planetary, and interplanetary environments. We call this recently proposed dust-detection technique Radio Dust Analyzer (RDA). ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996