The height dependence of amplitude and both horizontal and vertical phase trace speeds, for individual spectral components of F region TID's, are obtained for the first time by means of a three-station network of rapid-run ionosondes. The corresponding causative gravity parameters are derived using a previously developed inversion technique, which is extended by incorporating the effects of dissipation and ion diffusion. Reasonable agreement is achieved between the height variation of the real part of the vertical component of the gravity wave phase propagation vector, kzr, obtained from the inversion process, and solutions of a dissipative dispersion relation for kzr at different heights. Height dependent values of the imaginary part of the vertical component of the gravity wave phase propagation vector, kzi, which are required for the inversion, are computed from the dissipative dispersion relation. Values of kzi obtained from analytic formulae which assume an isothermal atmosphere and small dissipation yield erroneous results for the waves considered, suggesting that care should be exercised when interpreting previous theoretical results that have employed these assumptions.