From December 1986 until April 1987 ground‐based microwave observations of the diurnal variation of mesospheric ozone were made over Bern, Switzerland. These data were of sufficient quality to define the characteristic diurnal behavior of the ozone mixing ratio during winter and equinoctial conditions. The observed diurnal variation of ozone peaks at ∼74 km, where its amplitude is about a factor of 6. At 65 km the observed diurnal variation is a factor of 3, whereas at 55 km it is only a factor of 1.4. One‐dimensional model calculations accurately reproduce the relative diurnal variation of ozone at equinox, suggesting that the model value of the ozone photolysis rate coefficient is accurate to better than 10%. For winter conditions, however, the model underpredicts the observed relative diurnal variation by a factor of 2; a major part of this discrepancy is due to an observed postmidnight increase in ozone. Various suggested changes in model parameters to better reproduce the ozone abundance vertical profile result in only small differences in the relative diurnal variation, indicating that these observations do not provide a sensitive test of the mesopheric chemistry controlling the abundance of odd oxygen.