An Apparatus for Recording Average Amplitudes of Wireless Echoes

Extract

Attention has recently been directed to the measurement of the relative amplitudes of wireless echoes from the ionosphere, and some interesting methods of automatic registration have been devised (1, 2). For vertical incidence, and for wave-lengths shorter than 200 metres, visual observation shows that a single echo, even when separated from its accompanying oppositely polarized magneto-ionic component, shows considerable rapid fading (3). This fading is evident on the records published by White (1), and it is clear from these that it is not easy to determine the relative amplitudes of two echoes. This paper is an account of an apparatus which automatically integrates the amplitude of an echo over a time long compared with the period of the fading, and at the end of the period registers the integrated value on a recording galvanometer. The process is then repeated so that the final galvanometer trace represents the average value of the intensity throughout successive equal periods of time. It is further described how by using a double thread recording galvanometer, it is possible to record the averaged amplitudes of two different echoes (e.g. ordinary and extraordinary, or E and F) during alternate integrating periods.