May 1970 | NTIA Technical Memo ERL TM ITS
Feasibility of angle diversity operation over a long obstacle-diffraction link
Paul L. McQuate
Abstract: The feasibility of angle diversity reception over a 404 km obstaclediffraction link in southern Europe was investigated during the summer of 1969. The primary objective of the measurement program was to determine the effectiveness of an experimental angular diversity configuration obtained by a specially designed feedhorn for use at a site in Italy. The qualitative analysis did not show a single instance in which low signal levels from the operational antenna beams were accompanied by enhanced signal levels from the experimental beams elevated above the radio horizon. It is concluded that either the suspected ray-bending mechanism did not occur during the time of the experiment, or entirely different radio-meteorological phenomena are responsible for the severe fadeouts observed over this link.
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