June 1962 | Technical Report NBS Report 7274
National Bureau of Standards Measurement Program on UHF Airborne Television
Cite This Publication
Robert S. Kirby, Albrecht P. Barsis, and Paul L. McQuate, “National Bureau of Standards Measurement Program on UHF Airborne Television,” Technical Report NBS Report 7274, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, June 1962. https://doi.org/10.6028/NBS.RPT.7274
Abstract:
The measurements described in this report were sponsored by the U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
During the 1961–1962 school year the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction, Inc. (MPATI) transmitted television signals from an aircraft flying over Indiana at 23, 000 feet. The primary purpose of this experiment was to test the effectiveness of the airborne broadcast technique in providing television instruction over a large geographic area.
The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards became interested in the program in its early planning stages, and under sponsorship of the Ford Foundation made studies of some of the technical factors involved in air-ground broadcasting and in the planning of an airborne television network [Decker, 1959 and 1962].
The purpose of this report is to describe a series of propagation measurements made over several air-ground propagation paths during the 1961–1962 school year. These measurements are being made under the sponsorship of NBS and with financial assistance from the U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Altogether six continuous recordings have been made at four locations ranging from 87 to 222 miles from the transmitter. Another location is currently being activated and will record signals during summer 1962 test transmissions. Plans are being made to continue the recording program during the 1962–1963 school year.
Two transmitters operate simultaneously on Channels 72 and 76 while the aircraft orbits at 23,000 feet over Montpelier, Indiana. All recordings of transmission loss are made on paper charts, which are later transferred to magnetic tape. Because of some difficulties in financing the measurements early in the program none of the recordings covers the entire broadcast schedule and most did not commence until around the beginning of 1962.
Keywords: propagation measurements; UHF television; air-to-ground propagation
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