A STATIC RECORDER 291 



decrease the speed of the set, i.e., it would take four times longer for 

 the recorder to register a sudden change in the static level which is 

 particularly a disadvantage when the recorder is connected to a 

 rotating directional antenna. On the other hand a step larger than 

 4 TU would not give the static level with sufficient accuracy. If the 

 time periods are changed from \r> to 10 seconds, then the "speed" of 

 the set is increased, but the set is then inoperative over a larger part 

 of the period since it takes 5 seconds to change the gain of the set and 

 bring the fiuxmeter needle back to zero. Besides, such a decrease in 

 time period would increase the probability of overloading and also 

 it would make the energy received per period vary more irregularly 

 especially if static consisted of separate crashes. 



Directional Static Recording 



The usefulness of a static recorder will naturally be increased many 

 times if it is able to indicate the general direction from which the 

 static comes. A rotating loop antenna would give some results, but 

 it would be still better to combine the rotating loop with an ordinary 

 open antenna so as to obtain the well-known heart-shape directional 

 characteristic. The loop should be rotated by the clock-motor of the 

 set (see Fig. 3), say 2 complete turns in one hour, and the abscissa on 

 the record would then require a direction scale in addition to the time 

 scale. 



