COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES 



23 



which meteorological equipment was Deeded, and 

 another which might be handled in South Africa. 

 lie also explained that the Canadian experiments 

 along a land path near Suffield, Alberta, were con- 

 tinuing and that Sir Edward Appleton was of the 

 opinion that the Ultra Shortwave Panel in Great 

 Britain would continue to function into the peace. 



Dr. Anderson reported that meteorological appa- 

 ratus consisting of six sets of the lower atmosphere 

 sounding apparatus developed at the State College of 

 Washington was ready for transfer to New Zealand 

 and that about forty sets of castings for the equip- 

 ment were also available for distribution. 



Mr. Munro announced that propagation research 

 was to continue in Australia at the Radio Physics 

 Laboratory and that the Radio Propagation Com- 

 mittee, a subcommittee of the Radio Research Board, 

 would continue to function. He described the postwar 

 policy for this investigation as favoring an expansion 

 of the investigation with transfer of workers from 

 projects. Fields of investigation in which work was 

 proceeding or planned included tropospheric and 

 ionospheric propagation, scattering from clouds and 

 layers in the middle atmosphere, and a study of 

 radio noise levels. Analysis of Service data was being 

 conducted, a report on extra-long range echoes 

 observed near Darwin had been issued, and a statis- 

 tical survey of superrefraction along the Australian 

 coast was under preparation. 



Lieutenant W. E. Gordon, AAF, described angle- 

 of-arrival measurements being conducted in New 

 Jersey by BTL, simultaneously with meteorological 

 measurements by the Weather Division of the AAF. 

 Angles varying from 0.7 degree above to 0.1 degree 

 below the line of sight were observed over the 123^- 

 mile path, the nonstandard angles always coinciding 

 with measured nonstandard atmospheric refractive 

 conditions. On two occasions multiple paths had 

 been observed. 



Dr. E. W. Hamlin reported progress of the 

 University of Texas group which was to study angle 

 of arrival by measuring phase difference. He an- 

 nounced that the Office of Research and Inven- 

 tions of the Navy had agreed to take over the 

 project on an interservice plan of participation, with 

 cooperation of Army and Navy laboratories, and 

 active exchange of information with BTL and other 

 interested agencies. It was also expected that AAF 

 and other field stations would collaborate. 



Dr. W. M. Rush described progress in construction 

 of the receivers for field strength measurement under 



the Humble Oil Company contract. Of the 24 units 

 scheduled, 18 were to be completed by October 31, 

 1945. In addition, he announced that the company 

 was interested in geophysical surveys over the Gulf 

 to distances of 30 miles offshore by means of radar 

 measurements and would be glad to cooperate with 

 the University of Texas and Service groups. 



The chairman announced that steps were under way 

 to declassify all propagation information and to make 

 it feasible for all organizations interested to obtain 

 copies of pertinent material published by NDRC. 



Captain D. R. Hull announced that the name of 

 the NRSL was shortly to be changed to Navy 

 Electronics Laboratory [NEL] and that facilities in 

 Arizona were soon to be available for cooperation 

 with the University of Texas. 



D.E.Kerrannounced the transfer of signal strength 

 measuring receivers from RL to NRSL [NEL] and 

 went on to describe a field expedition conducted by 

 himself for the Operational Research Section of the 

 Office of Field Service. He stated that the cause of the 

 poor operation of the MEW was poor adjustment of 

 the equipment. He confirmed the existence of strong 

 superrefraction. He also mentioned contacting a 

 part of Dr. Anderson's group in Manila and de- 

 scribed the necessity for disseminating knowledge of 

 propagation effects among operating personnel in the 

 field, particularly in the Army. He also described use 

 being made of radar for storm detection by the 

 Southwest Pacific Weather Force and a series of 

 educational talks being conducted with radar officers 

 in the Philippines when the war ended. 



Dr. Carroll briefly described results of propagation 

 tests made by the Signal Corps along several over- 

 water and over-land optical paths in California, on 

 100, 250, 1,450, and 4,500 mc. Elevated ducts had 

 been observed, but surface reflection was found to 

 be of greater importance. General conclusions from 

 these tests indicated the importance of reflection 

 from sea and land surfaces and the desirability of 

 employing diversity reception with antennas spaced 

 vertically. 



Dr. Dellinger described his trip to a conference on 

 radio held in Brazil, at which two government 

 departments of that country had expressed willing- 

 ness to undertake ionospheric observations in 

 cooperation with a world-wide network. These 

 departments had requested equipment and instruc- 

 tions for this work, which were to be supplied. 



M. Katzin of NRL referred to the Antigua experi- 

 ment completed early in the year and described a 



