Evening star., 1932-08-28

~ TATIC and fading, arch-enemies
of good radio reception which
have baffled science since the be-
. ginning of wireless 30 years ago
may meet their Nemesis with the
eclipse of the sun Wednesday.
For the brief one and one-half min
ute period that the sun will be totally
obscured by the moon during Wednes-
day afternoon, and night conditions
prevail during the day, scores Of radio
transmitters, sending voice and code
will be sputtering their messages as
hundreds Of radio engineers. scientists
and amateurs make hasty observations.
The results Of these tests. checked with
normal wave propagation conditions.
may prove tha basis for the solution of
these hitherto unsolved mysteries Of
the ether.
Radio scientists are a modest lot They
won't predict what they expect the tests
to show. Unostentatiously and pains
takingly, however, they have been pre-
pairing for the eclipse observationS-the
last to occur in the United States until
the year 20l7.
Greater Distance at Night.
1t long has been the theory Of engi-
neers that static IS due to the ultra
violet ray and electrcnic bombardment
from the sun. Scientists know, for ex-
ample that at night radio signals cover
greater distances and are less affected
by static than during daylight when
the suns rays 'ionize' the ether and
evidently sap the strength Of radio i'm
pulses. The eclipse tests should def
nitely prove or disprove that theory.
Radio observation groups have pitched
N1AHx H. ~ uEE
totality, which cuts a lOO-mile wide
belt across the Hudson Bay toward
Montreal and across New England out
to sea at Portland, Me. Listeners have
been asked to note what changes take
place in the quality OF reception at
various times during the afternoon.
Radio amateurs. listening to both code
and voice transmission on the high
freQuencieS, also will report the differ
ence in intensities of signals during the
solar phenomenon, using standard
scale. This data, together with the
observations made by the scientific ex-
pcditions. will be correlated in the uni
| fled effort to overcome irnpediments to
good reception.
VIII Measure Ceiling.
Most of the expeditions will attempt
| to measure the helght OF the So-called
! Kennedy -Heaviside layer-presumed to
lie a sort of rejecting mirror or ceiling
| for radio signals which shoots them
back to earth for reception. Recent
| researches have indicated that there
! are two such ceilings, lowering 100
miles or SO above the earth, one de-
| flecting broadcaSting impulses and the
| other serving as the bounce-board for
! short wave signals.
o. H. Caldwell, radio engineer, says
| that the short-wave ceiling seems to be
controlled by the ultra violet rays of
the sun, and that the broadcasting CELL
| ing is suspected to be controlled by the
| electronic bombardment from the sun.
| Should there be variation, estimated
| at about two hours. between the suns
! effects on the short wave and the broad
| casting transmissions, then it will be.
| definitely asce-tained that there are
| two rejecting layers rather than one.
| Only during an eclipse of this kind does
it now seem possible to separate the
! two streams of radiation from the sun,
| the ultraviolet and the electronic bonn
bardment, by reason OF the difference
! in the speeds Of travel of the two
shadows as they reach US from the
eclipSing body of the moon
Copyright, 1882. by the Consolidated Press)