Evening star., 1937-12-12
H1LE rapid progress contin-
ues in the quality Of broad
cast programs as well as in
khA ala Ill., -

the clarity and strength
OF radio signals, scientists are mere
beginners at the art Of predicting to-
morrow's or next months weather
through the Use Of ether waves, High
hopes are held, however, for q new
method Of sky sorcery now being
tested il the Northeast.
High IN the Whiteface Mountain Of
tho Adirondacks two young scientists
are enduring . snow-bound exile as
they watch q series Of little indicators
which form the basis of radio weather
studies. Financing the research are
YANKEE Network Of New England and
the of1cial amateur radio organiza-
tion, the American Radio Relay
League, In cooperation with Rensse-
laer Polytechnic Institute Of Troy.
New York University and Harvard.
Behind the forays into the mutual
1diosyncracies Of radio waves and the
weather is the belief that little radio
impulses, leaping from peak to peak,
may be influenced by atmospheric
conditions in such a way as to tndi-
cate to expert observers Just what
tney can expect from the sky DUR
ing the immediate future. Already the
observers, working under direction
OF Prof. Wynant J. Williams of
Rensselaer,, have discovered that when
the weather is running along on an
even keel the automatic pens on the
mountain-top recording devices are
likely to draw rather straight lines.
On the other hand, II the sky is IN
to some Of its well-known capers. the
line gets zg-zaggy and wanders all
over the chart.
SINCE that much is known, the OBJ
servers are trying to discover II
they can count on consistent patterns
IN advance Of a cold spell, for EXAM
pie, or any other sort Of weather. II
the ng-zags have regular habits, the
oasis may be established for a new
and improved system of weather
prognosticating. The little short waves
that the Wmteface Mountain exiles
are observing originate at a trans
mitter atop Mount Washington, where
Harvard has installed equipment. The
waves leap l30 miles to Whiteface.
with no hills between to obstruct
their passage. In addition, daily tenn
perature, wind velocities, humidity and
barometric pressures are taken at the
peaks and bases, with the data being
correlated with the radio observations,
Already, radio equipment is proving
helpful to Government weather OBJ
servers, who have installed at some
points system Of radio-balloon OBJ
servations. Using rubber or cellophane
balloons to carry tiny radio trans
mitters, the observers on the ground
receive automatic messages from So
600 feet in the sky, which Is about
as high as they are interested in at
present. since the air above that level
is not believed to exert much influ-
ence on surface weather. The little
bauoon-borne transmitters contain
several automatic gadgets which
measure temperature. barometric pres
sure and humidity. They send out sig
nails which are influenced by a clock
ike device which makes contacts with
the recording instruments. These sig
nails can be heard on the ground,
although the transnitters are never
over watts in strength, and they are
made to operate automatic recording
devices.
SO SATISFACTORY is the balloon
system becoming that it is ex-
pected to replace the present plan of
sending up airplanes to level of about
1900 feet. A new type of balloon con-