The experimental determination of the velocity of radio waves

✍ Scribed by R.C. Colwell; N.I. Hall; L.R. Hill

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1936
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 532 KB
• Volume: 222
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-0032(36)90985-7

✦ Synopsis

A radio station "A" sends out sixty short pulses a second; another station "B" at a distance of twenty kilometers is also sending out sixty pulses per second. By means of a phase shifter, the operator at B can send his pulses back to "A" at the exact instant of reception. Hence the station "B" acts as a reflector for the pulses. The operator at "B" sets his pulses in coincidence with those from "A" with the aid of an oscilloscope having a sixty cycle sweep. The operator at "A" measures the distance between the two groups of pulses seen on his oscilloscope. Since the sweep rate of the oscilloscope is known, the velocity can be calculated. For the medium-high frequency waves used, the velocity is considerably less than the velocity of light.

XNTRODUCTION.