A method of exciting the aerial system of a rotating radio beacon

This paper is describe a novel method of feeding the spaced-aerial system of a radio beacon transmitter, which has arisen from consideration of the possibilities of the discussion of the Adcock-aerial principle to such a beacon. A brief discussion is given of the limitation of the ordinary rotating-coil goniometer arrangment for a such a beacon when the transmitted power is high. The alternative method described utilizes two power amplifiers to feed the two pairs of spaced aerials. These two amplifiers are supplied radio-frequency voltages by means of a mechanical controller which automatically provides the required time/voltages variations. A descriprion is given the this controller together with its application to the problem of exciting the two amplifiers. It is shown that sucha controller can fulfill the requirements of the excitation apparatus, and it is concluded that the system described would be suitable for the incorporation in a full-size rotating radio beacon for marine navigational purposes.