Electromagnetic transients in conducting media

In a recent paper, Richards derives expressions for the electric and magnetic fields of a short pulse of electric or magnetic dipole moment in a conducting medium. An alternative analysis is given which explains certain unusual results of the original work as arising from dispersion in the conducting medium and from the frequency dependence of the attenuation factor of the fields. The conclusion drawn is that communication by pulses is expected to be inferior to that by low-frequency continuous waves.