Kennelly-Heaviside Layer Studies

This paper describes progress in a recently inaugurated program of cooperative research for the study of radio transmission. Oscillographic observations of pulse transmissions made at the Bureau of Standards and Tufts College, in collaboration with workers at the Naval Research Laboratory and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, are discussed. Observations on 1410 kc and a number of higher frequencies are described, and oscillograms showing the complex phenomena frequently encountered in night transmission are shown. Evidence in support of the existence of several ionized strata, such as postulated by Appleton and Eckersley, is found, and examples of the pulse distortions frequently encountered in reflection or refraction are shown. The paper is presented merely as a preliminary report, and solicits the cooperation of others interested in observations of this type. The need of extended observations of varied types is emphasized, and a more extended quantitative discussion of results is reserved for a later communication when more data are available.