The Utility of Meteor Bursts for Intermittent Radio Communication

It has been suggested that the transient vhf signal produced by meteor ionization be used for communication, and several groups have been investigating this possibility. Analysis of the meteor bursts measured on the 49.8-mc transmissions from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Sterling, Va., implies that useful intermittent communication can be achieved. Transmission experiments in a 100-kc band have not realized the theoretical capacity of the signal, mostly because of multipath propagation. About half of the meteor bursts observed are unaffected by this distortion, however, so that a useful system of this bandwidth may yet be possible.