SCINTILLATION STUDIES USING THE EARLY BIRD SYNCHRONOUS SATELLITE 136-MHZ SIGNAL.

A three-station receiving network was established for receiving VHF radio signals from a synchronous satellite for the purpose of studying scintillations in the upper atmosphere. The results obtained with a narrow-beam high-gain antenna and those obtained with a wide-beam antenna during a 5-hr nighttime scintillating period were compared. Stations using four-element Yagis with 40 degrees beamwidths measured scintillation index values that varied from 2 percent to 90 percent. The AFCRL Sagamore Hill Radio Observatory receiving station, using a 150-ft antenna with a 4 degree beamwidth, measured scintillation index values that were quite consistently about 50 percent of the values obtained with Yagis. For part of the scintillating period, an 84-ft antenna with a 7 degree beamwidth was used in addition to the 150-ft antenna the recorded pattern was almost identical with the pattern produced by the other narrow-beam antenna but the scintillation index values were about 66 percent of the Yagi values. Author