Abstract
THE phenomenon of fading has caused a great deal of trouble in radio-telephony. It is due to high-angle waves being reflected down from ionised layers in the upper atmosphere and interfering with the direct horizontal waves of the receiving station. By diminishing the former and increasing the latter, fading can be greatly mitigated or even entirely eliminated. In wealthy countries where people can afford to buy highly efficient receiving sets, and the broadcasting authorities can afford to erect more transmitting stations where necessary, the trouble is easy to overcome. In countries where many crystal and primitive valve sets are used, and the transmitting station serves distant receivers, the area for good reception is very limited. In this case, the area of reception can be considerably increased by the use of a single vertical antenna (aerial) instead of the usual T-type antenna suspended from two steel masts. The mast recently erected in Budapest for the broadcasting station is the highest structure in Europe. A description of it is given in Links, a paper published by Duckham and Co. Ltd., of 16 Cannon Street, London. The height of the antenna is 1,005 ft. and its weight is 230 tons. It is nearly three times the height of St. Paul's Cathedral. It rests on a porcelain insulator which has to withstand, owing to the pull of the guy ropes, a permanent crushing load of 480 tons. Compared with the old T-antenna, the Budapest vertical mast has more than doubled the service area of the station.
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Fading of Radio Signals. Nature 137, 60 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137060c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137060c0