STATIC AND FADING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 154, 15 June 1935, Page 13

STATIC AND FADING

German Scientist’s Work RESEARCH AT AUCKLAND The possibility of utilising statics,, one of the greatest hindrances to radio development, for weather forecasting was mentioned by Dr. K. Kreielsheinier, who has been doing radio research work for the past year at Auckland University College under a grant from the Academic Assistance Council of England, and who has left to take up a position as research physicist with a Sydney firm.

“Statics have nothing to do with the transmission or reception stations,” said Dr. Kreielsheimer before he left Auckland. “They are in the atmosphere all the time, aud are caused by thunderstorms. They become much stronger in the tropics, where there is a continual friction of hot and cold air, producing varying degrees of intensity, depending on the distance away from the receiver. Near the North and South Poles, however, statics are practically non-existent. I believe that in future meteorological stations will correlate a study of statics with the meteorological data they at present use.” During Dr. Kreielsheimer’s brief term at the Auckland University he built a sending and receiving set for the study of radio wave tracks above the earth. The transmitter is fitted up iu the physics laboratory of the university, and the receiver is at a house iu Epsom. The “pulse” method is used by which a constant series of ticks, 1-10)000 of a second long, at the rate of 50 a second, are sent out. These are picked up by the receiver and recorded by an oscillograph on a rotating drum of photographic paper. The strip shows the main signal, which travels near the ground, as a continuous black line. As the signals are reflected from the higher layers they are automatically recorded as blurred broken lines, and their distance from tho line of the ground signal shows the height of the various layers. The first of these is Kennelly’s and Heaviside’s layer, which averages 80 miles above the earth, and the second is Appleton’s layer, from rto to 600 miles above the earth’s surface. Between the two is a layer about, which little is known. “Transmitted radio waves can be influenced in three different ways,” continued the doctor. “They can pass through tho layer in which their wave length lies, be reflected from it, or be absorbed by it. If they pass through they either travel along the layer and give satisfactory reception, or go straight up and are lost. Reflection from a layer generally gives fading, while absorption weakens the signals or produces prolonged fading. My work has been directed at finding a way out of these difficulties and tho right wave lengths to use under varying conditions of the air layers. The shorter the wave length the better the penetration, and below 20 metres the signals begin to lose themselves in the ether.” Dr. Kreielsheimer explained that by altering the wave-length of his transmitter the “pulse” was sent through the various layers, and so the intensity or ionisation of each could be discovered. He hoped that the correct wave lengths would be found to enable stations to transmit clearly for world reception throughout the 24 hours. Dr. Kreielsheimer has had a brilliant career. At the age of 29 he graduated from Darmstadt University as a doctor of physics. He was at once offered a post as research scientist in radio with the Heinrich Hertz Institute, of Berlin, the largest scientific institution in the world. He was selected as leader for the German party of scientists who went into the polar regions in connection with the International Polar Year in 1932. His party collaborated with scientists from England, Norway, Poland and Danzig. It was Professor E. V. Appleton, leader of the (English party, who recommended Dr. Kreielsheimer to the Academic Assistance Council when the doctor, who is a Jew, deemed it expedient to cease working in Germany under the Hitler regime-

The apparatus which Dr. Kreielsheimer has set up, and the data ho has collected, will be carried on by Dr. D. Brown, lecturer in physics. In connection with this elaborate and expensive machinery, which has been entirely designed and assembled by Dr. Kreielsheimer, it is interesting to note that a grant of £5O was made towards its cost by the Australian and New Zealand Associations of Science. This is the highest grant the association has made, and indicates the importance attached to the doctor’s research.

Professor P. W. Burbidge, professor Of physics at the university, said that he and all tho members of his department were sorry Dr. Kreielsheimer was leaving. When he arrived at the university he quickly set up a complette apparatus for recording reflected radio signals from ionosphere layers, and after only a year’s work under limited conditions he left it in complete working order.