Early research on the effects of solar eclipses on radio propagation
2015 May 29
This research was prompted by noticing a slide included in a presentation recalling some of the contents of the archives of the Radio Society of Great Britain. This mentioned the involvement of the radio amateur community in a study of radio propagation conditions a few days either side of the 1927 total solar eclipse, which was visible over a substantial area of the UK.
The 1927 total eclipse
The solar eclipse of 1927 was the first total eclipse to be seen from mainland Britain for 203 years. R. A. Marriott has published an excellent paper in the Journal** on the eclipse itself and the effect it had on the British public. However, the eclipse also provided a good opportunity to study local atmospheric changes and their effects on radio propagation, without the need to travel around the world.
Further investigation showed that 1927 was not the only eclipse during which radio propagation experiments took place. R. L. Smith-Rose cites other papers that refer to propagation studies performed during other eclipses. These eclipses, and others cited later, are listed in Table 1. Also shown are the respective durations of totality/annularity and the main regions through which the eclipse track passed…(Login or click above to view the full article and illustrations)
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**Available now for £3.50 post free from www.britastro.org/shop :
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