Abstract
IN 1926 Ratcliffe and Barnett (Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., vol. 23, p. 300) directed attention to an anomalous effect which they had observed when measuring the attenuation of wireless waves of 1600 m. wavelength from 5XX, the Daventry station of the B.B.C. They obtained an attenuation curve of the form shown in Fig. 1, which shows how the product (E × d) of the distance (d) and the electric intensity in the wave (E) varied as the distance (d) from the transmitter was increased. The falling portion (bc) of the curve represents, as is well known, attenuation of the waves due to losses produced by eddy currents flowing in the ground. The rising portion (ab) of the curve may be said to represent a ‘negative attenuation’ of the wave. At the time when the observations were made, no explanation of the negative attenuation could be given.
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RATCLIFFE, J., WHITE, F. Negative Attenuation of Wireless Waves. Nature 125, 926–927 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/125926b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/125926b0
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