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Show Ji In iMiTniir 11 i n him mi umifP'i' z-.'- Will Soon Solve Radio Mysteries Only Question of Tirfie Until Bugaboos Will Disappear, Expert Asserts. Greenlenf W. Plcknrd. noted radio engineer, believes that It only will be a question of time before scientists will penetrate the mysteries surrounding surround-ing radio reception. According to his statements, scientists are almost convinced con-vinced that there Is slight connection between weather and radio reception. Plcknrd also thinks It would be possible pos-sible to counteract such bugaboos as fading and static In the near future. vuc ui me uiiLsiuuiiing prooieins today Is the nature and the cause of those atmospheric changes which produce pro-duce such diversified effects as weather, weath-er, magnetic storms and disturbances of radio reception," says Doctor Piek-ard. Piek-ard. "The problem Is meteorological ; If this earth had no atmosphere there could be no weather; on nn airless planer there could be no long distance communication at broadcasting and higher frequencies, end I think mag-netlcians mag-netlcians will agree that the phenomena phenom-ena of terrestrial magneton would be altered If atmosphere were removed. re-moved. Sun Affects Atmosphere. "The only known Important force which acts upon the atmosphere," he continued, "Is the complex radiation nnd emission from the variable star which we call the sun. Changvs in this force are caused In two wars; first by the movement of the earth with respect to the sun, and second by actual variations In solar relation. If the sun maintained a constant radiation radia-tion wo should have only to consider the earth's rotation on Its axis, which gives us night and day, nnd its movements move-ments in an orbit around the sun, which by the changing angle of the solar rays gives us the seasons. If these movements were the only factors fac-tors Involved, weather, terrestrial magnetism and radio reception would follow the calendar to a far greater extent than our measuring instruments Indicate. "Hut in the scheme of things as they are we Caii that weather does not go according to the calendar, nor does radio ra-dio reception. The visual evidence of sun spots, faculae and prominences tc-lis vjs that the sun is periodically disturbed, and measurements of the light and l'.eat received by the earth have shown that this varies in general correspondence with the visible changes on tlie sun's disl:. Through the work of Abbott and Clayton definite def-inite n lations have been established ljvtwron solar changes and weather, which already have been applied to weather forecasting. "Less definite today Is our knowledge knowl-edge of the short wave and corpuscular radiation from the sun which causes Ionization and electrical currents In tlu1 atmosphere, and even chemical changes. Our only direct Indices of these radiations are such things as terrestrial magnetism, atmospheric electricity and radio reception, although al-though over long periods they are highly related to sun spots and other visible changes of t lie sun's surface. And as radio research has not yet become be-come a pure science we do not have such systematic records to study as those gathered through years of astronomical as-tronomical and magnetic observatories. Receiving Conditions. "It Is perhaps unlikely that any high correlation between reception and weather elements will be found. Solar disturbances and magnetic storms are world-wide events, whereas weather Is rather a local matter. Analyses of weather elements over the whole surface sur-face of the earth Indicate that there are areas of positive correlation with sun snots, and also areas of negative correlation. Although I have not yet I collected nnd analyzed reception from any such collection of receiving points as would fairly represent the earth as a whole, I have found n bad night for reception In Newton Center Is in i.enerai a bad night anywhere in the United States. And I have also found that European reception of distant broadcasting reception agrees well with my own measurements. "There Is some basis for the ac-sumption ac-sumption that reception is principally affected by corpuscular radiation from the sun, perhaps in the form of alpha particles. Maunder has found that magnetic disturbances seem to arise from restricted soiar areas, cot necessarily neces-sarily iuciudiug sun spots nnd to go out In deiiuite directions, or rather shafts of several degrees diameter, which rotate with the sun. Wheu such n shaft strikes the earth a magnetic storm arises. Such lines of Influence are not, Maunder thinks, necessarily radial, but may (low in coronal st ream lines. I find that In general, reception Is most affected when a spot or a group of spots Is near the center of the solar disk that Is, when they are most nearly facing the earth, although there are exceptions. "But the secrets of this universe yield rather to observation than pure speculation," concluded Doctor Pick-arcl. Pick-arcl. "When we have sutlicicncy of this right kind of data we can frame explanations." |