Precipitation attenuation studies based on measurements of ATS-6 20/30-GHz beacon signals at Clarksburg, MD

COMSAT Laboratories participated in the millimeter wavelength propagation experiment under NASA contract NAS5- 20740, performing measurements of the 20/30-GHz ATS-6 satellite beacon signals and auxiliary measurements such as radiometric sky temperature and minute precipitation at Clarksburg, MD. These measurements were intended to broaden the data base required to advance the understanding of the propagation characteristics of the earth-satellite path at frequencies over 10 GHz. A correlation is established between direct measurement of attenuation of the signal radiated from the satellite and the indirect measurement of attenuation by auxiliary ground-based equipment. The indirectly derived statistics agreed reasonably well or can be reconciled with earlier published results and may therefore be used as a basis for estimating long-term cumulative attenuation statistics.