Measurements of Interference Levels in the UHF Band from Aircraft Altitudes

To help fill the need for environmental data essential to the design of reliable space-communications systems, a swept super-heterodyne radio-frequency interference receiver was developed for flight on the Lincoln Laboratory LES-5 and LES-6 experimental- communication satellites. The LES-6 receiver was adapted for use on an Air Force KC-135 aircraft. The receiver was designed to measure average power and peak power in the bands from 233 to 258 MHz and from 290 to 315 MHz. The aircraft was flown on a world-wide data collection mission during February and March 1967. The data were collected from an altitude of 30 000 feet. A compilation of the data collected on this flight is presented in graphical form.