A proposed empirical model of the effective Earth radius factor for telecommunications use in South Africa

Available data for the cumulative probability of occurrence of various values of the radio refractive k-factor for South Africa have been subjected to regression analysis in terms of a proposed equation to describe such a distribution. The results presented have considerable promise in predicting the average cumulative trend of the k-factor in the inland summer rainfall areas. The model is expected to be of value in predicting large values of the k-factor, which may only be exceeded relatively rarely, but which could give rise to long-range interference in radio communication systems.