An Urban Field Strength Survey at Thirty and One Hundred Megacycles

Abstract

A description is given of the transmitter and receiver equipment used in making field strength surveys in the Camden-Philadelphia area for a low power transmitter whose antenna is 200 feet above the ground, at frequencies of thirty and one hundred megacycles. Field strength contour maps for the area within approximately ten miles of the transmitter are given. From these maps the average field strength obtained at various distances from the transmitter was determined, and the attenuation of the signal was found to be proportional to the 1.84 power of the distance for thirty megacycles and the 2.5 power of the distance for one hundred megacycles for the region between one and ten miles from the transmitter. Curves showing the variation from the average field strength of the signal along three routes radiating fifteen miles from the transmitter are given, and these variations are compared with the elevation profiles of the respective routes. It is shown that the signal is usually strongest on the brows of hills facing the transmitter. Measurements were made in three representative residences, and from these data, curves showing the power required at the transmitter to furnish one hundred microvolts input to receivers with short indoor antennas located in houses at various distances up to ten miles from the transmitter were computed for the two frequencies.