EVIDENCE FOR THE PRESENCE OF TURBULENT ATTENUATION ON LOW-ELEVATION ANGLE EARTH-SPACE PATHS .1. COMPARISON OF CCIR RECOMMENDATION AND SCINTILLATION OBSERVATIONS ON A 3.3-DEGREES PATH

This paper presents the results of and conclusions drawn from two expe rimental studies of low-elevation slant-path scintillation, Part I des cribes observations made on an 11.2 GHz, 3.3 degrees path over a two a nd a half year period, Received signal strength and a variety of concu rrent meteorological parameters were recorded. The resulting database has enabled the veracity of the 1990 International Telecommunications Union-Radio [(ITU-R)-formerly International Consultative Radio Committ ee (CCIR)] model to be determined, An interesting discrepancy between the CCIR prediction procedure and the experimental data suggests an as yet unmodeled scintillation mechanism operating in wet summer weather .