The determination of the electrical properties of soil at a wavelength of 5 metres (frequency 60 Mc/s)

The paper describes experiments made to determine the electrical properties of various ground surfaces from the reflection coefficient obtained for radiation incident normally on them. The subsoil on the sites investigated varied from wet clay to gravel; the corresponding values of dielectric constant ranged from about 5 to 60 and the conductivity values from less than 108 up to not greater than 109 e.s.u. The lowest values in each case refer to a site at which the soil had been dug out to a depth of 7 ft., and the new surface consisted of pure gravel. The results obtained for both electrical properties and reflection coefficient are in general agreement with previous experiments conducted at longer and shorter wavelengths by the same and other methods.