Wideband Probing of the Trans-Auroral HF Channel

HF probe measurements of the channel pulse response were made over a 2300 km trans-auroral path between a transmitter site at Frobisher Bay, Canadian Northwest Territories, and a receiver site near Rome, New York. Data are presented in the form of ionograms, pulse response time histories, and channel scattering functions. The distinguishing characteristics between a well behaved mid-latitude channel and a trans-auroral channel, as seen with a coherent channel probe, are discussed. Inferences regarding signalling strategies for coping with multipath fading and bandwidth for maximizing spread spectrum processing gain are discussed. Examples showing the variety of the trans-auroral channel are presented.