Performance of an Experimental Angle-Diversity Troposcatter System

Angle-diversity measurements on a 179-mi experimental tropospheric scatter radio link have been made from August 1970 through March 1971. The diversity configuration consisted of three elevation paths and one azimuthal path. Statistics on correlation coefficients, signal strengths, and outage performance are presented and interpreted. The choice of antenna pointing angle is considered and found to be lower for angle-diversity systems than for conventional systems. The presence of a long-term correlation advantage for angle diversity is noted and in a comparison of angle and conventional diversity the simpler angle diversity systems are shown to be as effective in providing outage protection as the conventional systems.