CORRELATION OF RADIO NOISE AND QUASI-PEAK MEASUREMENTS TO CORONA PULSE RANDOMNESS

The quasi-peak readings of radio-noise meters have been generally accepted as an indication of the degree of nuisance to radio reception from ac and dc coronas. Simplified theoretical analyses were previously made to correlate the readings of radio-noise meters to some corona pulse characteristics. A more rigorous analysis is presented. The actual corona pulse characteristics are correlated to the noise levels in the outputs of AM and FM radio receivers, and to the quasi-peak, the average, and the rms readings of RN meters. This analysis is based on measurements of the corona pulse amplitudes and repetition rates taken for both ac and dc coronas using various electrode arrangements. The measurements showed that the random variations of the corona pulse amplitudes are Gaussian both in the ac and dc cases. The variation of the pulse repetition rate is approximated to Poissonian in the case of ac and for dc near the corona-inception level; it is Gaussian at higher dc voltages. This analysis indicates how the noise levels in radio reception are sensitive to the standard deviation in the repetition rate of corona pulses, which factor does not affect the readings of commonly used radio-noise meters. Copyright © 1969 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.