ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

57

electrode seen on the front of the instrument. The readings are taken on the 31 in microammeter mounted above the cell. One adjustment only is normally provided, namely the sliding common point of resistors Rj and R2 (Fig. 1), which serves as a zero adjustment by means of which the reading is brought to zero when the cell is in position and empty. It is, of course, a false zero since some capacitance currentflowseven when the cell is empty. Having adjusted the zero, which once set remains constant for hours, the observer simply pours the material into the cell, and when it is full takes the reading. The meter is calibrated by making tests on samples which have been standardized by an

oven method. Some meters have been made direct reading for one material, but usually calibration charts are employed. The cell is designed to suit the material to be tested. The one illustrated is convenient for grain and dried egg, but much larger and much smaller cells have been made to give the same sensitivity. The cell can also be replaced by external electrodes which are connected to the meter by an adaptor fitting into the cell socket. The paper describes such an arrangement for testing flax straw, and also electrodes in the form of concentric rings mounted on a rubber pad, which can be pressed into contact with material in sheet form.

FORCED OSCILLATIONS IN OSCILLATOR CIRCUITS, AND THE SYNCHRONIZATION OF OSCILLATORS By D. G.

TUCKER,

Ph.D., Associate Member.*

[ABSTRACT of a Radio Section paper, based on parts of a thesis for the degree of Ph.D.{London), which was published in September, 1945, in Part HI of the Journal.]

When forced oscillations are generated in an oscillator, i.e. in a circuit normally capable of self-oscillation, it is possible for the free oscillations to be suppressed by the forced, and the behaviour of the circuit can then be determined by a consideration of the steady-state equilibrium of the forced-oscillation frequency round the oscillator loop circuit. The output of the oscillator has now the frequency of the signal generating the forced oscillation, and the oscillator is generally referred to as a "synchronized oscillator," because its output is apparently synchronized to the frequency of the injected signal. Such an arrangement has certain advantages over the direct utilization of the injected signal. For an oscillator in which the maintaining circuit has a nonlinear relationship between output and input sufficiently represented by a cubic law, one condition that the free oscillation shall be suppressed is that the forced-oscillation amplitude shall
10

the injected voltage and the forced oscillation at the point of injection shall not exceed TT/2 radians (positive or negative). The operation of a synchronized oscillator, i.e. an oscillator in which a stable forced oscillation alone exists, is limited by the first condition for large injected amplitudes and by the second for small injected amplitudes; in the latter circumstances, the frequency range over which the oscillator'remains synchronized is practically proportional to the injected amplitude, but for an induetance-capacitance-tuned oscillator it is inversely proportional to the Q-factor of the tuned circuit. The actual equation expressing the relationship is i, = 2 . ilp . 0(1 - xp)
100

80

0-8

60

H
0-001 0002 \ ft,
\ \
Measured .

eip 0-6
>

4Q 0
<

0003

0004

0005

0-00R

0-4

Fig. 2.Phase angle at pull-out (example). 0-8

0-6

0-2

M
0-001

H
0002

\hP
lalcuiaiea Measured \Calculated

ieo
120 80
40
0 0-0006 0-0008 -p..

0003

0O04

0005

0O06

ft volts 04

>

Fig. 1.Grid volts and injected volts at pull-out (example). be greater than 1/V2 times the amplitude that the free oscillation has when no forced oscillation is present, if the injected e.m.f. producing the forced oscillation is applied in series with the loop circuit, as distinct from injection into the inductance coil of the tuned circuit, for example, another condition, representing stability of the forced oscillation, is that the phase angle between
* Post Office Research Station.

0-2
0 -00008 -00006 -0-0004 -OOO02

N
0
0-0002 00004

Fig. 3.Correlation of calculated and measured performance (effect of harmonics).

^0=0-5 volt; i, 0-05 volt.

58

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

where is injected voltage. it = voltage of forced oscillation at the point of injection, normally the grid of the oscillator valve. x ratio of injected to natural frequencies. In the above expression and in the Figures, the suffix p indicates values at "pull-out," or point of failure of synchronization, and the circumflex C) indicates peak value of a sinusoidal term. The relationship between the two conditions determining the range of synchronization is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, where the way in which the critical values of forced oscillation and injected voltages, and of the phase angle, 0, between them, vary with the frequency range of synchronization is clearly demonstrated

for a numerical example in which Q = 80 and the gain of the maintaining circuit is represented by the non-linear relationship
G(e,)= 1 - 1 5 - 0 - 1 5 if

which corresponds to a cubic relationship between output and input voltages. The effect of the harmonics generated in the circuit is a lack of symmetry in the performance above and below the natural frequency of oscillation. This is demonstrated in Fig. 3, which compares some measured results with those calculated neglecting the effect of harmonics. When unwanted tones are mixed with the injected signal, the oscillator acts as a very selective circuit in largely suppressing the unwanted frequencies.

THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL AT WAVELENGTHS OF 5 METRES AND 2 METRES By J. S. MCPETRIE, D.SC, Ph.D., Member, and J. A. SAXTON, B.SC, Associate Member.
[ABSTRACT of a Radio Section paper (official communication from the National Physical Laboratory) which was published in December, 1945, in Part III of the Journal.]

The paper describes the determination of the electrical properties of soil at a wavelength of 5 m at frequent intervals over a period of one year. The observations were made on a grasscovered sandy loam site at the National Physical Laboratory. The experimental procedure consisted in measuring the amplitude of the stationary wave-pattern produced directly beneath a horizontal transmitting aerial, placed at a height of 12 m above ground. This stationary wave results from the arrival at the receiving aerial of two rays, one direct from the transmitter, the other after reflection from the ground. The variation in field strength with height was measured by observing the current in a thermo-junction inserted at the centre of the receiving aerial, which was arranged horizontally at a series of heights above the ground. Fig. 1 shows a typical experimental 1 1 0
91)

properties concerned, and because of the difficulty of measuring accurately the phase change at reflection, the dielectric constant was obtained to a higher degree of accuracy than the conductivity. Fig. 2 shows the results of the year's measurements, comprising the reflection coefficient, dielectric constant and con-

J3 7O
CO

|60

\ \

50 40 30

FebKWI Mas Apr

May June July

Aug

SopL Ort

Nov

Doc

Am

z
100 150 200 Receiver height.cm Fig. 1 250 300

Fig. 2
(a) (6) (c) (d) Conductivity (N.P.L.). Dielectric constant (N.P.L.). Modulus of reflection coefficient (N.P.L.)Daily rainfall (Kew Observatory).

curve, in which the thermo-junction current is plotted as a function of the height of the receiving dipole above the ground, the junction current being proportional to the square of the current in the dipole. The modulus of the reflection coefficient of the ground may be determined from the standing-wave ratio. Any given modulus can be obtained with various combinations of dielectric constant and conductivity, but if the locations of the maxima and minima of the pattern are known as well as the modulus, the two quantities may be determined separately. For the range of dielectric

ductivity of the soil, and also the daily rainfall at Kew Observatory (about 4 miles from the National Physical Laboratory). There is a general tendency for the reflection coefficient and dielectric constant to be low during periods of dry weather, and to increase when there is rain: heavy rain produces marked changes in the electrical properties of the soil. During the period of the experiments it was found that the dielectric constant varied between 5 and 25, and the conductivity between 0-7 x 108e.s.u. and 4 x 108 e.s.u. Direct measurements of attenuation through soil were also made at wavelengths of 5 m and 2 m (but not over the whole year); these observations indicated values for the electrical properties which are in general agreement with those deduced solely from the reflection experiments.