PROFESSIONAL

GROUP ON

ANTENNASAND
PROPAGATION

Executive Committee, the Group should be able to meet its publi-

cations demands and properly cover antennas, propagation and radio
EDITORIAL astronomy.

PGAP's charter states that "its objects shall be scientific, One answer to the problem of proliferating professional groups
literary, and educational in character", that it shall strive for the is for existing groups to extend their fields of interest to include new
advancement of the theory and practice of radio engineering and of a r e a s of importance. As its technical field grows, however, the
the allied arts a d sciences.. special attention to.. .Antennas .with group faces the problem of equitable treatment of various parts of
and Propagation and shall include scientific, technical, industrial or the field in planning meetings and publishing papers. This becomes
other activities that contribute to field or utilize the techniques much easier if there is not a rigid limit on publications.
or products of field".
L. C. Van Atta, Chairman
Anyone who thinks about it must conclude that unless we were Los Angeles Section, IRE
drastically to limit our goals, we always be faced with many
problems. Even though we make up only a part of IRE, we ADMIMSTRATNE COMMITTEE
nevertheless include members of so many diverse skills and inter-
eats that to serve all appears formidable indeed. Some may feel it As a result of last spring's nominations and balloting, the
impossible to do so, others that it is not worthwhile. PGAP's Administrative Committee consists of the following:
chartered purpose doesnot permit it to take any such narrow view.
Nor, far a s we h o w ) would any p a r t of its membership want it Adm. Committee
to do so. Assignment Term Affiliation

As time goes on, the problems be expected to become R. L. Mattingly 1956 1959 Member of Technical
more difficult. As an example, the gap between the electromagne- Chairman Bell Telephone Labora-
tics theorist and the antenna designer is likely to become larger and tories,Inc., Whippany,
larger, and communication between them increasingly difficult. To New Jersey.
help counteract such a trend is clearly one of PGAP's tasks.
A. Dorne 1956 1959 President, Dorne and
This Newsletter is inaugurated with the hope that it will a s s i s t Vice Chairman and Margolin, Inc., Westbury,
in defining and solving the problems. Its purpose be to tell what Newsletter Editor New York.
PGAP and its m e m b e r s a r e doing and thinking. Everyone is urged to
contributerelevantmaterial.Suggestions,complaints,observations, A. Bowhill 1958 1 1961 Associate Professor,
and, in particular, expressions of what you a s a member would like Propagation Papers Pennsylvania State Univ.
from PGAP will all be of value and needless to say, more than wel- Review
come.
J. W. Findlay 1957 1960 Head of Electronics at
MESSAGE FROM PGAP FOUNDER 1959 Nat'l. Conven- National Radio Astronomy
tion Program Rep. Observatory.
I a m happy to learn that P G A P is going to have a Newsletter.
A closely knit group of professional people has lots of interesting and F. T. Haddock 1956 1959 University of rfichigan,
important non-technical information to exchange; a NewsletEer seems Radio Astronomy Ann Arbor.
to be the propermedium. Coordinator

The PGAP has beenvery successful professionally overa J. UT.Herbstreit 1956 1959 Ass't. Chief, Radio Propa-
number of years. For some time, however, we have been beset by Tech. Symposiuin gation Engineering Div.,
persistent financial problems. These have stemmed, not from finan- Coordinator Central Radio Propagation
cial irresponsibility or ineptness, but from a surfeit of highly pub- Laboratory,Nat'l.Bureau
lishable material. of Standards, Boulder,
Colorado.
The IRE Professional Group Committee has been faced with the
twin problems of supporting publications activities on the part of E. Jordan 1958 1961 Head, Dept. of Electrical
some of its more active groups andof stimulating greater activities Awards (Best PGAP Engineering,University
on the p a r t of certain other groups plagued with large surpluses. A Paper and Fellow of Illinois.
recent proposal that the IRE cover one-third of all reasonable publi- Award)
cations costs budgeted in advance by the professional groups, offers
the possibility of a solution to both problems. In addition, it would M. King 1958 1961 Sales Manager, I. T. E.
eliminate the need for selling advertisingby those groups which have 1959 Nat'l. Con- Circuit Breaker Co.
been seeking advertising only as a means of balancing their budgets. vention Record Rep.

In the recent past, I had felt that a restriction in the technical R. K. Moore 195'1 1960 Professor and Chairman,
fields covered by PGAP might reduce the publications loadand, No Assignment Electrical Engineering
therefore, the financial problems of the group. If the new IRE Dept., University of
support policy is adopted at the November neeting of the IRE New Mexico.

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