Overview

When radio communication or propagation problems are discussed, an idealized understanding of the expression linear or circular (or more accurately, elliptical) polarization is usually used. At the same time, in order to simplify anyway complicated problems, it is forgotten that even a linearly polarized wave propagating near the surface of a lossy medium changes to an elliptical polarization that is applied to measure the equivalent conductivity of the medium. In the case of multi-path propagation of a circularly (elliptically) polarized wave as a result of multi-path interference, a spatial rotation of the polarization plane may be observed. Thus, it may be called quasi-spherical or quasi-spherical polarization. Usually this occurs in the neighborhood of a complicated system of radiators (primary and secondary ones), when they are excited by an FM modulated signal or, as a result of phase difference changes of the rays converging on an observation point due to frequency changes or the Doppler effect.

Under the presented conditions, three spatial components of the measured EMF vectors may appear at a point of observation and have been taken into account when measuring errors due to spherical pattern changes of the electric field probe (Chapter 4) and that of the magnetic one (Chapter 5) were being estimated. This in no way changes the statement (Chapter 3.1) that at any arbitrarily selected moment of time and space there exists one and only one electric field vector and one magnetic field vector. The expression polarization implies the possibility of...