Circular cross-polarization measurements on earth-space paths at 11,7 GHz

Rain and icecrystal depolarization measurements were made on earthspace paths at four locations across Canada using the circularlypolarized 11.7 GHz beacon transmission from the cts satellite. Results show that when rain is the dominant depolarization mechanism, crosspolarization discrimination (xpd)is statistically related to copolar attenuation (cpa)according to xpd =U?20 log cpa with U showing improvement with increasing elevation angle. Icecrystal depolarization events, with accompanying differential phase shifts as large as 20°, were also observed. An analysis separating these events from the data demonstrates that at 11.7 GHz icecrystal depolarization degrades xpd statistics by less than 1 dB at the small percentages of time.