Gain of corrugated conical horns

The absolute gain of a corrugated horn which is designed as a 100-GHz gain standard for the Crawford Hill 7-Meter offset reflector has been calculated and measured. The measured gain is determined from "three horn" transmission measurements. The other two horns are a TRG Model W869 corrugated horn and a dual mode horn. Correction factors were computed from the near field power transmission formula. The measured gain of the gain standard is30.8 pm 0.16 dB. Comparison between measured and calculated gains indicate very low ohmic loss in a corrugated horn. The condition of maximum gain for a given length has been found to be a half wavelength phase deviation in the horn aperture. Calculated gain data as well as near field correction factors for two identical corrugated conical horns are given here as reference information.