Propagation experiment with Japanese satellite,ETS-II (KIKU-2)

The first Japanese geostationary satellite, Engineering Test Satellite Type II Kiku-2], has been successfully placed at 130°E at the beginning of March 1977.Using beacon transmitters at three coherent frequencies of 1.7, 11.5 and 34.5 GHz which are installed in ETS-II, the Radio Research Laboratories (RRL) of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MOPT) conduct propagation experiments to obtain preliminary information for the Experimental Communication Satellite (ECS) experiment.The experimental system for propagation experiment with ETS-II is composed of a main receiving station, a rain radar, a radio-meter, meteorological instruments and data handling computers.The receiving data, including signal levels of co- and cross-polarization in these frequencies and phase differences between each of these frequencies and polarization, are sampled every 200 msec.The satellite-to-Earth propagation experiment at the highest frequency has been satisfactorily started on 11 March 1977.