Open Letter

to the Chairman and to the Chief Executive of the

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC)

May 8, 2006

Dear Mr Warry!

Dear Professor Mason!

The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) mission addresses, among its primary objectives in scientific excellence, the attraction of young people - representing the future generation of scientists and engineers - and the stimulation of public interest in research and technology.  In consequence, PPARC has implemented its science and society programme to ensure “public engagement” and “public accountability” which also includes explicit support of schools and colleges.  In our view, these initiatives need to be broadened, not only because of the lack of students in scientific disciplines but also in order to oppose the dominance of financial and commercial values which appear to replace the social, cultural, educational and ethical quality in our society.  Thus, approaching the public, schools and colleges must not be considered activities in the backyard of the scientific community but important initiatives at the front door of science and research.

At this point we wish to draw your attention to the radio propagation studies, analyses and experiments conducted by radio amateurs.  The sum of all ham radio stations is a network of large geographical extent which monitors almost all frequencies in HF, VHF and UHF more or less permanently. In consequence, radio amateurs observe radio wave propagation phenomena which are typically neglected by scientific, commercial and military radio services.  Nevertheless, all these phenomena ultimately reflect dynamical processes in the earth atmosphere and also in the near-earth space environment. 

To interpret their observations, radio amateurs refer to other scientific research - which explains the radio amateurs' interest in government-sponsored research programmes. Thus, radio amateurs are grateful to all scientific institutions supporting knowledge transfer and the public understanding of geophysical research.  PPARC has explicitly documented these objectives in its funding policy and scientific projects funded by PPARC play an important role in amateur radio propagation studies, including, for example, the UK ionosondes, EISCAT and other projects.

The following overview demonstrates the broad spectrum of amateur radio studies; they concern all levels of the earth’s atmosphere, the near-earth space environment and also future ham missions to the planets:

• Studies on thunderstorm-triggered effects in the ionosphere: we found indications of dynamic processes in the troposphere affecting the E region of the ionosphere even in mid-latitudes because intense thunderstorms appear to support long distance VHF communication by sporadic E forward scatter which has been communicated by radio amateurs on a scientific conference in 2005. We believe that gravity waves or, alternatively, vertical electrostatic fields may play a major role here, i.e. we are facing processes extending from the lower into the upper atmosphere.
• Double-hop sporadic E propagation on very high frequencies between central Europe and the Canary Islands appears to indicate another mechanism connecting the lower and the upper atmosphere, not from a geophysical but from a radio phenomenological perspective. We have found examples of ionospheric VHF propagation apparently supported by the reflection of radio waves on the topside of tropospheric inversion layers.
• The observation of coherent field-aligned backscatter of VHF/UHF radio waves at mid-latitudes and, of course, at high latitudes.  Radio amateurs have documented field-aligned backscatter of radio waves even at non-perpendicular aspect angles, which appears remarkable with respect to the relatively low transmitter power employed by ham radio stations.  Our studies have also analysed the global impact of geomagnetic disturbances on VHF radio wave propagation in Europe, North America and Australia.
• Refinement and validation of HF propagation models and predictions and the correlation of the ionosonde data with transient propagation phenomena such as sporadic E including scattergrams by using ionosonde data, and Pedersen ray Doppler measurements.
• Studies on the so-called long-delayed radio echoes between 10 MHz and 1296 MHz and measurements of round-the-world HF propagation.
• The observation of transequatorial radio propagation on VHF and UHF which is connected to many open questions on the equatorial F region of the ionosphere.
• Studies on the so-called topband propagation modes, i.e. ionospheric radio propagation below 2 MHz including transatlantic propagation experiments on 136 kHz by using sophisticated digital transmission modes.
• The implementation of a ham radio magnetometer observation network by using instruments developed by radio amateurs in their home laboratories which is accompanied by support services, for example, the Carrington series of solar rotation and also automatic alerting services providing geomagnetic alerts on mobile phones, pagers, in the packet radio ham networks and in the internet too.
• The establishment of a large variety of space experiments aboard ham radio satellites, the detection of the Voyager 1 space probe and, just another example, measurements of the time-Doppler spectrum of radiowaves reflected by the lunar surface.  The P5-A mission will send a ham radio space probe to Mars.  The majority of ISS astronauts, by the way, hold amateur radio callsigns and establish radio contacts with radio amateurs and also with school and college students - which generates high awareness in public media.
• Finally, the observation of intense tropospheric inversion layers extending over thousands of kilometers resulting in ducting of VHF/UHF/SHF radiowaves, for example, from Europe into the eastern Atlantic Ocean. A comparison with similar ham observations in other regions of the world indicates a correlation with the global atmospheric circulation system and, perhaps, also a correlation with the seasurface temperature in the Atlantic and in the Pacific Ocean too (the possible correlation between the El Nino phenomenon and long distance communication links in the Eastern Pacific is still a matter of investigation).

These studies are supported by professional scientists providing suggestions and, in particular, scientific data which may be compared to the findings in ham radio. It is important to note that our British radio amateur colleagues, in particular, play a major role here because the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) has implemented a board of radio amateurs which is permanently supported by professional scientists, i.e. the Propagation Studies Committee (PSC). PSC has contributed to the understanding of radio wave propagation over many decades and documents the benefits resulting from the co-operation between scientists and radio amateurs.  No other country has a similar institution.

Therefore, the community of radio amateurs is deeply concerned about the investment strategy for PPARC's science programme for the next two financial years 2006/7 and 2007/8. This strategy will indirectly affect amateur radio and this particularly applies to the funding threat to the UK ionosondes.  The steadily declining number of European ionosondes has impacted our studies for a long time.  Being amateurs, we are not in the position to judge financial strategies discussed within the scientific community; nevertheless, your decisions generate high awareness within the community of radio amateurs.

The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council is therefore requested to review its funding policy not only from a financial perspective but also from a cultural and educational perspective. The cultural perspective results from the fact that professional research stimulates private initiatives such as ham radio propagation studies and these spread scientific interest, knowledge and methodology into the wider community. The educational perspective results from the fact that young radio amateurs interested in the geophysical background of radio communication may be influenced to study physics and engineering at universities and scientific institutions; this is demonstrated by the large number of professional scientists holding amateur radio licences. We fear that PPARC's investment strategy will not only result in a cut of funding affecting scientific projects, it will also cut an important factor in the recruitment of young scientists. Experienced radio amateurs will be less able to encourage young radio operators to consider the application of science in radio engineering if the scientific community demonstrates a lack of interest in, for example, ground-based ionospheric radar measurements by terminating all its successful projects and facilities. 

It appears that your investment strategy undermines our arguments promoting science and research in the ham community and we believe that this is contrary to PPARC's mission statement. From a long term perspective, we fear that geophysical and solar-terrestrial research will no longer play a role in amateur radio; ultimately, short-term cost reductions will cause extra expenditure in the recruitment of young scientists and this may have damaging consequences for long-term industrial competitiveness. 

We hope that you will, therefore, reconsider the cost-reduction programme and specifically the proposal to close the UK ionosondes.

With best regards,