I. Observations Of Small Diameter Sources

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the observations of the polarization of small diameter radio sources made in 1963 with the Parkes 210 ft telescope over the wavelength range 11-74 cm. The sources of error in making such measurements with a single dish are discussed. At the short-wave end, the main limitation is system noise, and there is some complication from a slight variation of antenna gain with polarization angle; at long wavelengths, the limitation is the fine-scale structure of the galactic polarization in the direction of the source. The latter varies greatly across the sky.