  The results of the experiments on recording hard gamma radiation and
measurements of its angular distribution at the initial stage of a laboratory
high-voltage atmospheric discharge are presented. The experiments were
performed on an ERG installation at a voltage of $\sim 1$ MV, an atmospheric
discharge current of up to 12 kA, and a gap of 0.55 m. The duration of the
voltage pulse was about 1~$\mu$s with a pulse rise time of 150-200 ns. The
radiation was recorded by an assembly of 10 identical scintillation detectors
installed each 10$^\circ$ around the circumference of a quarter of a circle
with a curvature of 1 m. In order to separate the radiation with energies from
20 keV to 1.5 MeV, Al and Pb filters of different thicknesses were used. The
obtained results show that, as a rule, a multi-beam radiation pattern and
several bursts of radiation (each with a directional pattern) are recorded in
each shot. In a considerable number of "shots", hard radiation with photon
energies comparable to or exceeding the maximum electron energy corresponding
to the applied voltage is recorded. In these cases, a needle-like radiation
pattern is observed, including at large angles to the axis of the discharge.
This may indicate the acceleration of electrons in different plasma channels.

Plasma Physics;Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics;Instrumentation and Detectors