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Topband: Skywave vs. Earth Conductivity

To: <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: Topband: Skywave vs. Earth Conductivity
From: "Richard Fry" <rfry@adams.net>
Reply-to: Richard Fry <rfry@adams.net>
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 06:43:26 -0600
List-post: <topband@contesting.com">mailto:topband@contesting.com>
From my reading of posts on many "ham" boards, the prevailing thoughts are
that the nighttime skywave field intensity received from a vertical monopole is dependent on earth conductivity -- as well as on frequency, radiated power, path length, and atmospheric conditions.

The plot linked below applies to the skywave from WFAN, a New York City station on 660 kHz using 50 kW/24-7 and an omni vertical radiator. It shows the FCC 0.25 mV/m RMS contour for the skywave received 50% of the time, six hours after sunset in NYC.

There is no visible/useful difference in the radius to that contour over the ocean than over the land.

This plot doesn't appear to be supported by a NEC far-field analysis of such a system -- on which (apparently) most hams base their conclusions about the skywave coverage potential of a vertical monopole for given values of earth conductivity.

One reason for this difference is that NEC far-field calculations apply to ~infinite distances over a flat ground plane.

Just wondering what thoughts others have on this subject.

http://s20.postimg.org/f1z0o2e7h/WFAN_Skywave.gif

R. Fry, CPBE




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