Skywave Propagation for Radio AmateursA brief overview
Radio amateurs use a variety of propagation modes, including line-of-sight, ground-wave, and skywave.
Skywave compared to LOS and groun dwave Figure 1: Overview of HF Propagation Modes |
Line of sight involves direct transmission; ground waves descend along Earth's surface; and skywaves (HF bands) bounce off the ionosphere over very long distances. Therefore, understanding skywave propagation is essential for radio amateurs.
The solar radiation generates Earth's ionosphere refracts HF radio waves propagating over long distances.
Figure 2: Refractions in the ionosphere redirect radio waves back to Earth.
The "propagation conditions" of skywave change along time of day, seasons, and due to the chaotic solar activity.
A review of the last 24 hours skywave propagation map:
Static maps provided by Andrew D Rodland, KC2G, updated every 15 minutes.
showing the last 24 hours in 15-minute steps.
Understanding skywave propagation is crucial for a successful communication of radio amateurs, requiring them to learn and practice various factors.
The project "Understanding HF Propagation" focuses on near-real-time indicators and explains what they mean. Find there basic and advanced explanations, practical methods, map-charts, banners, calculators ↗, real-time reports 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, models 1, 2, 3, table of contents, index of terms, and references ↗. The entire website contains additional pages that each cover a sub-topic. See the sitemap.