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Radio waves can propagate over the horizon when the lower atmosphere of the
earth bends, scatters, and/or reflects the electromagnetic fields. These effects are
collectively known as tropospheric propagation, or tropo for short.
There are probably three modes that describes the tropospheric propagation at its best
as given under:
1. Tropospheric: bending
2. Tropospheric: scattering
3. Tropospheric: ducting.
Have you ever seen a mirage on the road that looks like water, that actually the sky you are
seeing. Light waves that normally travel in a straight line bounce of the super heated windless
pavement and are reflected back to your eyes. The same concept during a duct- but
backwards. Typically straight line VHF, UHF signals begin to travel up and away, but are bent
back by a sharp boundary layer of warm, moist air overlying cool dryer air below and above.
Ducting can occur on a very large scale when a large mass of cold air is overrun by warm air.
This is termed a temperature inversion, and the boundary between the two air masses may
extend for 1,000 miles (1,600 km). It occurs most frequently along coastal areas bordering
large bodies of water. This is the result of natural onshore movement of cool, humid air shortly
after sunset when the ground air cools more quickly than the upper air layers. The same action
may take place in the morning when the rising sun warms the upper layers.
Even though tropospheric ducting has been occasionally observed down to 40 MHz, the
signal levels are usually very weak. Higher frequencies above 90 MHz are generally more
favorably propagated.
High mountainous areas and undulating terrain between the transmitter and receiver can form
an effective barrier to tropospheric signals. Ideally, a relatively flat land path between the
transmitter and receiver is ideal for tropospheric ducting. Sea paths also tend to produce
superior results.
Tropospheric ducting occurs when there is a sharp rate of change in the dielectric constant as we
move upwards through the atmosphere. That probably occurs as a result of
1. rapid increase of temperature and
2. a rapid decrease in humidity (dew-point) with height
Under these conditions we now have the radio wave bent back towards the earth. However, the
radio wave can then reflect back of the earth and become refracted again to return earthwards
once more. This can sometimes occur a number of times with little attenuation but some fading.
The result can be long distance reception of radio waves that would normally have been far
beyond the radio horizon.
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