LEARNING CURVE

Have you noticed that ham radio operators often combine two or more interests with their ham radio passion? Hams who have pilot’s licenses enjoy working aeronautical mobile. Others enjoy travel and go on DXpeditions to far-away locations. If they enjoy astronomy, they may make contacts with satellites or search outer space using radio telescopes.

Amateur radio is truly a diversified hobby and this diversity is the impetus for continued growth. Along these lines, the fields of ionospheric and meteorological studies can help find ways to extend communications range for grid chasing in the VHF (very high frequency), UHF (ultra high frequency), and SHF (super high frequency) bands.

Line of Sight

Many hams learn that communication paths at VHF and higher frequencies are limited to “line of sight.” Line of sight simply means a radio wave’s direct path between two antennas. Merriam Webster adds, “the straight path between a transmitting antenna (as for radio or television signals) and a receiving antenna when unobstructed by the horizon.” Typically, the radio wave will travel a bit farther past the visu al horizon and this is called the radio horizon. The radio