Is there a website that can tell you if your in the process of a E skip event. I am in the U.P. of Michigan so where does the E skip cloud have to be for me to get an event here?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
A question for everyone?
- Thread starter michigandxer
- Start date
Halfway between your location and the stations you see. The Law of Reflection applies, which states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. Although the ionosphere is somewhat irregular, it can be approximated as an optical surface, as the irregularity of the surface is small compared to the wavelength being reflected. It obviously has a circus mirror aspect, but the Sporadic E Layer is still a radio mirror. This favors the reflecting cloud being halfway between receiver and transmitter. The circus mirror aspect would suggest that there could be slight variations from halfway.
Someone once told me that they somewhat regularly received TV stations from West of the Rockies in the UP. The NAB Engineering Handbook from 1960 has a statistical treatment of Sporadic E and F Layer Low VHF events. In the UP, the signals are low enough level to see weak signals of this type. Also, you can build a 16 foot parabolic reflector with building materials from Home Depot or Lowe's if you are extremely motivated. According to Peter Moncure, the inventor of this DIY antenna, he saw 35 different Channel 2s on it my just changing the azimuth and elevation angles.
Last edited:
The way that I use is to go to dxmaps.com. Select 50 MHz map. That will have the amateur radio traffic on 50 MHz. When there is a lot of it, especially with stations near you, there is something happening and it might be worthwhile to look. There is also a map for 144 MHz (2m). But that is generally too high a frequency for FM.
Another trick is to get yourself and old scanner and hook it up to the outside antenna. Pick a vacant frequency (down near the lower end of FM). Adjust the squelch so that it barely does NOT trip. When the squelch opens with a station, you know something is happening. Just let's hope it is not at 3:00 in the morning. When my weather radio does that at 3:00, it gets my attention immediately
Another trick is to get yourself and old scanner and hook it up to the outside antenna. Pick a vacant frequency (down near the lower end of FM). Adjust the squelch so that it barely does NOT trip. When the squelch opens with a station, you know something is happening. Just let's hope it is not at 3:00 in the morning. When my weather radio does that at 3:00, it gets my attention immediately
- Status