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Interesting article on the distance possibilities for E-Skip

gar hi

gar hi

This is more than a couple decades old but it's the first time I've seen it.

The beginning is in reference to frequencies around 50 Mhz but it later discusses the distances for the VHF band as high as 144 and 220 Mhz.


Thousands of spectacular sporadic-E contacts made on the 50, 144, and 220-MHz bands during the past half dozen years have created considerable excitement in VHF circles. US and Canadian 6-meter operators have long awaited the opportunity to make 50-MHz E-skip contacts into Europe, and the first two-way transatlantic 50MHz sporadic-E contacts were made on July 11 1983, soon after British amateurs gained access to the band. Most of the British stations that made 5000km and longer contacts were running only a few watts! Since then many stations in Canada, on the East Coast and in the South and Mid West have been treated to European sporadic-E openings. Similar contacts between the East Coast and Hawaii (up to 8000km) and the West Coast to Japan (7600km and longer) are frequent enough to suggest even greater possibilities for 6-meter sporadic-E.
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A lot more here ....

http://www.uksmg.org/content/sporade.htm



Makes me think that FM E-Skip in Hawaii may not be as nearly impossible as I had thought.
 
The further you go below the free space value, the more likely Sporadic E is. So an extremely high gain antenna, like a large dish (A radio software engineer had a 16 foot homemade dish, steerable to every azimuth and relevant elevation angle, that received as many as 35 Channel 2 TVs in a single day, forget the theory on dish aperture, it worked) that drives the signal into a usable range for a large percentage of the time is what works best. Also, go to the NAB Engineering Handbook 1960 and you will find an article that shows that F2 Layer Skip is possible up to about 60 MHz at times. I've heard of E Skip on TV Channel 7, but I am skeptical, since Sporadic E and tropo often occur at the same time. Tropo can produce skip over such distances as Sporadic E.
 
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Never heard of that.

But skip that distance is still possible.


I've heard of E Skip on TV Channel 7, but I am skeptical, since Sporadic E and tropo often occur at the same time. Tropo can produce skip over such distances as Sporadic E.
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Once in New Jersey, I saw E-Skip as high as channel 11. I'm quite sure anyway.

Had to be that because the image was very unstable with rapid fading in and out.

Same thing was happening on channels 7, 8, and 9.
 
hawaiigar said:
Once in New Jersey, I saw E-Skip as high as channel 11. I'm quite sure anyway.

Had to be that because the image was very unstable with rapid fading in and out.

Same thing was happening on channels 7, 8, and 9.
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Possible, but highly unlikely above about 150 MHz. I've worked stations via E-skip on 2 meter FM, but that's rare. I've never seen it on Channel 7 and up. The minimum distance for E-skip is usually around 500 miles or so. Anything less than that is probably tropo.
 
Anyone have videos of those? I'm pretty good at judging Tropo vs. E skip. On FM, the best detector of E Skip is a d'Arsonval S Meter on an old tube receiver with early FM AGC, not fast or stiff. With E Skip, the pin bounces around characteristically. On my Sony CF-450, the meter and signal were Rock solid. I can almost hear WRBQ 104.7 Tampa and see the pin bounce around on an Old Magnavox stereo theater. Wish I had a video of the meter.
 
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KeithE4 said:
Possible, but highly unlikely above about 150 MHz. I've worked stations via E-skip on 2 meter FM, but that's rare. I've never seen it on Channel 7 and up. The minimum distance for E-skip is usually around 500 miles or so. Anything less than that is probably tropo.
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The channel 11 I received was from Raleigh and I was near Philadelphia.

That's under 500 miles, 450 miles but still possible for E-Skip.

More recently on the Sporadic E DX maps, I have sometimes seen clouds appear that register over 216 Mhz, which is the upper end of the analog TV band (channel 13).
 
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