What do you prefer, tropo or e-skip?

[nd2023]

I prefer e-skip as it is high-intensity, and you're constantly tuning around and writing down anything that will help you ID the station, and everything is at least several hundred miles away. You get stations at "impossible" distances to the average person. E-skip rarely lasts long enough for you to sample a distant station, and signals always seem to fade when they're saying the legal ID.

Tropo is good too, as it could bring in stations from hundreds of miles away for days at a time. You could sample another area's radio stations for a long time, and if you're driving a long distance, you don't have to change the station as often because the coverage area expands. But tropo hurts the low power stations more. A low power station 100 miles from a 50kw station will frequently get interference during the summer, and nothing can be done about the interference as the 50kw station isn't violating any rules.

 

[crainbebo]

E-SKIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-crainbebo

 

[Raider57]

Tropo, It can be very frustrating with e-skip, the signal will be strong during a song, but will all of the sudden fade out when the song is over. With tropo the stations usually stay for a while instead of quickly fading out like e-skip does.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

I think I prefer tropo, partially because I have never experienced e-skip.

I'm in El Cajon, CA, on the south side of a small hill (summit is a few hundred feet higher than me). I routinely am able to get a listenable (usually quite weak, although it occasionally is strong enough to be in stereo) signal from 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara, which is ~212 miles northwest of me.
Would that be tropo, or does the path over the seawater (the coastline curves between Santa Barbara and San Diego) have anything to do with it?

 

[gr8oldies]

I like eSkip because it's rare; there are summers I never hear any, and I've never heard winter eSkip. I like long distance tropo, and yes, it does wreak havoc with low power FM and translators.

 

[stormy01]

I think I prefer tropo, partially because I have never experienced e-skip.

I'm in El Cajon, CA, on the south side of a small hill (summit is a few hundred feet higher than me). I routinely am able to get a listenable (usually quite weak, although it occasionally is strong enough to be in stereo) signal from 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara, which is ~212 miles northwest of me.
Would that be tropo, or does the path over the seawater (the coastline curves between Santa Barbara and San Diego) have anything to do with it?

I have heard 103.3 from a small town called Vicente Guerrero, Baja California Norte, Mexico in the early 90's - approximately 300 miles (500 kM) just using a small Sony portable
with its built in whip antenna like a ICF-7270W.

 

[radioman148]

I like eSkip because it's rare; there are summers I never hear any, and I've never heard winter eSkip. I like long distance tropo, and yes, it does wreak havoc with low power FM and translators.

The best eSkip I ever got was during the winter hearing Miami in Chicago.