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In 1925, observations during a solar eclipse in New York by Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith and his team demonstrated the influence of sunlight on radio wave propagation, revealing that short waves became weak or inaudible while long waves steadied during the eclipse, thus contributing to the understanding of the ionosphere's role in radio transmission ...
Radio waves (black) reflecting off the ionosphere (red) during skywave propagation. Line altitude in this image is significantly exaggerated and not to scale. In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere.
The phase velocity for radio waves in the ionosphere is indeed greater than c, and that makes total internal reflection possible, and so the ionosphere can reflect radio waves. The geometric mean of the phase velocity and the group velocity cannot exceed c , so when the phase velocity goes above c , the group velocity must go below it.
Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are propagated, from one point to another in vacuum, or into various parts of the atmosphere. [1]: 26‑1 As a form of electromagnetic radiation, like light waves, radio waves are affected by the phenomena of reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, polarization, and scattering. [2]
VLF and ELF radio waves can also penetrate water to hundreds of meters deep, so they are used to communicate with submerged submarines. Skywaves: At medium wave and shortwave wavelengths, radio waves reflect off conductive layers of charged particles in a part of the atmosphere called the ionosphere. So radio waves directed at an angle into the ...
The Earth–ionosphere waveguide [1] is the phenomenon in which certain radio waves can propagate in the space between the ground and the boundary of the ionosphere. Because the ionosphere contains charged particles, it can behave as a conductor. The earth operates as a ground plane, and the resulting cavity behaves as a large waveguide.
The ionosphere can be described as an area of the atmosphere in which radio waves on shortwave bands are refracted or reflected back to Earth. As a result of this reflection, which is often key in the long-distance propagation of radio waves, some of the shortwave signal strength is decreased.
This bending happens because each layer of the ionosphere has a refractive index that varies from that of the others. [2] Because of the differing heights of refraction, or apparent reflection, the radio waves hit the earth surface at different points hence generating the skip distance. Skip distance is greatest during the night when the ...