CB radio usage
Just wondering if people still use them? If so what channel do rver's use?
Forum Discussion
This is how I understand 'Shooting Skip'.
"Shooting skip" is the ability to have communications from a far greater distance than is usually considered to be the normal range from the CB radio.
This is made possible , not by the output power level of the radio , but by an uncommon condition of a upper section of the Earths atmosphere called the ionosphere.
When the ionosphere is excited by solar radiation (when sunspots are found on the Sun) it becomes somewhat refractive.
So when radio signals comes up from the earth when transmitted , they hit the ionosphere and are progressively turned around and returned back to earth at some distant point back on Earth.
At this place your signal can be then heard., however , stations closer than this place are skipped over and they cannot hear you.
This is called the 'skip zone'.
As an example then, you might be able to have a conversation with a another radio operator 500 miles away, yet, someone 50 miles away cannot hear you at all.
The problem with skip type of communications is that the effect is short lived.
As conditions change the long distance signals will fade away and contact will be lost.
Because the ionosphere is well above the clouds they are not affected by rain,or other earth level weather systems.
What plays the biggest part of whether or not long distance communications are possible is the amount and intensity of the sunspots.
At present,sunspot activity is quite low , but over the next year or so this will pick up again and long distance communications will become much more common,and signals will become stronger.
Source(s):
http://www.swdxer.co.nr
Now granted this article was written in 2009 and YES solar activity has increased since then, hence causing more radio interference and also the opportunity to 'shoot the skip'.
Mike
"Shooting skip" is the ability to have communications from a far greater distance than is usually considered to be the normal range from the CB radio.
This is made possible , not by the output power level of the radio , but by an uncommon condition of a upper section of the Earths atmosphere called the ionosphere.
When the ionosphere is excited by solar radiation (when sunspots are found on the Sun) it becomes somewhat refractive.
So when radio signals comes up from the earth when transmitted , they hit the ionosphere and are progressively turned around and returned back to earth at some distant point back on Earth.
At this place your signal can be then heard., however , stations closer than this place are skipped over and they cannot hear you.
This is called the 'skip zone'.
As an example then, you might be able to have a conversation with a another radio operator 500 miles away, yet, someone 50 miles away cannot hear you at all.
The problem with skip type of communications is that the effect is short lived.
As conditions change the long distance signals will fade away and contact will be lost.
Because the ionosphere is well above the clouds they are not affected by rain,or other earth level weather systems.
What plays the biggest part of whether or not long distance communications are possible is the amount and intensity of the sunspots.
At present,sunspot activity is quite low , but over the next year or so this will pick up again and long distance communications will become much more common,and signals will become stronger.
Source(s):
http://www.swdxer.co.nr
Now granted this article was written in 2009 and YES solar activity has increased since then, hence causing more radio interference and also the opportunity to 'shoot the skip'.
Mike
