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Lineofsight
Introduction
Radio waves and light (both are types of electromagnetic radiation) propagate in
straightlines.Becausetheearthisround,therangeofaradiostationislimited,like
ourview.Thehigheryouareabovetheearth,thefartheryoucansee.

Diffraction
Relatively long waves, with wavelength in the kilometers range), bend around the
earth. That means that if the transmitter has enough power, radio communication is
possible to any place on earth. This is also true of medium waves, but to a much
lesserextent.Mediumwavesrangetoafewhundredkilometersduringtheday,but
atnight,asaresultofchangedatmosphericconditionswhichcausereflectionlayers,
receptionispossiblemorethanathousandkilometersaway.

Reflection
Short waves (wavelength of tens of meters) are also reflected by layers in the
atmosphere,whichmakesreceptionpossibleatverylongdistances.Inprinciple,the
whole world is reachable by short wave transmissions, but this requires a studied
choice of frequencies, appropriate for the time of transmission and the intended
receptionareas.

Calculations
Thecalculationsintheframenexttothistext(ifyoudon'tseeit,clickhere) do not
considerdiffraction,reflectionsorthepresenceofhills,mountainsorbuildings.They
also do not take into account that the earth is somewhat flattened, so the "sphere's"
radiusisn'texactlythesameeverywhere.Inthecalculationmodule,theradiuscanbe
adaptedifdesired.Diffractionissometimesaccountedforbyassuminganeffective
radiusof4/3timesthephysicalradius,orsome8,500kmincaseoftheearth.

In a literal line of sight, haze and fog also have an effect.The atmosphere is never
quiteclear,soitishardlyeverpossibletoseeasfaraswouldbepossibleintheory.
For a radio transmitter too, the line of sight isn't the only factor: there must also be
sufficienttransmittingpowertobridgethedistancetothereceiver,thesensitivityof
whichalsomakesadifference.

Thislinktakesyoutotheformulasusedinthecalculations,andtheirderivations.

Examples:

Even at only 5 cm (2 inches) above the ground the horizon is already some
800metersaway.Ofcourseatthisscale,theearthisfarfromanidealsphere,
sothisresultislargelyoftheoreticvalue.

Apersoncarrying awalkietalkie at a height of 1.70 m has a visual reach of

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over 4.5 km. If the person at the other side of the radio link is at the same
height,thetotalmaximumdistanceisabout9km.

Acellphonetransmitteronatwelvestoreybuilding,ataheightofsome30m,
hasa"view"ofabout19.5km(12miles).Themobilephone'shorizon(aswe
foundabove:approx.4.5km)addsuptothis,sothetotalrangeisaround24
km.

AntennasofradioandTV transmittersareusuallyinstalledonhighmasts, or
on low masts on high mountains. Even a small country like the Netherlands
needs several to cover the whole country. The highest mast, the Gerbrandy
tower, is located (as was to be expected) in the centre of the country, in
IJsselstein(formerly also called Lopik), not far from Utrecht. The top of that
mast is at a height of about 385 meters. That is much higher than the Eiffel
TowerinParis,butbecausethelargestpartofthetowerisnotselfsupporting,
buthelduprightbyguywires,itdoesn'tcountasabuilding.
Consider that most of the antennas are not at the highest point of the mast:
because many are needed, and some are rather large (TV transmitters in low
bands) they are spread along the mast. Be that as it may, the optical horizon
fromthetopcanbecalculatedasbeing70km.ItsohappenedthatI lived at
about 60, later almost 70 km from the TV/radio tower of IJsselstein. Indeed
reception was possible, but poor there. The lower but closer station Markelo
gaveabetterreception.

I heard about Canada and Russia having even higher TV and radio towers.
Calculations show, however, that the considerable costs of builder higher
towers does not outweigh the gain in geographical range. Suppose such a
tower is 200 meters higher, making it 585 meter high (1920 feet). Then the
extrarangeisamere16kilometers.

Incountrieswithmountainousareastheytendtobuildtransmittermastsonor
near high peaks. Their theoretical range of course only applies to far away
places at see level: closer by at places that are also at high altitudes, the
calculationsareincorrect.

The highest mountain of Portugal (mainland) is 1993 m in height. The

theoreticallineofsightthereisalmost160km,strangelyenoughonly90km
morethanonthe385metershighIJsselsteintower.
If we include Portugal's autonomous regions, the volcano called Pico, on the
Azoresislandofthesamename,ismuchhigher:2351m.Thisresultsinaline
ofsightof173km.Idon'tknowifthesummitisaccessible(Inevervisitedthe
islands),butifso,aglimpseofanotherhighaltitudepoint,PicodeVaraonthe
easternislandofSoMiguel,shouldbevisible.(Inpractice,ifonlybecauseof
thehaze,nodoubtnothingcanbeseen.)
Thatotherpeakis1103metershigh,forahorizonof118.5km,givingatotal
of both lines of sight of 291.5 km, while the distance between the summits,
accordingtomycalculationsisslightlyless:289km.
In the opposite direction, towards the island of Flores in the northwestern
Azores, chances are better in theory: 941 m for 108 km, a total of 281 km,
withadistancebetweensummitsof268km.

Passenger jets often fly at altitudes between 8 and 11 kilometers (26 and 36
thousand feet). At 32,000 feet (9753,6 m) for example, the line of sight is
352.5km.ThismeansanaeroplaneoverPariscannotreachSchipholtowerin
AmsterdamoverVHForUHF,asIsometimesimagined,becausethedistance
isaround426kilometers.Tobereachableatthesenonbendingwavelengths,
theairport'santennasshouldbeatanaltitudeof425meters!

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Satellites of course are much higher. In that case we see that the difference
betweenthedistancesthroughtheair(d)andthatalongtheearth'ssurface(D)
becomes considerable. Of course the limit for D is a quarter of the sphere's
perimeter, and the calculation module has a restriction for that value, for
calculationsthattakeDasinput.

Ultrashortwave
Ultrashort waves, like those of the FM broadcasting band (around 100 MHz,
wavelengthsca.3meters)orGSM(900MHz,33cmor1800MHz,17cm)benda
little,butnotmuch.Duetoreflections,theycanenterbuildingstoacertainextent.In
exceptional cases atmospheric conditions can enable reception at much greater
distances, such as is much more usual with short waves (wavelengths between
approx.10and100m).Perhapsthisiscausednotonlybysinglereflections,butalso
bytunneling(ducts).

Asanexample,inthe1970s,whentheDutchstationHilversum3(latercalledRadio
3FM) did not yet transmit on FM channel 33 (96.8 MHz), I once received Radio
LuxemburginorclosetoArnhemintheNetherlands,atadistanceofabout300km.
This station was always heard at 208 meters in the medium wave band, especial in
theevenings,inDutch(FelixMeurders,PeterKoelewijn)andEnglish,butintheFM
band,thiswashighlyunusual.

On Sunday, July 20, 2003 I experienced quite a convincing case of this

phenomenon: we were at a camp site in Portugal, south of Porto Covo and Sines,
when I heard Irish voices in the FM band (actually in the Irish language! they
normallyonlysendthatinIrelanditself!).LatertherewerealsoEnglishandGerman
stations,andevenprogrammesinScotsGaelic,RadionaGailge!(That'showIwrote
itdowninmynotes,butnowIfindtheScottishspellingRadionanGaidhealandin
IrishRaidinaGaeltachta).PerhapstherewasakindofaradiomirrorovertheBay
of Biscay, right in the middle? If those Scots Gaelic programmes came from the
vicinityofEdinburgh,wearelookingatadistanceofover2000km.

Itisconceivablethatsomethinglikethis,butatasmallerscale,playedapartinthe
Deventer murder case, and created GSM cell phone connection over a distance of
muchmorethan20km.

Some links (all in Dutch): Maurice de Hond's weblog, a blog by radio ham Brillie
(pageto11November2006,"Lekenmoestenhunmondhouden"),andtheoriesby
G.H.(lookfor"zendmastinDeventer").Becausethe"radiomirror"mighthavebeen
ataspecificspot,G.H.'sassumptionthatallGSMmastsofthesameproviderincircle
shapedareacouldhaveplayedarole,neednotbe accurate. This is because during
my PortugueseScottish experience I heard English, Irish, Scottish and German
voices,butnoFrench,Spanish,ItalianorMoroccanstations.Sotheeffectwasclearly
directional.

Seealsomyarticle(inDutch):Hetvoortschrijdendertijd.

SeealsotheseWikipediaarticles:
Ionosphere
Skywave
Eskip

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