bytedeez Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 As i was tracking planes using my E4000 with standard antenna and ADSB#, I followed 1 plane for over 489 miles. Each time I viewed the plane the longitude and latitude updated frequently and I was still picking up a signal when I shut the program down. Strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD6W Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 It can happen where the track of the plane may have been on a path that had "enhancement" and during this time of the year it can readily happen if you are in the northern latitudes (summer). We call this effect "ducting" and this happens when the atmosphere stratifies into temperature layers or bands where the air temperature changes very little through several thousand feet and then all of a sudden drops 50 degrees in just a few hundred feet. The radio waves up at those frequencies will hit this barrier and either reflect down or refract up to space depending on the specific air density, humidity, etc. Another phenomena is E Layer or E skip or "sporadic E" which is a hoot and regularly enhances frequencies from the TV band, FM band all the way up through L band (1 GHz) but is more rare as the frequency goes up. Can you imagine being on the west coast and talking on a frequency near TV channel 2, with another person on the east coast or Europe! It happens, I have done it and they were clear as a normal phone call! In ham radio circles we call it DXing and have known about it for a looooong time. This is the mind blowing part about our atmosphere. - KD6W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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