The Fast Track to Understanding Ham Radio Propagation

Award-winning ham radio author Michael Burnette, AF7KB, takes you on a journey through every form of radio wave propagation, from ground waves to propagation in outer space.If you've thought "propagation is a lot like the weather -- you can talk about it, but there's nothing you can do about it" -- think again! For each form of propagation, you'll learn the best ham radio practices to increase your chances of "making the hop", whether that's across town or across the globe.* Ground Wave Propagation* Earth-Ionosphere Waveguide Propagation* Line-of-sight Propagation (It's almost never line of sight!)* Terrestrial ScatterPropagation* The Fresnel Zone* Knife Edge Diffraction* Tropospheric Scatter* Tropospheric Ducting* Tropospheric Bending* “Normal” Troposhperic Ducting* Elevated Tropospheric Ducting* Other Forms of Tropospheric Propagation* Ionosphere Basics* The Anatomy of The Ionosphere* How the Ionosphere Bends our Signals* Ionospheric Absorption* What Frequency Should I Choose?* Space Weather and the Ionosphere* Sunspots and Sunspot Numbers* The Solar Flux Index* Solar Flares and Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances* Coronal Mass Ejections* Geomagnetic Storms* Space Weather Terms* Types of Ionospheric Propagation* Getting Started in (Smart) High Frequency DX* Meteor Propagation* How the Pros Use Meteor Scatter* Working Meteor Scatter* Auroral Propagation* Space Propagation* Satellites* Moon Bounce*How we Figured out This Ionosphere StuffEach topic is fully explained in the conversational, plain-language style of the Fast Track ham license books, with a maximum of illustrations and a minimum of impenetrable math formulas.