4.

Sun spot cycle

Sun has 11 yrs cycle over which its
output varies tremendously
Critical freq of the ionosphere is
highest during sun spot maxima and
lowest during sun spot minima
During the period of minimum sun
spot activity lower freqs are only
usable at night and higher freqs are
rarely used

5. Tides & Winds in the

ionosphere
Atmosphere experiences tidal pulls of the sun
and the moon
Solar tidal effects are more amplified in the
atmosphere because the period of oscillation of
the atmosphere coincides with the solar tidal
period of 12hrs
Lunar tidal effects are also detectable though
feeble
Effects of tide is experienced most by F layer
Winds in the ionosphere is mainly caused by
tides

6. Whistlers
Sensitive audio amplifiers were used to listen
secretly the private conversation on distant
telephones during world war II.
In the output of the receiver , listeners frequently
heard whistlers of descending tone
This type of naturally occuring transient EM
disturbances are called whistlers
Lightening discharges generate pulses which may
bounce back and forth several times before
disappearing between 2 hemispheres.
Various whistlers are long, short and noise whistlers

Luxembourg effect or Ionospheric

cross modulation
When listening to a distant medium frequency broadcasting
station, sometimes there is continuous background of some
powerful station of lower frequency.

This interference is most marked when ;

i.

The 2 transmitting stations are nearly

equidistant from the rxr .
ii. Interfering station is between the rxr and
wanted texting station.
Interaction of 2 strong radio waves passing through the
ionosphere results in the production of cross- modulation
products which causes interference .

Polar cap Absorption or solar proton

events(SPE)
Disturbances which occur throughout
the polar region in high geomagnetic
latitudes.
Caused by high energy solar protons
which are guided by earths
magnetic field towards the polar
region.
Causes increase in ? layer
ionization leading to strong
absorption of HF and VHF waves.

Statics or Atmosphere noise or

Atmospheric
Rx contains a background of various clicks ,bangs,
rattles and crashes which disappear when the
antenna is disconnected fom the reciever.
Noise Picked up by the antenna due to natural
causes is referred to as Atmospherics
Caused by natural electrical disturbances mainly
thunderstorm or others
Found at low frequency
Atmospherics received at a given location is the
sum of atmospherics due to local and distant
origin.

 In the frequency of 9-21 MHz ,there is no

atmospheric or man-made noise.
Above 30 MHz only atmospheric noise due to local
thunderstorm exist.
When an Airplane or Aeroplane passes through
snow or rain the airplane becomes electrically
charged to a high potential w.r.t the surrounding
space. At some point a bluish discharge breaks out
and this is called as coronal discharge. This coronal
discharge interferes with radio reception and this
interference is called as precipitation static.

Man- Made Noise

These type of noises are generated by electrical
appliances and electrically operated devices.
The noises produced by these devises are caused
by the power lines connected to the devices.
They are of two types :
a. Hiss Type: The Pulse occurs so close together that they
may overlap and hence sounds like a continuous noise.
b. Impulse Type: It consist of separate and distinct pulses
of very high amplitude and is generated by seperated
electrical sparks

The noise in the rxr can be minimized by using

line filter.

Ionospheric Absorption
When a radio wave passes through the ionized layer it
causes the to vibrate. These vibrating gives some of
its energy by colliding neighbouring molecules. Thus this
energy is used up in heating the air and hence wasted.
The amount of energy which is wasted from the radio waves
is higher if the distance travelled by the waves is high.
The suns radiation causes ionization in day time than during
night time and therefore the absorption is higher during day
time.
Absorption is maximum at a frequency 1.4 MHz due to
resonance phenomenon. Therefore the frequency that is
used for sky wave propagation should be chosen such that it
is greater than 1.4 MHz .

 These are two types of absorption:

i.

Non-Deviative Absorption: Absorption that

occurs in the lower region where refractive
index is nearly equal to unity
ii. Deviative Absorption : Absorption that occurs in
the region where the value refractive index is
less than unity

i.e , absorption increases with the decrease in

wave frequency and increase in collusion
frequency.

Space Wave Propagation

Its is useful at VHF, VHF and - wave frequencies.
It is limited to line of sight distance and is also
limited by the ? of earth.
Lines of sight distance is that distance b/w txr
and rxr in which if a direct wave passes from the
txr to rxr without being intersected by the bulge
in the earths surface , considering variation of
refractive index of earths atmosphere with
height , the texting antenna must see at least the
top of the rxing antenna.
This occurs in the troposphere.