Mount Evelyn DX Report: THE REBIRTH OF HF

THE REBIRTH OF HF

White Paper by Paul Denisowski KO4LZ

An interesting document has come to my attention via Paul KO4LZ. Recently, Paul authored a white paper that takes a look at propagation in the high-frequency (HF) part of the radio spectrum, covering propagation modes, sunspots, the ionosphere and ionospheric disturbances. In the second part of the paper, he focuses on HF communications including the decline in traditional HF modes as a result of satellite communications and the Internet.

Paul goes on to report on a renewed interest in HF because of expense and vulnerabilities in other "newer" mediums. He discusses Automatic Link Establishment (ALE), improvements in HF data transmission bit rates, wide-band HF, and developments in fourth-generation ALE. He concludes....

"In light of the mission-critical nature of global data communications, there is a strong consensus with regards to the need for an alternative or redundant global data communications system. Recent technological advancements, in particular ALE and wideband HF, have reduced or eliminated many of the traditional shortcomings associated with skywave propagation and have helped to bring about a renewed interest or "rebirth" in the use of HF."

You can read the white paper by downloading it from the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation website (download button below). HamSCI serves as a means for fostering collaborations between professional researchers and amateur radio operators.

Paul Denisowski is a Product Management Engineer at Rohde and Schwarz covering RF test and measurement instruments. His specialties include spectrum and network analyzers, signal generators, interference hunting, direction finding, GNSS, EMC, and amplifiers.

➽ You can read more about Paul's amateur radio activities at the QRZ website.
➽ Also, amateur radio operators should check out Paul's excellent YouTube videos under the title Test and Measurement Fundamentals Playlist.
➽ Paul's video entitled Understanding HF Propagation is an excellent guide for new hams and SWLs.

73 and good DX to you all!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW