SCATTER IN COMMUNICATION (SPORADIC E) BASIC INFORMATION AND TUTORIALS

There are a number of scatter modes of propagation. These modes can extend the radio horizon a considerable amount. Where the radio horizon might be a few tens of kilometres, underscatter modes permit very much longer propagation.

For example, a local FM broadcaster at 100MHz might have a service area of about 40 miles, and might be heard 180 miles away during the summer months when Sporadic- E propagation occurs. One summer, a television station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was routinely viewable in Washington, DC in the United States during the early morning hours for nearly a week.

Sporadic-E is believed to occur when a small region of the atmosphere becomes differentially ionized, and thereby becomes a species of ‘radio mirror’. Ionospheric scatter propagation occurs when clouds of ions exist in the atmosphere.

These clouds can exist in both the ionosphere and the troposphere, although the tropospheric model is more reliable for communications. A signal impinging this region may be scattered towards other terrestrial sites which may be a great distance away. The specific distance depends on the geometry of the scenario.

There are at least three different modes of scatter from ionized clouds: back scatter, side scatter, and forward scatter. The back scatter mode is a bit like radar, in that signal is returned back to the transmitter site, or in regions close to the transmitter.

Forward scatter occurs when the reflected signal continues in the same azimuthal direction (with respect to the transmitter), but is redirected toward the Earth’s surface. Side scatter is similar to forward scatter, but the azimuthal direction might change.

Unfortunately, there are often multiple reflections from the ionized cloud. When these reflections are able to reach the receiving site, the result is a rapid, fluttery fading that can be of quite profound depths.

Meteor scatter is used for communication in high latitude regions. When a meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere it leaves an ionized trail of air behind it. This trail might be thousands of kilometres long, but is very short lived.

Radio signals impinging the tubular metre ion trail are reflected back towards Earth. If the density of meteors in the critical region is high, then more or less continuous communications can be achieved.

This phenomenon is noted in the low VHF between 50 and about 150 MHz. It can easily be observed on the FM broadcast band if the receiver is tuned to distant stations that are barely audible. If the geometry of the scenario is right, abrupt but short-lived peaks in the signal strength will be noted.